Successful Day 2 at the Glen
June 27, 2012
Dr. Jim Lowe suited up along with Paul Tracy and Brian Frisselle for a full day of practice in the 77 Doran Racing COMBOS Ford Dallara on Friday in preparation for the Grand-Am Rolex Series Sahlen?s Six Hours of the Glen. Frisselle ended up doing double duty behind the wheel to help find the solution to some understeer issues present in the Gen-2 Dallara. By days end, the crew was able to get things settled well enough for the drivers to feel comfortable going into Qualifying on Saturday. During the course of the three practice sessions, each driver had posted their personal best times and the fastest time for the Doran Racing Dallara was set by Brian in the afternoon with 1:44.764.
“Our major challenge mechanically has been chasing understeer,” said Dr. Lowe. “Brian and Paul worked on it during the day and right now we think the car is well balanced going into Qualifying for Saturday. It’s not perfect, but it?s definitely more drivable that this time yesterday. We’ve all made good progress.” Lowe posted his best time in the 48s during the last session but feels there will be valuable seconds gained once race day arrives. “We don’t feel horrible about our pace so far. All things considered, we’re pushing a rock uphill with the Gen-2 car, but we’re pleased to be where we are at this point. Brian got it down to 1:44.764, one second and half off the fastest car in the session. Tomorrow I’m sure there is another half second for me in there also. I’m ready for the race. I always run faster in the race than I do in practice.”
Brian Frisselle ended the day optimistic. “We’re fighting an up-hill battle with the old body work, but the car showed some good potential out there today and we had a good time. Jim ran some good times there at the end so we’ll just keep working on it and see what we get tomorrow. There were some 42s set out there which are well beyond our times, but we expected that. We’re just gonna keep our heads down, keep working hard and have fun.”
Paul Tracy also felt the day ended on a positive note. “Today went pretty well. I did’t get much time in the car today, running a half-hour stint this morning. We improved the car a good deal. Brian did a good job in the middle session and we got a lot of stuff on the car that worked pretty well. Jim will have a morning session on his own tomorrow where he’ll get some good lap times with a fresh set of tires. Then we’ll go into Qualifying mode and see where we can end up.”
Prior to Qualifying, Dr. Lowe will have an extra 30-minute practice session for Trueman Akin Award participants. “I’m really looking forward to tomorrow. I will have the Trueman Akin award session, then Qualifying. It is always nice too, when the family and friends come to the track. We’ll have an early day so the crew can get a break. Then, Sunday is fun day.”
The first practice session for Rolex Series cars will be at 9:40 AM Saturday and Qualifying is set for 11:40 AM. The North American Endurance Championship, part of the Grand-Am Rolex Series Sahlen?s Six Hours at the Glen will air Live on Speed, Sunday, July 1, 2012, at 11:00 AM ET, from Watkins Glen International Speedway.