Trans Sport performs on tricky Mid-Ohio surface
July 21, 2007 Lexington, OH - A record crowd turned out at the unusually mild Mid-Ohio race complex to see round 7 of the American Le Mans Series.
This was the first race since Team Trans Sport's much talked about Limerock performance that saw Terry Borcheller run away from the competition after a blistering start.
The 54 car was in line for a sure third place finish, shooting for second when contact with a Risi Competizione Ferrari relegated the team to a season’s best 5th place position.
Mid-Ohio proved to be difficult on tires for all teams and Trans Sport, together with tire engineers from Yokohama decided to make a post-qualifying tire change which according to ALMS rules forced them to start at the back of the grid.
The tire change proved to be the correct decision. Team owner-driver Tim Pappas ran the first stint and after starting dead last in twelfth he left the car after an hour of hard driving in fourth position.
The track took it's toll on tires and drivers as many teams struggled trying to get the right combination.
Terry Borcheller drove a valiant second stint, his cool suit malfunctioning just 5 minutes into his 1 hour, 45 minute run. Borcheller took over the car when the track had warmed considerably and conditions for all teams were difficult. Still he provided ALMS and CBS viewers with some of the most exciting driving this year.
Team Trans Sport eventually matched their season's-best Limerock 5th place finish.
After Mid-Ohio, Tim Pappas re-capped the weekend this way. “ "Surprisingly, this track and temperature combination caused headaches for all of the GT2 teams today. The spectators would never know, I mean it’s beautiful out – and has been for three days. But when it’s mild like this, in low 80’s with these large clouds floating around, the track gets cool, then the cloud is gone and the track temp goes up 20 degrees, then another cloud. The car was difficult and the track was constantly changing over the 2 hours 45 minutes – the temp changes, the rubber changes, it’s a lot to keep up with. Together with our tire partner, Yokohama I think we made the right choice for the start – it’s hard to decided to start at the back -- and though nothing was ideal today, we persevered. It's important for us to be in front of 4 other Porches -- all of which are spending at least twice what we are to compete here. Jim Bell and his team have done a fantastic job with this car. We have so many more options in tuning the car than the other teams, which we need as we continue our development and research with Yokohama. Jim (Bell) has the car at the front of the pack in capability but our tires are still slower than the Michelin cars who have a lot of experience in this series. But I should say that nobody expected Yokohama to come into this series and be this close this quickly. It really reflects on all of the hard work their race engineers have done.”
The next stop for the American Le Mans series is the Generac 500 at Road America Elkhart Lake, WI, US on August 9th through 11th. For tickets and information visit the American Lemans Website
For more information, contact Jessica Saller, Team Trans Sport PR Manager at (215) 732-3200.