Long Beach: B-K Motorsports preview
B-K Motorsports Poised and Confident as the Team Returns to Long Beach Long Beach, Calif. - As they head to Southern California ready for the Tequila Patron American LeMans Series at Long Beach, April 18-19, the B-K Motorsports crew with the No. 8 ...
B-K Motorsports Poised and Confident as the Team Returns to Long Beach
Long Beach, Calif. - As they head to Southern California ready for the Tequila Patron American LeMans Series at Long Beach, April 18-19, the B-K Motorsports crew with the No. 8 BP Lola B07/46-Mazda MZR-R LMP2 have never felt more prepared. As the series returns for the second straight year at the historic street circuit for one of the most anticipated races of the season, B-K drivers, Ben Devlin and Gerardo Bonilla come poised and ready.
Displaying a carefully measured sense of confidence, Devlin made his case for the team's readiness.
"First off," Ben noted, "we like Long Beach. We had one of our best runs there in 2007 and we feel it's a bit like home knowing we're running in front of many members of the Mazda and Yokohama corporate families. We want to do well for them. Second, We had an excellent run in St. Pete. We approached the weekend cautiously, putting the car through its paces and bringing it home in one piece. We have since tested in Utah and the car was great. We were able get in plenty of seat time and, we were able to spend time on setups and tires. The results were very encouraging. I think Gerardo [Bonilla] and I will have a great opportunity to show what the No. 8 BP Lola B07/46-Mazda MZR-R can do."
John Doonan, Manager, Motorsports Team Development for Mazda, shared Devlin's optimism.
"We are very much looking forward to getting back to Long Beach," Doonan said . "We had a promising run going here last year and we look to carry some momentum from St. Pete into the race this weekend. This race ends up being a "home track" for so many of us from Mazda and Yokohama--and we will have many guests from our partners at BP. We will certainly give it our best to give the home town crowd something to cheer about."
Last week, Devlin hit the streets of Long Beach in the stunning Mazda Furai concept car as part of Media Day for Tequila Patron American Le Mans Series at Long Beach.
Furai takes Mazda's unique Nagare (Japanese for "flow") design language a step further as it is translated into a concept car based on an American Le Mans Series racing car. The car utilizes the Courage C65 chassis the company campaigned in the Series in 2005 and 2006, and the 450-hp three-rotor rotary engine that distinguishes it from anything else on the track.
"It's a fantastic thing to drive," Devlin said. "For the way that Mazda has looked to bridge the gap between race cars and road cars, it's a really special thing. It's based on the race car so it's not much slower than what we're driving on the track. It's the future and what has given us the drive to go forward."
-credit: bkm
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