We were acting as a support race for NASCAR's Nextel Cup event, so we had a rather unusual schedule. All practice and qualifying was held on Wednesday afternoon and evening and the race started at 11:00pm on Thursday.

PRACTICE AND QUALIFYING

We had one long practice session from 2:00pm until 5:00pm, with a fifteen minute break sandwiched in the middle. We started off playing with wing angles and immediately found some stability under braking and in the quicker turns, and to my surprise we didn't seem to sacrifice straight line speed. We made some small adjustments to the shocks, and then later made an anti-roll bar adjustment, which further improved the car.

I think the fastest we went in practice was a 1:57.2, which was only about fifth quickest, but I was happy with the way the car was performing going into qualifying.

The qualifying session started at 6:00pm for GT and SGS cars and lasted for fifteen minutes. The car was strong and I was able to turn a 1:55.6, which was good enough for second on the GT grid. I was a little disappointed because I found myself over slowing the car going into some of the slower corners because the braking was so much better than what I was expecting. I definitely felt like I left some time on the table.

We had one more practice session prior to the race and it started later that night at 8:00pm. It was the most important session of the day because it was the closest we were going to get to testing under race conditions. I immediately went out and did my qualifying lap times on a used set of tires. This was partly due to the cooler temperatures and partly due to my getting used to the improved braking performance of the Porsche. Joe and Jay drove the car after me on the same set of tires and both thought it was quite good. Joe turned his fastest time of the day, and Jay came close to equaling his best time on a set of tires with a full race stint on them. We ended up quickest in the session, and barring a drastic change in conditions, decided not to make any changes to the car prior to the race.

THE RACE

Thursday wasn't nearly as hot as the previous day and as the race approached we got some wind gusts and droplets of rain. There was plenty of time to sit around and contemplate the weather because the race didn't begin until 11:00pm. It was a 250 mile event with a two hour and forty-five minute time limit.

I got off to a good start and took the lead entering turn one. I had to slow down through the first few turns while some of the Daytona Prototypes directly in front of me got their bearings, and this resulted in a few challenges from behind, but I held them off and was in the clear by the infield kink section. As I approached the west horseshoe (turn five) we went full course yellow. I had to slow to avoid some Daytona Prototypes that were parked in the middle of the turn, but everyone seemed to reorganize themselves until we rounded the corner and I got slammed from behind by another GT car. The impact caved in the left side of the rear bumper and I had a vibration after that from where the bumper rested on the exhaust, but it didn't affect the performance of the Porsche so it was never really an issue.

I pulled away on the restart and the only GT car that gave chase was the #67 Porsche driven by Kevin Buckler. He was a few car lengths back for the first several laps until he drove by me on the front straight to take the lead. I was very happy with the handling of the Orbit Porsche although we seemed to lack straight line speed relative to the #67 car.

We stayed one-two for most of the stint and pulled away from the rest of the GT pack. I didn't want to pressure Buckler from behind and get in a battle because I thought it would slow us both down and I was hoping to get a big gap on the other GT cars to give Joe and Jay some cushion.

When Rodger Hawley called me on the radio to let me know that I had about five laps left in the stint I pushed a little harder and got back on Buckler's bumper. I passed him for the lead as we exited the bus stop, but the fuel light had come on just prior to that, and as I approached the pit entrance the car stumbled and I dove into the pits.

The Orbit crew made quick work of the pit stop and Joe Policastro took over for me behind the wheel. Most of the other cars pitted within a few laps and once it all sorted out we were in third position behind the PTG BMW's. The #66 and #67 Racer's Group Porsches were close behind in fourth and fifth. Joe ran a solid stint and managed to hold on to third position, but the two Porsches were only a few seconds back.

With a little more than twenty laps remaining Joe came into the pits for our final stop. Jay climbed on board as the Orbit crew produced another fast pit stop, which included fuel and tires. After the stop we were in fifth, however, the #66 Porsche still had yet to pit and we suspected that the #67 car may have another stop to make because they had pitted much earlier than we had.

We were in a good position if the race were to continue under green flag conditions, but with around twenty minutes remaining there was a full course yellow. The yellow flag enabled the two Racer's Group cars to pit for fuel and tires. Their stops moved us into third position, but Jay now had to race them on old rubber.

The race was restarted with ten laps remaining, but we only ran a couple laps under green before a big crash in turn one halted the action.

When the green flag dropped the next time there would be a five lap shoot out to the checkered flag. The full course yellow had bunched up the field and now Jay had to contend with Ian James in the #66 Porsche, who was right behind him in line, and Buckler in the #67 car, who was only a couple cars back. On the restart both Racers' Group Porsches were well ahead of Jay by the time they reached the start-finish line. We couldn't see what had happened from our pit stall at the end of the pit lane, but Jay felt that they both jumped the restart. The review by the officials was inconclusive, so Jay had to play catch up.

Jay ran some very fast laps considering the condition of the Dunlop tires, and by the last lap he was able to pull back up on the rear bumper of the #67 Porsche. He made his move entering the bus stop pulling almost along side Bucker, but couldn't make the move stick and we had to settle for fifth.

We had a clean race, with quick pit stops and no problems, so we were all a little disappointed with the result, particularly Jay. The late cautions really hurt us because they turned an almost certain third place finish into a five lap shoot out, with Jay on old rubber.

We have a little break in the schedule before round seven at Mid-Ohio, but we still have half the season left to run and are in good shape in the points so we'll keep on fighting.