Daytona, FL. The newly formed FASTMD/Racing to End Alzheimer’s TCR team took home a 3rd place win at the inaugural Michelin Pilot Challenge at Daytona International Speedway Friday afternoon. The 4 hour race would begin with Jay Salinsky in the team’s new Audi RS3 LMS TCR car, followed up by Nick Galante and James Vance. With a disappointing qualifier we knew we’d have some work to do. Starting in last position in a 4 hour race isn’t always a bad place to be considering the field of 49 cars would likely have it’s share of troubles. Staying away from the chaos is key in a long race such as this.
The crew from the St. Pete based Speed Syndicate put together a race strategy and executed it flawlessly in the pits. We were one of only 2 teams that had to share a pit box with another team because we were a last minute entry. So with added pressure of 2 teams sharing space & potentially having to pit at the same time, we knew there would be no room for mistakes. Pit stops & driver changes were practiced in each session leading up to the race.
At around the 45 minute mark we were fortunate to get the first of many full course cautions in the race. With Jay meeting the minimum drive time required, we could pit under yellow for fuel and driver change. Once Nick Galante got in the car he was able to move us up from last to first place after the 2nd hour. During the course of the next couple hours there would be multiple full course cautions. It felt as though the TCR field was getting smaller and smaller as cars were breaking down and accidents abound. The last stint was set for James Vance to bring the car home for the win. With fresh slick tires & a full tank of gas we were hoping we’d be able to finish off the race with only one additional pit stop. With a nail biting 20 minutes to go, we were in position to win the race. However, another full course caution would take us out of the lead with the 2 LAP Motorsports Honda Civic TCRs pulling out just ahead of us for a 1-2 win.
We pushed hard and came home with a third place podium spot only seconds off the leader. Given that we put the FASTMD/Racing to End Alzheimer’s team together about 2 weeks before the start of the season I’d say we got off to an amazing start. Many teams work for months on the cars while putting together driver pairings in order to win championships. With our first trophy in hand we are ready to conquer the season! Watch the race highlights on NBCSN on Wednesday February 6th from 1pm-3pm EST.