Insight Racing leads at Lime Rock Park on the way to fourth at the finish

Insight Racing leads at Lime Rock Park on the way to fourth at the finish

Lakeville, Conn. (28 May, 2011) -Insight Racing was once again in a familiar position on Saturday as the team led 19 laps of the Memorial Day Classic at Lime Rock Park for round five of the GRAND-AM Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge. But after scoring a second place finish in the most recent round of GRAND-AM racing, a run to the top of the podium for Insight Racing was denied after a small brake issue compromised the race outing for drivers Tyler McQuarrie and Nico Rondet in the No. 18 Insight Racing BMW 328i.

McQuarrie opened the race from behind the wheel, and moved forward to lead the race on lap 43 of the 136-lap event. Growing his gap over the field to over five seconds, McQuarrie only ceded the lead when he was called into the pits some 19 laps later.

“The car was great-it never fell off (in lap times),” said McQuarrie after his stint. “My biggest concern going into the race was the start, but we came out of turn one in fourth and it was a clean start so I was happy with that. Then we just stayed in the train for a while. The leader was kind of holding us up but I was just biding my time and saving the car. It’s hard to pass here, and it just wasn’t worth it to do anything foolish at that point. But if there was an opportunity that came up, I took it. The car was awesome. I worked really hard out there when I got the lead to try to give us as much of a gap as we could before the pit stop.”

Rondet assumed the controls and returned to the track 18th in the running order, and moved up to once again press for a podium position. But that forward progress was thwarted after a quick spin. He fought back to sit fourth for the final restart on lap 129 and held his ground to finish just over one second behind the leader.

“Tyler drove a fantastic race and the team gave us a great car,” offered Rondet. “We are still struggling a little down the straight away with the rules as they are. We made the most out of the strategy as it played out, but then I had a bit of a braking problem. So I lost the positions from running second when the ABS had an issue, and I only had rear brakes and it spun me around and it almost happened a second time. So, it was an exciting race! At the end with the restarts, I couldn’t really get up to get into the fight, but I knew that anything could happen so I wasn’t giving anything up until the final lap. We got a lot of points today, and we’ll take this and move on to the Glen.”

“We had pace, the engineering effort put the car up where it belonged, and we had a great effort from the drivers so it was frustrating not to take a win today,” said Insight Racing Principal and Director Gil Lynagh. “Tyler did a phenomenal job, everything we asked him to do-save the car, save the tires, perfectly. Nico had little bit a of an issue with the brakes, I think there was some pad knock back that caught him out. Luckily, he saved it without flat spotting the tires too much. We had the race-we were there. Even at the end, we had the pace to win. But a small thing like the brake issue just cost us today. The team, the crew, drivers, performed excellent. We can’t wait to get the GS car together and back on track as well. We had a great week with getting to visit the folks at BMW NA and their support is very much appreciated. All in all, I’m happy. We are pushing and we are doing everything we can to prepare to win. I feel like this is a very competitive team, and we should be a force to be reckoned with.”

Insight Racing will return to race action soon as GRAND-AM reconvenes for the Continental Tire 150 event at Watkins Glen International.
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