Lites: Gerardo Bonilla Mosport race notes

Bonilla double wins IMSA Lites races at American LeMans Mosport weekend

August 26, 2007 -- Bomanville, Canada. B-K Motorsports driver Gerardo Bonilla completed a perfect weekend in the IMSA Lites series, winning both races in controlled fashion. Running in support of the American LeMans Series, Bonilla's Skip Barber / Cornerstone Controls / SRS Elan DP-02 racecar ran on Saturday afternoon on a wet racetrack, and again Sunday morning on a dry, but cool track.

After starting on the Pole, Bonilla began the wet Saturday race by running up a safe lead. "I just wanted to build a gap. I knew I had an experience advantage in these wet conditions," said Bonilla. A full course caution stacked the field, but Bonilla used his knowledge of the Mosport wet conditions to pull ahead at the restart. Another caution later in the race led to similar events. "I could see in my mirrors the guys having their own battle for 2nd, but that just made it easier for me."

In Sunday's dry race, Bonilla's job was much more challenging. A hard charging Jay Cochran and Shelby Mershon were close behind. "I could see Jay pushing as hard as he had all weekend. Each time he matched my pace, I just made it my job to find even more speed. That challenge was actually quite satisfying. If it weren't for my awesome B-K Motorsports crew, I'd have never been able to take the challenge," related Bonilla. Despite one caution period, Bonilla chipped away gradually building his gap to 3 seconds at the checker flag.

Bonilla now leads the IMSA Lites championship standings with 150 points to second place Jay Cochran's 110. With four races remaining over two weekends and a win worth 22 points, anything is still possible.

Bonilla will be racing again when the American LeMans Series visits Road Atlanta October 3-5, pulling double duty in the B-K Motorsports IMSA Lites racecar, and the Autosport Development SPEED World Challenge Pontiac GTO.

-credit: bms group