04 August, 2007
OATAS 6 Hours of Karjala
The sun may be setting on the NR2003 GTP endurance racing era that has spanned the last 4 years for the Mazdaspeed branch of R4R, but the fire is still very much alive at the heart of this tight-knit team, and we arrived at Karjala after the disapointment of Le Mans with very clear intentions. Our streamlined effort - two cars and three drivers - wanted nothing but success, which we feel is long overdue for the team. With Karjala being a twisty circuit well suited to the Mazda, Vader Trophy Racing had entered a 3rd car under their banner using the Mazda chassis, and of course beating them and finishing as the best Mazda had to be the aim for the #04 Mazdaspeed R4R entry. As for the #104 Momo R4R entry, only victory in the lights class would do.
Throughout practice the team drivers - Brendan Kaczmarek, Joe Mudrak and myself - had sturggled to really get a handle on the tortuous Finish circuit, with its demanding switchbacks and extremely long set of right handers, including one oval style banked right hander, and its tyre killing nature. But in the final few days of unofficial practice, a few breakthroughs were made with the setup, and the track started coming to us drivers. Early in testing we were all lapping around the 1:35 to 1:37 bracket, but by race day Joe was in the mid 1:33s, Brendan the high 1:32s, and I was flirting with 1:31s. We had hoped that we would have a chance to be on par with the Saubers, but it was looking like our lack of serious preparation was going to leave us around one second off their ultimate pace (that is, the times of VTR1, VTR4, and OATAS #19). The #04 was looking good for a top 5 though, we were right on the pace of the JPS France team's Saubers, and that of the VTR3 Mazda, so we were prepared for a tough fight from 4th through 7th. The top Lights competitors, including the #104 Momo car, were a second and a half off our pace, but looked to be the next cars in line, so for the #04 it really was all about JPS France and VTR3. In qualifying, things turned out much as expected, with the VTR and OATAS Saubers taking positions 1st through 3rd, JPS France 68 taking 4th, VTR3 5th, myself in Mazdaspeed R4R 6th, while the JPS France 69 car underperformed in qualifying, scoring 8th.
For Momo R4R, the two front runners in the lights championship were looking strong as always, with RC Motorsports 1 scoring pole position in lights and 7th overall, Momo R4R 2nd in lights, and OATAS #219 3rd, with a couple of GTP Saubers thrown in the mix.
The race started as we always hope and endurance race will, all the cars setting off from the rolling start cleanly and letting the race get underway before battle comenced. RC Motorsports struck early problems though, with RCM2 being wiped out by an errant Team Ringrace Mazda. Throughout the first stint the #04 with myself at the wheel was running extremely well, keeping the VTR3 car well in sight, until VTR3 struck trouble in traffic, eventually retiring before the first pit stop. The JPS France 68 car too was wiped out in traffic, and the #69 car was also held up with a few traffic related incidents, which left me in an easy 4th after the first hour. Joe in the #104 had an equally fruitful time, picking up the lead in Lights from RC Motorsports 1 early on while they too had problems with traffic, and pulled a healthy margin by just keeping it smooth and steady, much like the sister car. By the time the #04 made its first driver change at 90 minutes, the R4R cars were running 4th and 5th, albeit a lap apart.
Brendan Kaczmarek took over the #04 car from 4th overall and on the lead lap for its second stint, and while not being as quick as Scott, he drove a consistent stint and kept the car in its strong 4th place. The car didn't go without a few scares during the next 2 hours though, including Brendan's arm cramping, and as he stretched it down the front straight he accidentally flicked the H-Shifter into reverse gear! Needless to say the ensuing 180mph spin and flight through the air was highly dramatic, but amazingly the car avoided hitting anything particularly hard and survived without noticable damage. Brendan also suffered a spin late in his stint that ended with being T-boned by race leaders VTR1, but again the car was lucky to survive with minimal damage. By the time I took the car back over at about 3 hours and 45 minutes, the car was barely two or three tenths off its ultimate speed, and was still handling perfectly, and still running a strong 4th (albeit a further two laps off the leaders).
Joe Mudrak stayed in the #104 and suprised everyone by making it to the 4 hour mark with absolutley no damage to his car, an incredible acheivement under extremely difficult circumstances. He left Brendan, fresh from his stint in the #04, with a clean car and the lead in the lights class, which (once all the confusion from the driver changes had sorted itself out), became a 30 second advantage over RCM1 going into the final hour, running 6th overall. But then, disaster struck. Brendan's internet died with no warning as he was coming out of the last corner on about lap 200 of 228, and the car disapeared from the server. Joe was on the ball and imediatley jumped in the car, but Brendan's unfortunate positioning at the time of the disconnection, plus the lap lost during a disconnection, and the time it took for Joe to get on the server, all in all lost the car nearly 3 laps. It only lost one position, but it was the important one, and there was no way of getting it back. It was heartbreak for the entire team who had lead for nearly 5 hours, only to have it yanked away in the final hour by a problem completely out of our control. Joe fought back valiently but in the end was only able to gain back about 45 seconds, not nearly enough.
While up at the sharp end VTR sailed to a one-two ahead of OATAS #19, the #04 cruised home to an easy 4th, three laps behind the OATAS car ahead, and three laps ahead of the JPS France 69 car behind. The #104 came home 7th overall but a very disapointing 2nd in Lights. A couple of good results, but an empty feeling in each of our stomachs. The #04 had been prepared for a season defining race against the VTR3 Mazda that never materialised, and the #104 lost a race they had all but won. In a strong 23 car field in second rate cars, most teams would take 4th and 7th in a 6 hour race as tough as this and feel a great sense of acheivement, but not this team, we felt we deserved more.
Still, a whole lot of promise was shown by the three core drivers at Karjala, and we move on to one of the major spiritual homes of GTP endurance racing in a month's time, with the final round of the OATAS season: The 10 Hours of Watkins Glen, a track we are all so familiar with, and a race we have never been more eager to succeed in!
Final Results:
