Homestead: Ian Baas race report

Baas and Miller Have a Top-Five Car Until Mechanical Problems Develop In Saturday's Rolex Series Race at Homestead

HOMESTEAD, Fla., March 24 - What looked like a sure top-five finish in the GT class of Saturday's Linder Industrial Komatsu Grand Prix of Miami Rolex Series race at Homestead-Miami Speedway disappeared for Ian Baas and Bob Miller due to mechanical difficulties.

Baas, of Noblesville, Ind., was in fifth place and flying when a wheel bearing broke on the At Speed Motorsports Porsche GT3 Cup No. 28 that he drives with Miller, of Sykesville, Md. Before the damage was done the car's outer CV joint broke, and although the team tried to make repairs and return to the race it had to call it a day with 35 laps and an hour complete.

Luckily Baas was able to bring the car to a stop in Turn 6 without hitting the wall or anything else, and its only damage was mechanical.

The entry is sponsored by Celette and Ian Global Shipping.

The team's official order of finish was 23rd in GT and 43rd overall.

"It was frustrating," Baas said afterwards. "I was comparing the times we had run with the times that the cars that did finish in the top five were running, and we would have been fourth or maybe even third," he said.

"I ran about 15 laps and had it up to fifth; the car was going to the front," he continued. "The wheel bearing broke, and that kind of started a cascade of other problems. I just pulled off in Turn 6; I didn't hit anything.

"It was so much fun for awhile," he added. "We would have had a top-five car for sure. We had no power steering, which was making things interesting. We would have been even faster with power steering."

-credit: ianbaasracing.com