Al Carter harvests another podium finish in California!

This last week was a very busy one for Al Carter who competed in three different series with three different race cars entered in four different races on the legendary Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. The high note of the weekend was Al Carter’s podium finish in the first race of the Lamborghini Blancpain Super Trofeo. This was Al’s second podium finish of the season after winning the inaugural 2014 round last March at Sebring International Raceway.

Carter’s ‘Super California racing weekend’ saw him race in the Lamborghini Blancpain Super Trofeo where he drove the No. 80 Jetset Magazine/B+ Foundation /Lamborghini Palm Beach Mitchum Motorsports with co-driver Aleks Altberg in two rounds of the series. Al was one of the top contenders to win last weekend but the competition is getting tougher than before. Carter and teammate Altberg finished third in race 1 on Saturday and finished fifth in race two on Sunday afternoon.

Al Carter’s main program this season is the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship where he co-drives the No. 007 B+ Foundation/Jetset Magazine/Eagle Tech Systems/Sideskinz TRG-Aston Martin Vantage V12 with James Davison. This was the home race for the TRG-AMR led by Kevin Buckler and of course the team was looking to do well before its public, sponsors and guests.

Al Carter started the No. 007 Aston Martin on Sunday morning and was involved in a small contact incident that was out of his control. After changing a damaged wheel/tire, he returned to the track without losing too much time, thanks to the good job performed by the TRG-AMR crew in the pits. Al’s one hour stint gave him even more experience driving the Aston and he was able to turn his fastest lap of the weekend and kept pace with the top GTD competitors.

"I made contact on the first lap so we had to do a quick tire change and we also added fuel and got back out,” said Carter after the race. “We drove in a fuel conservation mode, making the first half run nice and easy. Once we worked on the car we didn't quite have the pace to get all the way up to a top-five spot. The TRG crew will keep at it, we'll keep getting better and we'll get this Aston Martin V12 Vantage up front.”

James Davison replaced Al behind the wheel of the 007 and advanced through the field through a fuel strategy call that ultimately did not play out. Because of recent Balance of Performance changes that unfortunately went against Aston Martin, the car and team was unable to keep pace with the front running competitors and elected to go with the ‘saving fuel’ strategy that would hopefully allow the car to stop one less time than the other competitors. Due to the lack of full course cautions, Davison was forced to pit for a "splash-and-go" with only ten minutes to go in the two-hour race.

Carter and Davison finished the race 13th in their GTD class, scoring some good points for the 2014 championship.

Al Carter’s third racing program last week was the Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge with Rebel Rock Racing. Carter came to California with hopes that his No. 7 B+ Foundation/Eagle Tech Systems/Sideskinz Porsche 997 that he shared with co-driver Brett Sandberg would give him a top result. Despite trying really hard with their Rebel Rock Racing engineers and crew chief the two teammates had difficulty finding the best set-up to perform at their peak. Al qualified 18th and had plan for a conservative race to bring back championship points. Before Laguna Seca the No. 7 Rebel Rock Racing Porsche team was 7th in the point standings after two races. Their good race finish expectations turned into a nightmare right after the start of the race on Saturday. Al Carter was a victim of a turn 1 multiple car collision forcing the 7 car to retire from the race. Sandberg was never able to drive and the two did not score points for this third round.

Nevertheless Al Carter competed in the four races he was entered in and despite some disappointing finishes, Al was able to race hard and is already looking for redemption at the next event.

The Continental Tire Monterey Grand Prix CTSCC race will be broadcast on Sunday, May 11 at 10:00 a.m. ET on Fox Sports 1.

The next CTSCC event is scheduled for May 23-24 at Lime Rock Park in Connecticut. The next TUDOR United SportsCar Championship race for the TRG-Aston Martin Racing team is scheduled for May 30-31 at the Raceway at Belle Isle Park in Detroit, Michigan.

Al Carter