Race Report: Watkins Glen Six Hour Race
Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Brumos Racing had many reasons to celebrate at the end of the Six Hour Race at Watkins Glen.  A return to the podium was one, as our #58 car brought home a second place finish. In addition, our #59 car came in at 9th, giving Brumos our second consecutive race with both cars finishing in the top ten.

Qualifying was shortened considerably when an accident during the session brought out the black flag, providing little opportunity to get cars up to their top speeds. Our #58 car was able to qualify in 4th position, with #59 starting in the 11th spot. The normally temperate New York region saw a weekend of unseasonably hot weather during the event, not unlike the unusual heat wave at our previous race at Laguna Seca. Team doctor John Gleddie kept a close eye on drivers and crew, helping keep them hydrated and watching for heat related problems. 

David Donohue qualified and started the race for #58, moving into the lead by lap 19.  Darren Law also took the lead during his stint, and both drivers held onto first place at various times during both of their turns behind the wheel.  Fittingly, the #58 car led the race for a total of 59 laps - the most of the event. 

While both #58 drivers turned in a flawless performance, the crew also received recognition for their hard work.  David Donohue said, “We had our best result for Brumos Racing this year, and it’s a long overdue podium. To turn it around and be consistently up front and consistently one of the fastest cars, even without the new body work - I think it is a tribute to the efforts of the whole team at Brumos Racing.” Team Manager Mike Colucci agreed, saying, “I’m really pleased with the performance of David and Darren, and the crew guys were impeccable and the preparation of the car was perfect. We have a 2nd place car that finishes just three seconds behind the first place car, which demonstrates to me that we have a car that is capable of winning. Unfortunately, we didn’t win.”

Hurley Haywood returned to his familiar role behind the wheel of the #59 car for this race.  JC France was qualifying and starting driver, and had a strong run during his stint, before turning the car over to Joao Barbosa, who also moved the car up the chart.  As the car was handed off to Haywood, a malfunctioning fuel mixture switch as well as cool suit problems necessitated an unscheduled pit stop, which caused the #59 to lose the lead lap.  Haywood turned in a strong performance, despite the extreme heat and problems, before handing the car back off to Barbosa to finish the race.  Strategy worked well, as Barbosa was able to move the car back up within the top ten to take the checkered flag in 9th. 

As Mike Colucci summed it up, “Joao was driving the #59 just as fast as the race leaders.  Had we not had a small problem with the mixture switch, we would have not lost a lap, or had to adjust strategy to try and get that lap back.  Had it not been for that, I think we would have had both cars finish in the top three or four.  We ran a good race, strategy was good, execution was good, the guys drove well, we just came up a little short, but probably right now we’re the best team in the series.” Joao Barbosa agreed, “The race was really good for us”, he said.  “Unfortunately, we had a very small problem that slowed us down quite a lot, and we lost a lap because of it. We were able to regain some of it, but we were too far behind to really better our position.  But we ran very strong and the team did a great job of giving us a fast car. I’m very happy for the #58 guys, too, they did a great job with their 2nd place finish and gave a real boost to our team.”

The race was followed by a day of testing at Watkins Glen, with our crew and drivers David Donohue and Darren Law continuing in extreme heat to put both the #58 and #59 cars through some additional adjustments. The feedback from the drivers was helpful in evaluating performance and getting both cars ready for our next race in Mid-Ohio, coming up on June 21st. 

Posted on 06/11 at 09:02 AM