Road America- SCCA Pro Trans-Am

After thrashing to repair the #07, BCR made it to beautiful Road America in Wisconsin to compete in round 8 of the Trans-Am series. We took the same three cars that raced at Mid-Ohio just 2 weeks prior, Allan Lewis in the #15 TA Corvette, Mike McGahern in his #48 TA2 Camaro, and Jordan Bernloehr in our house car, the #07 Green machine.

Thursday was a crazy busy day for us, 4 unofficial sessions plus one official practise at the end of the day. The sessions were separated by less than 40 minutes in most cases, barely enough time to fuel the cars, put on some fresh rubber and make minor set-up changes. Luckily the cars ran reliably, although the #07 blew its quick change cover off (broken gears), but the crew was able to make quick repairs.

Our long day was not over yet, as Allan’s transmission exploded during final practise, and Jordan suffered a tire blow-out that resulted in an off with the front end of the car torn up! But, as usual, the BCR crew did their amazing stuff, and we were back in our hotel rooms by 10:30 pm!

Qualifying put us 15^th, 19^th and a 9^th for Jordan, again showing his speed as a driver and the capabilities of our car. We were hoping for better, but were excited knowing the cars had more in them for the race.

Race day morning was cloudy with showers, so we prepared all the cars for a rain race, changing to the dry set up at the last moment. The track was super slippery, but the rain had stopped and we knew everybody was in for a difficult time.

Jordan spun early to avoid contact with another TA2 car, but was able to get going. Unfortunately for him, a full course yellow would come out a few laps later, where the leader of the TA class was picked up by the pace car, putting us a lap down. His race was over before it really started, shame as his speed would have easily guaranteed a top 5 finish…..

Allan drove a cautious but well calculated race, staying out of trouble, and was rewarded with a 10^th place finish!

Mike had one of the best races of his life! After a disappointing qualifying effort and not much experience in these slippery conditions, he started the race cautiously loosing a few positions; he knew he had to stay out of trouble in order to get a decent finish! Five laps into the race he figured out how to drive in these conditions, and started to pick positions off, one by one. A full course yellow and a crash helped as well, allowing him to pass a few more cars, eventually finishing 8^th! A great result and well earned Mike!

Watch Jordan for 2 laps in qualifying with our # 07