Mosport: Ian Baas Racing race report

Baas Finishes Eighth In SPEED World Challenge TC Race Sunday at Mosport

Despite driving with a broken wrist, Ian Baas finished eighth in the 50-minute SPEED World Challenge Touring Car race Sunday at Mosport International Raceway.

Baas, of Noblesville, Ind., qualified third in the 23-car field on Saturday in a rainy session with a time of 1:39.615 (88.866 miles per hour) for his No. 18 STaSIS Motorsports Audi A4. It advertises Team Janica Racing, silvertrek.com, PFAFF, STaSIS, Clear Capital and a charity Baas helps, the Think First National Injury Foundation.

On Sunday he stayed in third place for the first two circuits of the 2.459-mile, 10-turn road course until Pierre Kleinubing passed him for that spot in the esses. Kuno Wittmer got around him on the next lap to push him to fifth.

Baas maintained fifth, running between Wittmer and Randy Pobst in a fierce battle, until lap 18 when Pobst got around him. Jeff Altenburg and Seth Thomas both wiggled by on the next lap to push him to eighth, and he was still in that position when the checkered waved under yellow on lap 29.

Many times Baas ran laps faster than the drivers ahead of him. His fastest lap was his sixth one, which he did in 1:31.169 for an average speed of 97.099 mph.

With the solid eighth-place finish Baas moves into the top-10 in the driver point standings.

Baas's post-race quote follows:

"I was fast everywhere except Turn 5B. I just was way underpowered there for some reason; we need to look into it further. I could pull six car lengths on people everywhere but there; they were pushing me there.

"I did the best I could; I drove the wheels off it. It's just so frustrating when people are getting you on the straightaways.

"But I'm happy to finish in the top 10.

"The broken wrist happened after the race at Montreal.  I just tripped and
fell off a platform and onto my hand.  It [the injury] makes everything
interesting.  But it was OK.

"My teammates, Adam Pecorari and Chip Herr, finished first and second and everybody finished in the top 10 as a team, so it was a great result for STaSIS and also for PFAFF. A lot of people from PFAFF were here, and they seemed to be enjoying it."

The race will be broadcast at 1 p.m. Eastern time Saturday, Sept. 1 on SPEED.

Two SPEED World Challenge Touring Car races remain in 2007: Oct. 3-5 at Road Atlanta Motorsports Park in Braselton, Ga., and Oct. 19-21 at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca in Monterey, Calif.

Fans can keep up to date on Baas's schedule throughout the year on his Web site at ianbaasracing.com. The SPEED World Challenge Web site is at world-challenge.com. Information on STaSIS can be found at stasisengineering.com.

Baas also drives a Farnbacher Loles Porsche in the GT class in the Grand-Am Rolex Series. His next race in that series is its season finale Sept. 12-15 at Miller Motorsports Park in Tooele, Utah.

-credit: ibr