2 July, 2012
Dr. Jim Lowe along with Doran Racing celebrates another Top-10 finish in the North American Endurance Championship (NAEC) sponsored by www.VisitFlorida.com for the Grand-Am Rolex Series Sahlen?s Six Hours of the Glen. Dr. Lowe, Paul Tracy and Kevin Doran with the Doran Racing Team now head over to Indianapolis Motor Speedway for two days of testing and look ahead to the third and final round of the NAEC, the Indianapolis Grand Prix on July 27, 2012.
Brian Frisselle started the 77 Doran Racing COMBOS Ford Dallara 10th in an 11-car DP field for the Six Hour enduro on Sunday. He qualified ahead of the second Gen-2 entry, the # 7 Starworks Motorsports Ford Riley driven by Colin Braun, Scott Mayer and Mark Wilkins. The race started clean, but it was easy to see drivers were running in ?sprint? mode right from the green flag. Frisselle had his hands full avoiding mishaps made by faster Gen-3 cars ahead and inherited three positions resulting from three full-course cautions during his 2-hour stint and set the team?s best lap of 1:44.529.
Dr. Lowe had an easier time. After taking over from Frisselle while 9th in DP field, Lowe maintained a consistent pace during his double stint that saw green the whole way. He continued to drive with no mistakes and set his personal best lap time in the one-minute 46-second gap.
?What can I say? I had the time of my life out there,? said Lowe. ?What a great day to be at my favorite racetrack with a bunch of family and friends, along with a great crew and great teammates. It?s the formula for the perfect day. The car is what we thought it was and the team did everything to get every inch of performance out of it. Brian Frisselle drove an awesome first stint and drove some of his best laps and handed me over a perfect car. I did a double stint which was pretty much green the whole way. It was pretty amazing. I was wondering where all the yellow flags went. I did my own personal best and got down to the 46s, which for me was very good and I ran consistent. It felt good not making any mistakes and turned the car over to Paul Tracy in the same condition Brian gave to me, which is what you want to do. Paul ran it out to the finish and gave us our top-10 finish.?
The nail biter for the Team running the orange Ford Dallara came with IndyCar Champ Paul Tracy behind the wheel with one hour remaining.
?Paul followed after my stint and did his usual good driving,? recalled Lowe watching it unfold from the the pit monitors. ?At that point our position was close to being predetermined, but he got punted by the No. 2 Starworks Motorsport Ford Riley Prototype driven by Alex Popow at the exit of turn 1 which is a pretty hairy spot on the track. He ended up sideways in oncoming GT traffic. Our race could have been over but Paul surely saved our day. He did a classic IndyCar move of spinning the car back in the right direction. It stalled facing forward and he got it re-started in time to avoid the worst of the traffic. If he had gotten hammered at that point, it would have threatened our finish and quite possibly put us out of the race.?
Tracy quickly got back on pace and brought the 77 Doran Racing COMBOS Ford Dallara under the checker 10th in DP Class. This makes the third Top-10 finish in three starts for the 2012 Grand-Am Rolex Race Series.
Looking ahead to Indianapolis
Four days after completing the Sahlen?s Six Hour, Dr. Lowe heads out for his first running on the world famous Indianapolis Motor Speedway. He will join Paul Tracy, Kevin Doran and the Team for two test days taking place on July 6 & 7. Each driver will be hitting the road course for the very first time. ?It?s a huge treat for me to jump right back into a race car so it won?t be difficult to get back up to speed,? said Lowe. ?With Paul?s coaching, it will all be about learning the track and how to get the best we can out of our car. It will still be a challenge like every other time. While Paul is no stranger to the oval, he will be driving the road course for the first time same as me. A guy like PT, with his expertise, will be on max pace within a few laps. That translates into getting me up to speed much faster.?
Lowe continued, ?It?s a real honor for a first timer like me to be escorted to Indy by Paul Tracy, who won the race in ?02, in my opinion. We?re at the beginning of what? shaping up to be a really good month. Nobody expects us to win, but we run consistent and we stay out of trouble. We?re not competing for a championship here, or race wins, but we certainly are trying our hardest to finish well. The Doran Racing Team with Kevin Doran has also been great to work with. They make it real easy for new guys to come in and work as a team. They did that for me, they certainly have done it for Paul. That?s a winning formula. ?
Tickets for the final round of the North American Endurance Championship (NAEC) presented by VISITFLORIDA.com, the GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series Brickyard Grand Prix at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, on July 27, 2012, are available on the IMS website.