Insight Racing Intends To Keep Building at Round 2

Insight Racing Intends To Keep Building at Round 2

http://insightracing.com/?p=574

HOMESTEAD, Florida, 4 March – Insight Racing got to the party, and had their first dance at Daytona International Speedway for round 1 of the 2011 GRAND-AM Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge. Had they been contestants on a popular dance show, the judges may have praised them for their tenacity and spirit, noted their potential, and encouraged them to keep on dancing, even if the end-result was less than desired.

The party has moved south from Daytona Beach to the Homestead-Miami Speedway for the Kia 200, the second round of 10. Insight Racing will field drivers Tyler McQuarrie and Nico Rondet in the No. 18 ST Class BMW 328i and Paul Gerrard with Martin Jensen in the No. 19 GS Class BMW M3.

Since the opening race, the team has made great strides to bolster its infrastructure. The entire organization had pulled off what may be described as a minor miracle in even getting to the first race with the complete team only truly coming together less than two months before. The ensuing month has been spent tending to a myriad of details that were something of a luxury in the run up to the Daytona race.

“I know how hard the whole organization has been working since we last raced, so I can only say that I’m really looking forward to getting back in the car this weekend,” said Gerrard. “We’re lacking in track time to really develop our race car, so we’ll have an aggressive schedule to get through in order to sort the car out, but I could feel from Daytona that we were already headed in the right direction, despite the setbacks.”

Gerrard’s co-driver Martin Jensen had even less time behind the wheel at Daytona.

“Yes, it was a little frustrating standing on the side so much, but that is part of the job, especially when you are talking about a new team and a new (for Insight Racing) car,” said Jensen. “So obviously, I’m very eager to drive a lot of laps to get the car to where we all know it can be.”

Over on the ST side of the garage, the 328i, which has completed more competitive miles than its sister car, was fast from the outset. In some respects, it was too fast, which led to it’s motor failure. Driver Nico Rondet explains.

“The car had an amazing level of mechanical grip around Daytona, and so we were able to carry quite a bit of speed through the corners. Unfortunately this had the unintended side effect of hampering the oil circulation through the engine, which led to a blown motor in practice,” Rondet said.

Co-driver Tyler McQuarrie adds, “We’re eager to pick up where we left off after the first practice at Daytona – in first place.”

Thursday, March 3rd, was unofficial test day for Continental Challenge series, which Insight Racing used to good effect. The Kia 200 race weekend officially kicks off with practice and qualifying on Friday, March 4th, at 4:35 PM EST, and race day on Saturday, March 5th. The green flag waves 4;15 PM EST. Follow all the action live on grand-am.com, and watch the race telecast on SPEED, Saturday, March 19th.