Armengol and Allen Third in Driver Championship
Monterey, CA — SpeedSource Race Engineering traveled far from its Sunrise, FL home to Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca for the fourth round of the inaugural Koni Challenge Series Championship. Entered in the #69 SpeedSource Street Tuner Class Mazda RX-8 for the event at Mazda’s “home away from home” racetrack was the duo of Dan Allen and Jose Armengol, who came to Laguna Seca having posted three consecutive top ten finishes to begin the season.
The weekend marked Koni Challenge rookie Dan Allen’s first laps at the historic track, who was very excited about the opportunity to compete at the racetrack that carries the name of the marque the team represents. “Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca was an overall amazing experience,” commented Allen. “The #69 RX-8 was right at home here due to the track’s numerous “momentum” corners, where our car performs really well. The track was technical, but very entertaining as well with its great elevation changes, especially the world famous ‘corkscrew’.”
“We began preparing for this event as soon as we rolled off the track at Iowa a few weeks ago,” added Armengol. “I hadn’t driven Laguna Seca since 2001, so our first step was to study data the team had collected from last year’s ST race here last year in order to better prepare both the car as well as us as drivers for the race weekend.” Practice time would prove to be in short supply due to a combination of a very busy schedule featuring Grand Am Rolex Series Daytona Prototypes and GT cars, as well as Koni Challenge Series ST and GS class cars and numerous black flags during the practice sessions.
Armengol would qualify the #69 RX-8 in the 15th starting position for the 21/2 hour race. “I really felt like I let the entire team down in qualifying. I know that there was a lot of speed in the car that I left on the table and I really beat myself up about it Friday night. These are long races, however, so I remained confident that we could still manage to make up many spots during race in spite of my sub par qualifying effort.”
That would certainly prove to the case early during the race itself, as the #69 car made its way into the top ten in the opening laps and remained in touch with the leaders throughout the first hour of competition. “I have to take my hat off to my fellow competitors today,” said Armengol “On numerous occasions we went side by side through corners and everyone raced tough but clean. More than once I could have sworn that you couldn’t slide a cigarette paper between our RX-8 and the i-Moto TSX’s.” Running inside the top ten after making a driver change and with sufficient fuel to make it to the finish, the SpeedSource ST team would face its most difficult challenge so far this year. A slight off in the corkscrew resulted in losing several laps to the leaders, as well as damaging the nose of the #69 RX-8. “I tagged the wall exiting the corkscrew” said Allen “We were able to get back into the race after pitting, as the SpeedSource crew quickly made repairs and removed the front fascia so we could finish the race.” Undeterred, Allen soldiered on and brought the battle-scarred #69 home in 14th place. The result moves the pair into third place in the Driver’s championship points tables as the team now quickly turns its attention to preparing for Lime Rock Park only a few short days after loading the transporter for the cross-country trek. Allen goes on to conclude: “With Lime Rock next weekend I am confident we will learn from this weekend and be prepared to race hard in Connecticut.”
“Jose and Dan really worked at it this week end, not only spending time analyzing data but listening to all that we had to say about Mazda Raceway, they were like sponges drinking it all in,” commented Team Owner Sylvain Tremblay. “For their first visit they did great, much better than the result showed, the “off” by Dan is all part of the learning process, keep in mind that both guys have less than 10<
Mondial Forwarding RX-8 Drivers Remain in the Thick of Championship
– Lime Rock, CT – SpeedSource Race Engineering wrapped up a long road trip at Lime Rock Park this Memorial Day weekend. The team was put to the test; having only a few short days to make repairs to the #69 Mondial Forwarding/Freedom Harley-Davidson sponsored RX-8 suffered during the closing stages of the Laguna Seca race the weekend prior to the Lime Rock event. The #69 would make the event, thanks to the efforts of the folks at MazdaSpeed who had all the necessary parts flown straight to Connecticut, as well as the SpeedSource crew, who worked tirelessly to make the car race ready.
Drivers Jose Armengol and Dan Allen were both new to the scenic and undulating 1.53 mile circuit and both came away impressed. “We’d been warned that this track is seemingly simple, but that it takes lots of time to learn and I can now vouch for that firsthand” commented Armengol. “There are nuances that I only picked up on at the end of my race weekend here, and I’m sure that we’d still be learning this track if we spent an entire month here. A tenth of a second around this track is really a huge deal and making a clean pass at Lime Rock is quite difficult with the field as close as it is.” The #69 would begin the race from the 9th row, having qualified 18th. After falling back to 22nd early, the #69 climbed back to 14th an hour into the 2.5 hour long race with Armengol in the car. Dan Allen took the controls of the SpeedSource RX-8 near the midway point of the race, but unfortunately the team went a lap down to the leaders during the pit stop. Falling all the way back to 24th and one lap back, the team never gave up as Allen posted lap times comparable to the leaders of the race. The #69 would make it all the way back to run in 11th place and back on the lead lap late in the race until a gearbox failure left the car stuck in top gear. “The SpeedSource Mazda was performing flawlessly up until the last fourth of the race when the transmission failed” Said Allen. “The only gear that was available was 6th so we went on to at least finish the race and collect some points. We learned a lot from this weekend and will apply our efforts towards our next upcoming race in Canada.”
Allen and Armengol remain in third place in the Drivers Championship points tables for the Koni Challenge Series ST Class. After a couple of difficult races that saw the #69 finish outside of the top ten for the first time this season, the team looks to hit its stride again and challenge for podiums and wins beginning at the Mosport in Ontario, Canada June 15-17.
Mondial Forwarding RX-8 Has a Strong Showing at Homestead
– HOMESTEAD, Fla. (April 17, 2007)– SpeedSource Race Engineering secured a top five finish this past weekend at Homestead Miami Speedway. The #69 Mondial Forwarding Freedom Harley Davidson Mazda RX-8 came home as the top finishing Mazda in thirty five car strong Street Tuner class. Dan Allen and Jose Armengol shared the driving controls for the Southern Florida event. The duo bettered their season opening Daytona result by one position. The fifth place finish at Homestead places the pair in fourth place in the KONI Challenge Series Street Tuner class Driver Championship.
“The driving pair did an excellent job with running a fast and clean race,” commented Team Owner Sylvain Tremblay. “Dan led in the middle of the race. After pitstops sorted the field out, Jose made his way from mid pack up to a fifth place finish.”
“Starting the race in Miami was an absolute thrill as right away we gained couple of positions going into turn one,” commented Allen. “We started 19th and very quickly kept moving up until at one point we were in first. It was an amazing feeling leading the race. Early in the race I got in a rhythm of tracking down cars up ahead and capitalizing on their mistakes. Being up front allowed me to put my head down and get some fast, clean laps in without traffic.
“Throughout the race the humidity seemed to amplify the heat tremendously but only affected our lap times towards the end of my stint. After the driver change, my team mate Jose took care of business as he began his stint in eleventh and worked his way up to fifth by the end of the race. The car performed flawlessly due to the expertise of the entire SpeedSource crew, and the support from Freedom Harley Davidson of Denver, and Mondial Forwarding.”
“The Homestead race was a very special for me in a number of ways,” added Armengol. “Being able to race at my ‘home track’ in a professional race was a big thrill. To see the number of friends and family that were there to lend their support was such a thrill. When Dan took the lead and the #69 was shown at the top of the boards there was a distinct roar from where they were watching.”
“Dan did an incredible job today,” added Armengol. “For a twenty year old rookie in the Koni Challenge Series, he drove like a seasoned pro. It really says a lot about him that he not only was able to take the car into the lead, but just as importantly to keep the nose clean and hand over the car in perfect condition.”
The fifth place finish for the #69 car was made even more special as the team was on a steep learning curve all weekend long to learn the new Koni shocks. For the first time this season the SpeedSource effort fitted the Koni shocks to the car to adapt to the new future required shock of the series. The team learned a lot about the handling characteristic and were pleased with their development of the setup for the Mazda.
“We struggled with the setup on the car on Friday and Saturday, as they were our first track sessions having made the switch to the very first set of Koni dampers designed specifically for the Koni Challenge RX-8 on the #69 car,” Armengol explained about the challenges. “However I have to give all the credit in the world to Sylvain and the SpeedSource team for making the adjustments to the car to get the balance of the car perfect in such short order. Those adjustments gave Dan and me the confidence to really turn up the wick during the race itself. Of course there’s still a big learning curve ahead of us with the new Koni dampers, but we’re very encouraged with the results so far.”
Also in the SpeedSource effort was the #68 Mazda RX-8 driven by SpeedSource veteran Scott Schlesinger and Team Engineer David Haskell. A potential for a great run was dampened twice by contact. Schlesinger first had contact early in the race however the car was able to continue. When Haskell climbed aboard he was as high as fourth place when contact took the car out of the race.
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