Lime Rock Park, CT
Mark Carpenter – F Production Class Competition
Race Report - July 28-29, 2006:

July 28 to 29, our next race was back to Lime Rock, CT for our second visit of the season to the historic track.

All week, the temperatures had been soaring on the East Coast, and hot weather was predicted in Connecticut for the weekend of our race.

The weekend started on Friday morning for our first qualifying session in our #38 GGS Racing Acura. We started on old tires with the thought of getting a feel for the track and the handling setup, in order to save better tires for the afternoon session after the proper adjustments were made. The first session was very slick on the track as a result of the hot temperatures. The car was pushing quite a bit, especially on old tires. Our best lap put us second in class in FP behind the MG of Davis Kicak.

About 30 minutes before the second sessions, after our preparations on the car were finished, dark clouds rolled in and the skies opened up. Heavy rain and lightning followed, and our second qualifying session was not worth using given the torrential conditions.

We had to settle for a second starting spot, right behind first place in FP on the grid. As the cars were heading out to grid, the first place MG of Kicak stalled on grid and could not re-fire. He had to start from the back, vaulting the GGS Acura into first place.

After a good start, I began to get in a rhythm out front in FP. I had a comfortable lead when trying to push too hard into turn one. I braked too late, and the car spun around 180 degrees. This gave the MG enough time to get back around and get ahead. The remaining laps were frustrating in the hot conditions. After keeping the gap consistent to the MG, I slowly lost ground as the handling went away in the end.

We came home second in F-production, not a bad result considering the lack of track time. However, it was a frustrating race due to the fact that I was in the lead and drove a little too hard. The result puts Team GGS Racing in a good position in the points race for the Northeast Division Championship in FP, as we have now moved up to 3^rd position.