Hello, Race Fans!
This one is a bit different for us. Morgan raced, of course, but John and I were half a world away this time. We missed being in person at the race track for Round 5 of the Michelin Pilot Challenge LP Building Solutions 120 at the Glen in Watkins Glen, New York. We knew that the CSM team and other friends would be all the support Morgan needed for the weekend. As for the race weekend rundown, I have a lot less to say this time since I wasn't there. I hope you'll forgive the tardiness and the brevity of the narrative for this event.
Thursday, June 25.
Practice 1 was late in the afternoon. The weather was wet and cool, a mere 61 degrees. That made track conditions tricky, but also just the kind of challenge Morgan relishes. Morgan and Gordon each ran a few laps, mostly to get the feel of the circuit in the wet. In his four laps, Morgan had the car on top of the timing pylon briefly, in third for quite a while, finally finishing the session in sixth place. He noted that the wet track has a lot of grip if you know where to find it. It felt pretty good to have good pace when it's slippery.
Friday, June 26.
For Practice 2, the morning was warmer (just touching 70 degrees by the end), windier, and dry. The Glen was all new for this session. With much more favorable conditions, many more laps were run by both Morgan and Gordon. It was a good opportunity to work on building muscle memory while aiming for clean consistent laps. Morgan's fastest lap was good for third in this session.
Qualifying was the last session of the day and the good weather held all the way through. Gordon got the tires ready to perform quickly and laid down two similar laps. He took a breather and then made a third attempt before the checker. His second full attempt was his best, putting the car in 16th on the grid to start the race.
Saturday, June 27.
Watkins Glen, generally, is quite a fast track, with only a couple of good passing opportunities. It's made more difficult by the nature of the cars themselves. Being derived from street cars where low drag body styles are the rule, and minimal aero treatments applied in race trim, the draft is largely ineffective. It can take 4-5 laps to set up and execute a pass but it's a little easier if the guy you are trying to get by makes a mistake to help you do it. There are plenty of places for errors, with track limits enforced in places where you'd really like just a little bit more room. Get too many of those, and you end up with a drive through penalty. Also, the blue guardrails are quite close to the track in most places, offering little recovery room if you step off the edge. It's a place that rewards the ones who are both bold and precise.
When the green flag flew, Gordon got a clean start. Although he dropped a few positions in the first few laps, he made many of them back before completing his 40 minutes and heading into pit lane. He handed the car over to Morgan from 18th on lap 21. The CSM team gave them a good, tidy stop and Morgan took it back onto the track, rejoining in 22nd spot. During green flag pit stops, the positions get a bit jumbled up, making it difficult to see where you really are until everyone has done their final stop. Once it all balanced out, Morgan was in about 14th. It didn't make it onto the broadcast, but he made a couple of good passes and made it up to 11th with just 15 minutes to go.
That's when things really got busy. There had been a few punctures and folks with other problems, but there had been no full course yellows at all. Everyone with issues managed to clear the course and maintain green flag conditions. However, it all changed in the closing minutes when one car leaked fluid onto the course, and another car stopped on the track, bringing out the first yellow flag. As that car was being cleared, track services also went to the inner Loop to pick up one of the curb stones that had come loose.
When the green flag came for the restart, there were only five minutes remaining, and only a couple of laps could be run in that time. Upon reaching the Inner Loop, the drama increased. Another curb stone came loose, seriously damaging one of the top running cars. The field behind scrambled to avoid it, shuffling positions around some more. The yellow came out again before the end of that lap, freezing the field for the checkered flag. Morgan was in 10th.
That was a solid result for the team and gives us good footing to move forward to the race in Canada at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park. See you there July 10-11!
