Road America: Genoa Racing qualifying report
Genoa Racing Qualifies Fifth in LMPC Class For Sunday's American Le Mans Series Race At Road America ELKHART LAKE, Wis., Aug. 21 - Frankie Montecalvo of Highlands, N.J., the youngest driver entered in Sunday's Round 7 of the American Le Mans ...
Genoa Racing Qualifies Fifth in LMPC Class For Sunday's American Le Mans Series Race At Road America
ELKHART LAKE, Wis., Aug. 21 - Frankie Montecalvo of Highlands, N.J., the youngest driver entered in Sunday's Round 7 of the American Le Mans Series presented by Tequila Patron, qualified fifth in class and tenth overall Saturday afternoon at Road America in Genoa Racing's No. 36 Le Mans Prototype Challenge (LMPC) car.
The 19-year-old driver will share the bright-green car with Christian Zugel of Holmdel, N.J. The car, which is based in Zionsville, Ind., promotes the sponsors of Green Earth Team Gunnar: G-Oil, Bayshore Recycling of Keasbey, N.J. and the Zais Group.
Montecalvo was fourth in class in qualifying until Andy Wallace went out in the last few minutes of the session and ran 0.106 of a second faster. Montecalvo's qualifying time was a 2:00.846 for an average speed of 120.590 miles per hour for the 4.048-mile, 14-turn road course.
Montecalvo had never driven here before a test session on Friday, and he has never even been in Wisconsin before this trip.
Still, the team has made steady progress here. Its fastest lap in testing on Friday was a 2:05.314 (116.290 mph) before torrential rains hit the area.
In the first official practice session on Saturday morning the team's fastest lap was a 2:05.159 (116.434 mph), and by the second practice session right before qualifying it recorded a lap in 2:03.505 (117.994 mph).
"Before qualifying we went over the data to improve our lap times, and it definitely worked," Montecalvo said after the qualifying session. "We tried to just be patient, and it paid off.
"I just went out and tried to do the best I could and not make any mistakes," he added. "The Genoa Racing car was great. It was very nice to drive. I definitely appreciated being on new Michelin tires. The track felt pretty similar today to yesterday too, despite the rain we had yesterday afternoon and last night. It wasn't green or anything; it was a good race track."
Following Sunday's race the circuit travels to Mosport International Raceway in Bowmanville, Ontario, Canada for a race next Sunday, Aug. 29.
-source: genoa racing
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