2022 IMSA Prototype Challenge At Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course

[Music] well if you're gonna wait four months to return to action there's no better place to do it than this this is not daytona international speedway where round one of the 2022 ipsa prototype challenge championship took place this is the mid-ohio sports car course and it is one of the most challenging circuits these drivers will face all year long just over 2.2 miles of twists turns up and down it has a bit of everything some great passing zones as well high speed turn one down into the keyhole you can get the job done there but you need to get a good run off because then down the long back straightaway into turn four another good passing area and then it gets busy the s's madness thunder valley then into the carousel out and on to the front straightaway take the checkered flag and take a victory at mid-ohio a little bit unique in that there is a remote start on the back straight that's where we'll start this race today but it finishes at the start and are at the finish line i should say brian hill with you along with jeremy shaw we'll bring you all the action the round two of emsa prototype challenge for 2022 and a good field here jeremy yes indeed brian the 16 cars will be starting to race the 17th could have been part of the field that was the the most was number 18 but uh excuse me number 21 that had a big crash yesterday for bob doyle in the first practice session that was actually on friday so that car was very very badly damaged unable to take part but a strong field and we saw a tremendous rate at daytona we've seen some great races in the past i expect more the same today in perfect weather conditions the racetrack looks absolutely beautiful nice green grass that's because we've had plenty of rain you don't want to get off into it today because while there's no standing water that you can see in that grass it is still very slick and there's some puddles that are hidden if you get into it you're more than likely going to make contact with something as you said 16 cars jeremy and what an awesome race track this is take us through the field yeah 60 cars and for round two of this year's empty prototype chance in 60 positions george stakos in the arve motorsports with grs ligee alongside him tony's chasm it's in caliber 60 for wolver racing he has not driven the car this weekend prior to right now because yesterday the last few days he was in indianapolis with the road to indy he coaches per perhaps racing row seven of the grid is john cerrino for often in motorsports economy 57 alongside jerry crout the car number nine for jdc motorsports such as a and a ducane two ducane chassis on row six steve sculling in caliber 46 for ct motorsports anthony muller model sports north america kind of 18 local driver from columbus ohio is mark kawami harry olsen will start 10th in canada 3 for junior racing that's another legit similar car alongside for us racetronics is brian thinus carnival 77. lance wilsey for sean creech most what's he call number 14 will share row 4 with jason rabe for lmlt motorsports and number 54 leggier row three anthony mantella from canada for awa racing in the duquesne d08 car number 17 alongside arie baylog caliber 30 junior racing three in a leisure jsp 320. another leigh and duquesne on row two tony arvey in his rv motorsports with grs caliber 44 in fourth position keith grant for jdc motorsports in the duquesne caliber 40 the front row dan goldberg call number six for performance tecmo sports another delegate but on the pole position in the duquesne d08 a magnificent performance by the carnival 23 or jdc motorsports that is memo giddy that is indeed the memo gidley if you're a sports car fan an indycar fan you'll remember memo gidley from his performances in both of those series but he has not had a full-time ride in 10 years this is the first time it's happened in 10 years after that excruciating crash during the rolex 24 where major damage to his lower extremities he has fought to come back and he's got back in a car in 2017 worked his way back up and now a full-time seat here in this number 23 alongside youngster alexander kariba and they have been spectacular really really strong all weekend long strong at daytona as well jeremy they had a great showing there and it really was somewhat of a surprise kuribo without much experience at all did not put a wheel wrong all weekend long at daytona and let's see what they can do today with memo gidly starting on pole look at this already playing some games up front they haven't even gotten to the keyhole onto the back straightaway where the start will take place and dan goldberg and that blue and red number six and memo giddly wheel the wheel literally wheel to wheel coming into the keyhole yeah that uh jdc with the al auto sports caliber 23 on the pole position for the second time in two races this season coming up for the green flag waiting for that start zone waiting waiting waiting there they are goodly pulls the trigger green flag flies and we are racing that bright yellow number 40. keith grant trying to slide in behind memo diddly as they head down to turn four and grant's gonna take the position from goldberg great start by memo gidley time did absolutely perfectly wonderful to see him back in a full-time ride and heads up hats off to this uh a.l motorsport team for giving him this opportunity it was a team owner who's planning on driving this season without carriba i didn't have his license together for day four daytona memo stepped in at last minute pretty much did a sensational job and they decided hey why break up a a potentially winning formula they came away with a third place village at daytona but a great start here once again for maymo gidley i just chose the experience that gidley has he may have been out of a car for several years before returning to competition in 2017 he ran last year in sports cars and won a championship there a problem for the three at the start slow start for terry olsen in the number three off to the side there and it may be a control alt delete issue because he gets back up to speed but a problem there at the start got plenty of time plenty of time to go it's an hour and a half worth of competition here so just stay on the lead lap try to catch back up to the field if you get a yellow that will certainly help and then you're right back in it but gidley already pulling out almost a three and a half second lead at the end of lap number one yeah that's that's a an amazing start there from gidley he's really got the hammer down there while the other guys are score i think the other thing that's interesting jeremy two different types of chassis in the field the duquesne chassis the legion chassis and you can kind of tell the difference between the two you look at memo gidly or keith grant and it's a kind of pointy nose on that ducane chassis if you will the legies slightly more rounded and in years past what we've seen is the league get up to temperature up to speed a little bit quicker it's a cool morning here in central ohio but memo giddly wasting no time in that duquesne getting those michelin tires up to temperature and again like i said i think it just shows his years of experience feeling comfortable with a car that may not be on top of its game for a couple of laps i think that's exactly right and he he doesn't have a huge amount of experience in these cars he actually did a few races in the prototype challenge uh three or four years ago but he hadn't driven one since then before he hopped into the car for daytona but as you say he does have a massive amount of experience in just about every sort of a race car that's a pony finishing car he's just a great story all around i mean he comes from not not not a particularly privileged background humble beginnings let's say and he worked his way up through the ladder on pure skill ability and personality and i think that's where memo really shines he's just a tremendous character from top to toe so alicia leading in the hands of memo gidly as i said getting that car up the feed very quickly then keith grant then dan goldberg then tony ave in the 44 and arie baylog that's the top five right now you've got duquesne chassis ligiers mixed in there in the top fives it shows the competitiveness of this series it does we've got two there's nine uh nine legers in the field six ducanes and they're pretty much spread evenly through this 16 car field so not much to choose between them i think nowadays with this second generation of lmp3 cars following the bright orange of tony's chasmets you see the ukrainian colors on that car as well on the nose and on the engine section the tail fin and for a guy who hasn't been in the car all weekend long you mentioned it at the top of the show jeremy's been in indianapolis spotting for some of the teams on the road to india's the indy gp this weekend his first laps are in the car and he's not wasting any time putting the hammer down and going to the front remember he was victorious at daytona in round one he certainly knows how to handle one of these lmp3 machines he does and he's another great story as well i'm another tremendous character richard from estonia which is uh one of the neighbors to ukraine almost uh so that's why he is carrying this allegiance on the car this weekend but he generally drives with bruce hamilton but after that victory at the daytona bruce has decided to hang up his helmet on a winning note and hats off to him for doing that but even more credit to bruce hamilton he's made sure this team continues and that tony's back at the wheel of the car this weekend because tony's after that first race win at daytona wasn't sure whether his season's going to be continuing so it's tremendous to see that world of racing car already have been started at the back of the field up into seventh position and uh making ground on the cars ahead of him that's kind of a sixty police chasmus terry olsen back up to speed in the number three he comes through thunder valley with the 57 of john cerrino just in front then steakos just in front of sereno the 61 the 57 the three now into the carousel and that 57 a good story as well the cerino family jeremy the father john in the car he'll share that with josh's son this weekend and it is a family affair all the kids work on the car and they all have some very interesting names it tells you just how into motorsports this group is daughter is cena done josh and then you look at the other names in there i think there's a nigel there's a hans you don't think they followed racing you don't think john's a race fan exactly right and uh tremendous to see uh that that uh just the enthusiasm for motorsports they're from uh the oklahoma area and they had some disasters at daytona had a crash there a lot of damage to that car and then even worse they had their their trucks stolen uh on on the way back from uh from daytona as well so they've had all sorts of adversity to overcome in that number 5017. i think it's one of the great stories though of the insta prototype challenge championship you have all different types of entries big teams that have been doing this for a long time new teams and while the sereno family is not new to motorsport they've been in scca racing for years and they've got a couple of national championships in different categories it shows just how competitive this series is but it also shows that there is a place for those competitors to come and learn the ropes of professional racing and i think the latter series that emsa provides whether it's the one make series of mx-5 cup the porsche carrera cup lamborghini super troffeo those one make series or a series like this a prototype challenge you've got all types of different drivers drivers who do this because it's their passion and other young drivers who are doing it to find their way forward in motorsport it's a great place to learn an lmp3 par so that you can then go run one in weathertech and then perhaps move up through the classes there yeah isn't that cool and uh there is effectively a great ladder system in the sports car ranks as there is in the openwheel racing in north america uh it's pretty much unparalleled i think motorsports in north america compared to anywhere else in the world where the ladder systems actually lead you somewhere you can actually earn the opportunity to move on up up the ladder so that's always wonderful to see here's his battle for second place coming out now to complete lap six in this in this uh in this race remember gidley meanwhile he's charged away out front he actually doesn't set faster slap on that last hammer first lap he hasn't gone quicker than each of his previous laps but settling into the mid one minute twenties now is memo gidley and finally that pace has been matched by keith grant in second position and goldberg hanging in third a little bit further back down the field steve scullin is is uh slipping back a little bit at the moment had a good qualifying effort steve and now terry olsen having uh had that problem on the coming up to the green flag in that junior three racing caliber three is moving his way back and steve skellen is next on the list of people to pass for terry olsen it's a great day for racing here nice and cool the engine should be making good horsepower and the track once it gets some temperature in it and the michelin tires get some pressure and some temperature cars should be a delight to drive you can run the tires off here at mid-ohio even on a cool day it is a very front tire let's call it heavy race track because of the way the cornering loads bear especially on the left front so memo gidley i think kind of established his lead and he's going to settle into a pace to make sure that he's got a car underneath him all stent long 40 min 40 minute minimum drive time for these drivers in prototype challenge and then you can pit but in reality you should be able to do this race on only one pit stop and when you fuel on that pit stop that pit stop has to be a minimum of 93 seconds from pit in to pit out and if you wonder why that is well jeremy i mean that saves the teams a lot of money because it saves them crew and equipment as well correct yeah that's exactly right and you know insta does a good job i think you're trying to keep the costs within reasonable bounds motor racing is expensive that's an axiom that's that's proven no doubt about that if you want to make a fortune make want to make a small fortune out of motor racing not up for the large one is the old adage but uh your imsa does its best to try and keep the costs within reasonable bounds like i say for the teams and they appreciate that and that's why i think all of the insert classes are well populated at this dan goldberg not letting keith grant get away and now a problem that's at the exit of the keel the number 46. steve scullin this on his own battling there with the 61. looks like he just kind of pushes out jeremy into the right rear of the 61 probably had to lift off the throttle to keep from making hard contact and i think that lift off the throttle moving that weight forward and the car really planted those front tires and around the rear income yeah he's kind of taken bit by surprise there by george seiko's trying to make a move around the outside so it's got some more work to do now that has steve scotland he'll be sharing that car with danny formal and uh danny was really pleased with the progress that steve made yesterday in choi offensive replay what happened here going side by side into the keyhole and uh staccato certainly gave scotland plenty of room on the inside uh but um steve just gone through a little bit too hard and it uh stepped sideways on him and um and he as you say he was pinched down a little bit on the exits by steakos but certainly no fault of stekhos and around he goes so he's got some ground to make up now meanwhile memo giggly just reset the fastest lap of the race one minute 19.63 last time early extended his lead by half a second over keith grant and dan goldberg who continued to battle for second place in the fourth tony ave another massively experienced driver is slipping back somewhat in caliber 44. i'm a little bit surprised by that in the early stages yeah but this is what i'm looking forward to seeing all year long tony ave and toniece kesmitz go wheel the wheel and lmp3 machinery and now the is that the 60 that's in casimus must have an issue he seemed to be running at pace jeremy but tony's chasm is now into the pit lane i was saying i'm looking forward to watching these two run now he's got a problem with the left rear yeah that's unfortunate for uh for tony's chasm it's he what charged way all the way up into fifth position before making that stop there he goes just did he just change the left left rear yeah it was only the left rear so you must have a left rear going down and this is not what is considered a full pit stop if no fuel flows in the car there is no minimum time you can come in get it done as quickly as you can and get out it's only on the pit stop where you fuel that the minimum time that 93 seconds applies so chasmet's now back out on the racetrack kind of where he started jeremy he's now back at the back and has to work his way forward again but he's got plenty of time to do that especially if we were to get a full course caution but like i was saying think about tony abbey and tonis chasm it's two guys that have been around this sport forever both of them have driven pretty much everything in fact tony ave was a world champion snowmobiler in addition to all the cars he's driven tony's chasmets has driven up to and including indy cars all kinds of sports cars and i'm looking forward to the rest of the season and watching those guys battle get a look at the distance between memo gidley and keith grant and grant and that bright yellow number 40 going through the keyhole right about now and dan goldberg behind him and then looking back to tony ave and as you said just sliding back ever so much from dan goldberg tremendous performance here by memo gidley improves his fastest up again excuse me again on that last lap there's been ten laps completed in this race memo has got has gone uh incrementally quicker on every lap except for one where he's a couple of a couple of hundreds slower than the previous lap so just getting yourself in the groove here as you say it's relatively cool this morning this time of year at the mid-air sports car course and not a lot of grip early on memo just sounded feeling things out there's no point in extending himself into a huge lead here just to take it comfortable but already that gap has extended now to over seven and a half or almost seven and a half seconds over the second place car of keith grant but i'm sure the team is talking to mimo gidley say just run a pace run a pace be comfortable you don't want to burn the car down and pull out a 30 second lead even if you're capable of doing it with an hour and 14 minutes to go because a full course caution will negate all of that so and you don't want to burn off the tires doing it because you need to run that stent as long as you can so for memo goodly it's finding a comfortable balance you don't want to back off too much lose your concentration and perhaps work your way into a mistake so that's that kind of magic spot of just find it find a groove that you can just run in lap after lap after lap and the car actually should get quicker as the fuel load burns down if you've taken care of those michelin tires which is exactly what memory is doing one minute 19.363 last time around still somewhere away from the the track record that was set last year by mike skeen on his way to a second place finish for junior three racing but again it doesn't matter the the relative pace to that record doesn't matter what does matter is a relative pace to you your competitors and memory giggly extended that lead lap by lap over second position keith grant he also turned his best lap on that last time around the gap now 7.7 seconds good battle for fifth heading through madness and into turn nine into thunder valley ari bailog in the white orange and black liji being hounded by anthony mantella mantello with very little experience in any type of prototype machinery he's driven gt cars and has a lot of experience there but stepped into this lmp3 based machinery and said i just absolutely fell in love with it his first test was at most 40 he said within five laps he was so much faster so many seconds faster than he had ever been in a gt car he said it just does everything better and and quite honestly he goes i've got a lot to learn it's coming to me but it gets to you really quickly and i need to adjust to the closing speeds the braking capabilities the cornering capabilities because of the downforce that the car has but doing a great job right now chasing down baylog now interesting jeremy we should know we talk about co-drivers well several of these teams out here tony ave we talked about tony's chasmets as the 46 is around and turned 9. steve scullin having another problem the good day not going the way that he wants it to but we talk about these teams having two driver formats but as i was saying ave chasmets mantella they're all driving alone if you're a bronze level driver you can drive by yourself you don't have to have a co-driver there in the bronze championship that just kind of adds a different dynamic to it what it does mean is you're going to be tired after an hour and a half in one of these cars around this racetrack but kind of adds a different dynamic mantela said he has a co-driver lined up for next season he's already thinking about that and while he told me who it is i can't tell you who it is but it's a it's a pretty special talent so mantello looking for big things in this series in the future yeah and yeah as you say has a good amount of experience and all sorts of different cars to zanzi but just loves these p3 cars and everybody who drives one says exactly the same thing they're just a huge amount of fun to drive with this big 5.6 liter v8 engine they they've got plenty of grunt plenty of torque and they sound fabulous aren't they so they're just really a lot of fun to drive and a lot of your driver driver aids on these cars as well uh they do have traction control uh and uh they uh you know they're just fun to drive everybody who drives on that tells me they have a huge smile on their face when they get out of the car i was speaking with steven simpson yesterday and asking him about it because he's not spent a lot of time in one of these lmp3 cars and obviously he knows a dpi he knows an lmp2 car but doesn't know these very well sharing with jerry crout this weekend kraut running in 10th right now and steven said it's just a ball to drive yeah i could use more horsepower i said well that's coming from somebody who's used to driving a dpi but it's so well balanced it doesn't do anything untoward it's it's very stable it telegraphs what it wants what it needs what it's going to do and he said you know the other great thing is there's room in it and steve simpson is a tall guy and he said there's so much more room than there is in an lmp2 car even though the chassis looks smaller from the outside he said it's just another thing that makes it pleasurable to drive he said folding himself up to get into an lmp2 car is certainly a challenge and speaking of challenges john cerrino off he's got that engine re-fired i could see the grass moving beside the exhaust now he just needs to get it safely back on the racetrack see what happens to sereno up and over easy to do yeah easy to do at turn five the world falls away and jeremy while these cars have traction control it is a less sophisticated traction control than you would find even in a gtd car certainly less sophisticated than a dpi or an lmp2 car and a lot of the drivers especially the more experienced drivers drive with it turned off in the dry so easy to get wheel spin with 450 plus horsepower as you come over the crest of that hill yeah i think uh not sure also whether caliber 18 mark kwame i'd have had a spin on that lap as well all of a sudden he lost a couple of positions there he was under pressure from jerry crout who went through into 10th position also following through with terry olsen and then tony's chasms here is this train of cars coming through turn nine out at the moment with the casper's at the back of this three-car train as jerry kraut who leads it terry olsen of course had that problem on the uh on the or coming up to the green flag in car number three for junior three racing and then tony kazmis having had that extra pit stop to change the left rear tar fighting his way back up through the field anthony mantella now really working ari baylock hard as they head down the back straight away into turn four mantela in that green number 17 trying to go a long way around baylog nothing doing there now he cuts back can he go underneath through five no not this time but baylog certainly knows he's there i could only imagine that the camera rear-facing camera and those side mirrors see nothing but green in them right now there's mantello doing a dance behind saying i am here and now this is a difficult place to get it done drops a wheel mantello certainly not short on courage it's not easy yeah it's uh that's a bold move there and that trailer cars behind were just coming over the crest there to turn 11 as well they're closing up on this duo here as well so uh there's a good battle you know all the way up and down the field memo gidley meanwhile just resets fastest lap of the race 61 with a problem i got it i got it i don't got it wow he got lucky there that he didn't get high sided so george stakos little tank slapper coming out of the carousel and puts that 450 horsepower and turns the traction control off and do a little drifting to get back on the racetrack and get back underway and mantella getting back underway with his attack on baylog but i think that attempt jeremy in turn 11 really set him back about two car lengths now he's gonna have to pull his way back up to the rear wing of baylog in that 30 and see if he can get him under attack one more time oh bailog way off the apex there it's a good look at the number 77 of brian athena run by the u.s racetronics slash change racing slasher gara motorsports um team and uh brian cena's uh again a huge amount of experience in all sorts of different cars and doing a pretty respectable job here in that eighth position right behind jason rabe in the calendar 54 that's the mlt motorsports entry as well they're having that battle for the seventh and eighth positions and the co-driver for brian tina's patrick kuyala from from finland although he's actually born in spain and i think lives now in italy he's proper european has been super fast in the practice sessions and doesn't have a lot of time in these cars he's patrick is best known for his time in lamborghinis in lamborghini's super trofeo series but he loves racing in north america loves his opportunity to drive for this team actually one run at one of the opening rounds of the lamborghini super trofeo series a couple of weeks ago at weathertech raceway laguna seca but uh he's fast and he was actually quickest in a practice session on friday that's patrick kriyala economist 77 it was interesting i was talking to shane cineverante who runs that program for venus and kayala and he also runs a program in lamborghini super trofeo and we were talking about making the transition and you and i were just talking about the latter series and the different series that you can run here in the imsa family and and there you have it i mean he's a team owner that says hey you're doing pretty good in this one if you'd like to step up to prototype category we've got something for you there too and many of his drivers do that as you just said both venus and kayala with a lot of lamborghini experience kayala a 15 2015 pro series champion in lamborghini and in 2016 the european pro-am champ and so you move from those cars to these and you just kind of keep moving up the ladder and that's what these guys that's what they have their sights set on they they absolutely do have their sights set on that and uh it's you know shane cena brittany has been around the sport a long long time he ran a very successful dorycot racing indian lights team way way back 20 years or so ago originally from sri lanka made his home in southern california now for many many years and runs a really tight operation there the the engineer on this car is peter jacobs who again has been around the sport uh a long long time to engineer just about everything you can imagine he has engineered is possible to engineer and that car clearly has been working very very well so far this weekend not only are the ladder series or the other series good for the drivers it's a great business model for the team owners as well as we were just saying memo gidley holding down the point just under eight second lead over keith grant and then dan goldberg the top has stayed the same been interesting to watch tony's chasmets back up inside the top 10 now as he runs 10th and he'll try to continue to work his way up front and for chasmets with that left rear tire problem early on cool calm and collected it may not have been fun to lose that time on the racetrack but i think he's going to pass more cars today jeremy than anybody else that's out there he moved forward and then moved back now he's trying to move forward again and for memo gidley who heads into thunder valley and then through turn 11 that super fast left hand sweeping corner that leads you to the carousel second fastest corner on the racetrack he's going to have lap traffic to deal with here before too long chasmets moving forward in that bright orange number 60 just gets past terry olsen on the way into the keyhole yeah that was uh steve scotland he went past there which was a lot down uh in that number 46 office sports but tony is charging along he's pulled well away from terry olsen and closing on lance wilsey who's the next car ahead of him the gap though is still about 13 seconds between the number 60 car and the car ahead of him on the road but that gap was uh 20 seconds only four laps to go so he's pulling him in to better than a second and a half a lap that's number 60 closing on number 14 between 9th and 10th positions well traffic i think is working for anthony mantella right now is ari baylon is closed in on the 61 of george stakos who had that issue early on and he really got held up into the carousel that time and it allowed mantella right back up on the rear wing and now the fight that we saw about a lap and a half ago has resumed mantella now all over the rear wing of arie baylock does not get a good run out of the keyhole though and this may allow baylog a little bit of breathing room i think you could probably uh would rather like that at this stage in the game either yeah and then a couple drivers excuse me just to their best laps of the race so far tony are they in the fourth place kind of 44 there's so terry olson taking a wild ride on the exit of a turn uh he turned 11 there coming up the hill toward the carousel but he's able to continue might have got some grass it looks like he might have got away with it there that's certainly a concern isn't it brian you talked about the grass earlier in the in the in the race it's wet but it also can clog up radiators if it gets stuck into that radiator grill but he might have got away with that one yeah you can't really see up into the tunnels that go to the radiator but hopefully it's not packed with grass he wasn't that far off the race track but you can certainly see on that number three as he heads through madness the remnants of grass they're on the right front splitter and the right dive plane and baylog did get a little breathing room and mantello just needs to take a breath realize that he's got over an hour to go just over an hour to go to get in front of the 30 relax take your time i think he guessed wrong on the 61 of steakhouse when they were headed down the back straightaway he looked drivers left and i think that was going to leave him a little room up the inside driver's right and had he done that in the beginning might not have lost quite as much ground so easy for me to say as i sit at zero miles an hour in my chair and there well over 130 140 miles an hour as they head down the back straightaway into the brake zone into turn four yeah that's a jerry kraut then about to go our lap down to memo gidley our race leader indeed he does uh on this uh this would be the 23rd lap for me mcgill his last lap time was over 20.8 so he's being very cautious through the traffic is memory gidley uh sensible thing to do he's got a comfortable lead of seven and a half seconds over keith grant in second place so no point in pressing the envelope at this stage he knows with team team mate alex caroba who will take over for the second stint in this race is fast so no need to take any undue risks therefore memo giddly a little bit farther back keith grant in second place in that bright yellow car the jdc another jdc motorsports entry for the duquesne so jake's running first and second at the race in this race at the moment but uh closing in right now having uh turned in some good laps lately he turned his best lap off the race a couple of laps ago dan goldberg in that performance tech motorsports carnival six he's got a run going up thunder valley yeah traffic playing a big part of it there and still playing a part and he's gonna get it done he gets past grant but can grant use the traffic i think keith grant got caught in that traffic coming off of turn nine got pinned up beside it kind of a pick and it allowed goldberg to sneak through one of the mueller cars not doing any favors at all this traffic trying to work through mark kwame behind the wheel of the 18 and now keith grant may be able to do something with it [Applause] so the little rg bargy in the keyhole that was the 77 into the back of the 61. yeah ryan thinus i don't know even though steakos is down be interesting to see what the stewards say about that venus was trying to work his way through well yeah i mean he's he's certainly off the playstation athena's didn't expect him right pick up the throttle uh as hard as he was expecting to we just kind of got into the back and i think it's probably a mistake from athena's thing you might i'm sure the stewers will look at that one because you know you just got it you just got to respect the guy might not be quite as fast as you but you've got to anticipate that i mean he's been following me get closing on him for several laps had venus and i think he just got got a bit caught out there perhaps uh steakhouse got a little bit sideways coming off the corner lifted off the throttle just for an instant and that loss of momentum put thienus into the back of him and turned him around so the stewards will certainly be looking at that one and uh you claim certainly because if he gets a penalty certainly it wasn't done in the in any with any kind of malicious intent one of those incidents that happened out on the racetrack but what a great move that was by dan goldberg to take advantage of that traffic move himself up into second place in that blue red and white performance mode sports kind of a six keith branton down into third position had a huge amount of success at this track with ohio driving of course with his brother david those who have been driving forming atlantic cars for years and years and years had all sorts of success in the semi-pro ranks but loving this lmp3 car and giving a good account to themselves once again it was just interesting that is how traffic plays here at the mid-ohio sports car course you get into the back with area of the track through the s's the area called madness that they're going through right now into turn nine up and over this blind hill when you're mark kwame you're doing everything you can to hold on to the car and you got second and third rushing up on you and for keith grant it was like which way do i go which way do i go he picked left kwami stayed left which is what you want him to do you want him to be predictable and stay online but keith grant i think thought he was going to be able to carry a little more speed over the crest the hill dan goldberg guessed right and what you ended up with was two cars side by side all the way up to turn 11 through thunder valley and that was a bold bold move but traffic enabled it to happen and now goldberg has been able to pull out a couple of car links over keith grant yeah remember giggly meanwhile just uh nice and consistent out front settled into a pace now for mid one minute twenties that's certainly enough particularly with that traffic there that hold it holding up the the other leaders remember gidley uh heads into madness one more time this is his 26th lap for italy the gap now is over it's almost 12 seconds last time around over the second place car of dan goldberg so memo just great to see him back back at the wheel of a racing car hugely talented and talked about early on that horrific crash that he had and the the recovery from that was just excruciating for memo they they had just terrible pain for for months on end and uh yeah he he had some some pretty dark thoughts during that time but uh with the help of his mom and his and his uh his wife they've got got through all of that uh he's uh he's now back to you know pretty good fitness again and uh he's a heck of a driver and he's showing it again here this morning at the mid ohio sports car of course dominating this race for that gdc motorsports al motorsport team i'm not only a spectacular driver he's just a great human being you know i mean he's always been one of the most approachable drivers in the paddock and always has a smile on his face we were joking around yesterday and i remember talking to him the sports car race at sebring last year in the latter part of the year and you know we were talking about his recovery and he just said you know yeah it was dark at times but i just wouldn't let myself fall into the trap of relying on drugs to get me through the pain and stuff like that i needed to rehab i needed to heal my body i needed to do what i needed to do to get back and i didn't need to disguise it or cover it up and certainly i didn't want to be one of those people who fell afoul of you know the habits of of using some of those painkillers to get you through some of that stuff and i wanted to do it clean and he did and you can see the results of it and we were laughing yesterday about okay i'm through that but now i gotta wear glasses all the time and i he's like i wear a pair for distance and then i reach in my pocket to pull out another piercer or i can read with you because i must be getting old i told him i told him he didn't have anything on you and me jeremy you're well no i i i i was doing that for years i got myself some uh some better glasses a couple years ago she must admit it's a lot better than shuffling around between two pairs of glasses i became kind of notorious for that around the paddocks and funnily enough uh a fellow jeremy jeremy dale uh did the same thing for a while as well the two germans were running out between us with four pairs of glasses it was kind of fun [Applause] sorry jeremy that gap between first and second has come down by quite a long way remember good they must have had some problems with traffic on that last lap he's now coming up behind terry olsen in caliber three flashes the lights going down down into turn four maybe he's been stuck behind terry for a cup for a lap or more here he can't find his way past because all of a sudden it was one minute 22.5 last time around for they know that gap came down by about by about three seconds it's easy easy to lose two to four seconds a lap here with traffic and i think you know memo gidley again the experience the calm that he has behind the wheel he wants terry olson to know that he's there but he's not about to risk a move to get by him he doesn't need to right now i mean we've got over 50 minutes left to go in the race he's got time he's not going to risk the car to get by but eventually he's going to be a little impatient some wheel spin coming off the carousel yeah and you know it's certainly frustrating for him here that's a a a car that had quite a bit slower two or three seconds a lap slower than him but by the same token terry olsen that makes it by running off the road at turn three trying to stay on the lead lap that's what i was going to say he was just doing the best he could to not get lapped so when he hands over that number three car to courtney crone in the second half of this race she would be on on the same lap as a leader but a mistake there from terry just carried a little bit too much speed into turn one brian and off the road he goes yeah but huge huge props to terry olson because so easy to do what many many drivers do here and that is drop that wheel and then try to hurry the car back to the racetrack with a bunch of steering and inevitably it hooks violently to drivers left and impacts the wall on the left terry olson did what every race car driver should do every street car driver should do if you drop a wheel when you're driving on the street the very first thing you think is straighten your hands and the second thing is slow down don't slow down and add a bunch of steering straighten your hands get the car under control ease it back on the racetrack olson did just that and yeah he went down a lap but he didn't lose the car yeah that's right and live to fight another day is the the motto there basically isn't it oh you don't want to sit there that is the fourth place car of tony are they yeah i wouldn't expect to see that spin and like i said you certainly don't want to be sitting there as you can tell blind up and over and anytime you get off the track i i wonder about terry olson as well because you wonder about the grass and the radiators same deal we saw this earlier wheel spin up and over the crest of the hill like i said a lot of the pro drivers a lot of the drivers with experience turn off that traction control you can actually see in the exits for the radiators look at the grass come out so it did pack a bunch of grass in the 44 when he went off and you saw that black that grass come out the shark fin there drivers left especially more of it coming out yeah so he's going to be careful he's going to bring that car into the pits to see what the problem is or perhaps oh it's packed yeah the temperature's already beating to rise most likely on that car so bring ian scoop out all that grass well we said i said this earlier with terry olsen and another car off the racetrack you can't really see into the inlets as to how much grass is there but watch watch it come out as the air is rushing through the nose and then out the shark fins through the radiators you see the grass coming out and then you can see it stuck there in those shark fins avi climbing out [Applause] it might be a bigger problem than what we saw i can't imagine that the temperature rose that quickly that it created an issue no quite uh i i think you're absolutely right there brian and yeah he he's massively experienced a huge amount of success in again all sorts of different cars so he realizes that car is is permanently damaged for today so hops out of it and you know there's that he's he does not have a co-driver in this race he's one of uh just three drivers of the driving solo everybody else has a co-driver to complete the race but tony was doing this race on his own but it looks like that car is done for the day the number 46 car also in pit lane the window is open now for for drivers to get to the end with there's 41 minutes remaining drivers have to do a minimum of 40 minutes excuse me there's 40 minutes gone in this race 41 minutes gone in this way so the minimum drive time of 40 minutes has been has been eclipsed by many of these cars and they come into the pits at the earliest opportunity and again this pit stop because they will take fuel is a minimum of 93 seconds so if you're watching these drivers seem kind of lackadaisical and not hurried like you would see in a empty weathertech pit stop it's because they have plenty of time to get it done don't make a mistake take your time make sure everything is right because it is a relatively lengthy stop get your belts in make sure that they're over the hans device make sure your drink tube is in and for the crew members it's the same thing make sure that that single lug is tight on the wheel so that second driver can head back out on the racetrack if you're in the single driver category if you're driving single i should say sitting still in the car for that period of time feels like an eternity it feels like you're in a sauna even though it's a relatively cool morning here at mid-ohio a lot of heat in that cockpit and for those drivers they know the racetrack they know what they have to face when they go back out there they're ready to go chomping at the bit and now the complexion of the race is going to change jeremy because as we were saying the majority of the cars will be changing drivers drivers having to learn the racetrack getting up to speed just a different dynamic on the track now indeed so and uh gidley you know he's he's comfortable out front here no point in getting risk getting caught up in pit lane it's fairly busy right now with all of the drivers who have one driver all the teams that have one driver who's significantly quicker than the other all making their pit stop at the earliest opportunity romeo gidley knows that his co-driver alex carriba is fast so he can just go along there as long as he can and he's turning good lap times right now down into the nineteens again then lead over dan gilbert over 10 seconds uh on this last episode he's extended by a couple of seconds over the last two or three laps and he'll probably carry on for a little while yet before handing that car over he's got about a a six minute window before he needs to hand that car over to his co-driver because it's 46 minutes remaining in this race and for the second driver he too has to fulfill that minimum drive time of 40 minutes in this one hour and 40 minute race or 100 minute race and the clock doesn't start for the second driver until you leave pit out you go past the michelin rfid readers that read the marking on the side of the tire so that emsa can catalog it and make sure that it is the proper tire that you're running one of the ones that you've declared and that's where the beacon is that's where your time starts so even if the second driver gets in closes the door and pulls away from the pits at 40 minutes to go he still needs to get to the end of pit lane because he's got to get out of pit lane before that 40-minute mark goes by six is in yeah i had a second place there so uh dan girlberg will hand over that number six car to the paraguayan oscar pitta 29 years of age from san juan bautista and he's done a fair bit of rallying uh in in south america has has oscar and some gt sprint brazil as well but uh he's new to lmp three this season had some dramas unfortunately the first round of the season daytona so looking for a stronger run here this afternoon this morning i had a nice long shot chat with oscar yesterday he's just a very personal young man and it's funny we were talking about the rally stuff i said you're crazy you know on this off-road stuff through the woods over the river and through the woods the grandmother's house so on and so forth that these rally drivers do and he said well i have some time as well here in the states but really every racetrack is new to me other than sebring i've been to sebring and i said well that's like rallying as well right respect the bumps and he kind of chuckled and said yes it was a very rough racetrack but that's the other thing not only is he new to lmp3 machinery jeremy every racetrack that he faces is brand new to him as our leader is on pit road he indeed he is uh in this el auto sports jdc mo sports entry that black and white car for memo giggly it's been a black and white first stint for memories stretch lead out to around about 10 seconds before he brings that car on to the pit lane and that will uh you see the last of the leaders to pit keith grant is in the pits as well in second position so that i think will uh complete though tony's chasms hasn't been in yet he can't be sick well he has been here because he stopped earlier on he has not yet made his uh his he's a fuel stop in carnival 60. so he remains out on the racetrack brian's hill jeremy shaw with you round two of himself prototype challenge for 2022. pit stops underway the leader is in and the order will shuffle just a bit here as alex kuriba takes over from memo giddly in the number 23 entry have been so strong all weekend long first in the first practice session second in the second practice session then on pole in the hands of memo gidly and now young alex kuribo will take over the 23 and head out on racetrack and jeremy i think about the performance that i saw from kariba at daytona it was spectacular young driver without a lot of experience a lot of pressure on him in his first professional race at daytona but this is a different kind of pressure now because this is the first time they'll be leading he's been handed this car in the lead and it's up to him to keep it there what kind of pressure is he feeling now as he heads out onto the racetrack trying to find some temperature in those michelin tires yeah that's right i mean you know he he he had the same pressure at daytona because he was leading there in changeable weather conditions if i remember correctly as well yeah and that's what made that performance there so impressive the fact that he was able to stand up to that pressure but now again different conditions here it's it's bright and sunny so no worries there about the track conditions at this stage but it does take a few laps these times will be pretty cold when he leaves the pit lane no tar warms of course in any of the imps series or any series in north america actually unlike in formula one or other series in europe so he's got to build that heat and pressure into the tires on his own and it's going to take two or three laps to get that car to really where he wants it to be in terms of its handling capabilities i could see his hands working here in this first half of the lap that duquesne chassis we've said it before seems to take a little bit longer than the legion to get the tires up to temperature and pressure those white gloves that alex kariba wears you can see them moving back and forth on the wheel as he struggles to find some grip and each corner he goes through is going to get a little bit better a little bit better but it's probably going to take three or four laps to get them to their optimum working temperature and pressure and every step along the way you need to push a little bit harder and keep finding that speed that's there and answer what it's willing to give you but you can't step over the line look at the car twitch through the keyhole [Music] now for tony's chasmans who's still not made his uh fuel stop yet in columbus 6. he leads this motor race for wolver racing and uh his last lap time he's going pretty quickly too one minute 18.9 for me that's quicker than remember gidley managed in the first and however the second drivers are now getting up to speed a new fastest lap of the race was set by danny formal in that calendar 46 for ct motorsports last time around a woman at 18.48 for the costa rican he's a couple of laps down unfortunately but uh showing his own capabilities there meanwhile tony's chasm is here he is taking advantage of that clear track now and he's getting returns to max before coming in to make his whole pit stop he can make that at any time during this race uh because uh he's driving that car so low in caliber 60 doesn't have to worry about minimum drive time because he's gonna be driving the whole race on his own but yeah it's a workout around here isn't it right happened a higher sports car of course but tony's chasms is massively experienced and no problem for him in terms of the physical aspects yeah i mean it is a brutal race track the good thing is it's a relatively cool day there's very little time to rest in a fast race car here at mid-ohio you have the back straightaway but even it is not straight and if you've got traffic that you're having to deal with whether that's lap traffic or a competitor competitor that you're trying to keep behind you or that you're trying to get by straight away becomes very very short and not a lot of time to breathe it's uh one of the most technical tracks you'll find and that is the beauty of this racetrack it's old school in some ways its personality to me has never changed even with track surface changes over the years the only change that is really major was back in 1990 when they added the pro straight right here into the keyhole the old sports car course that you see out to the side with that they still utilize for club racing and some track days and things like that motorcycles but that straight is really one of the biggest changes other than the bridge it turned six came out that's just a visual change it didn't change the layout of the racetrack and like i said even through surface changes here jeremy when the surface was repaved several years ago the personality of the racetrack did not change about a year after it was laid down it returned right back to where it was from the years before when it used to have the big concrete patches in the apexes yeah that's true uh and uh it's just one of the it's a scenic race track it's a it's a fun racetrack to drive and uh just a uh a great place to go racing i mean the whole the whole this this part of ohio is very scenic and when the weather is such as it is today it's a wonderful place to come and watch the motor racing 54 right now in front that's tyler maxson just in front of the 77 kayala and kiala a lot more experience in racing in general than young tyler maxton in front of him both of these drivers very quick though maxon ran yesterday in the michelin pilot challenge race so he has experience on this racetrack and i was talking to him about the difference in the michelin pilot challenge car that he ran versus the lmp3 prototype i mean there's a world of difference the aerodynamics he drives a hyundai and michelin pilot challenge that's a front-wheel drive car this is rear-wheel drive 450 plus horsepower here and like i said a lot of aerodynamic downpours but that young driver he said it was really easy to kind of separate the two of them the braking zone he said was actually the brake markers you used about the same because even though the lmp3 car is a lot faster it has a lot better brake so he said there's some similarities but yeah there are a lot of differences as well interesting battle here between these two fastest lap by the way has been reset last couple of laps by parker thompson he's taking over from lance wills the car number 14 that's the sean creech by the sport entry and he has got the slap time down down to a one minute fifty one minute seventeen point five eight four about three tenths away from the lap record of mike skeen but good lap times here by parker thompson he's the only guy in the 17 he goes quicker again there's 17 583 for a for parker thompson on his 38th lap and he's closing in on that battle ahead of him that we're just watching between tyler maxson and patrick kuyala he's about eight seconds behind at the moment but parker thompson another one of those we talked about it it's one of those deals where you've got drivers in this series who are very content to be here and other drivers like parker thompson the tyler maxsons of the world guys that want to use this as a springboard to move forward parker thompson a standout and porsche carrera cop in the imsa family won both races at weathertech raceway laguna seca last time out and just a big smile on his face i interesting clothing he had on i'll say this when i went into the trailer and talked to him this morning before the race i won't give it away but i think i kind of embarrassed him i walked in and he was getting suited up and ready to go and he was like no i didn't plan to wear this it just kind of happened this way but uh anyway i won't go too far into that but just it's just a great young man no no well i'll put it this way it was christmas themed and he goes no i just pulled him out of the drawer i i didn't realize they were red and white candy canes on them so anyway um good man so but i mean just a great young man it's just a super good talent you were talking about jeremy dale earlier parker thompson drives with jeremy jail jdx racing in the carrera cup and um one of these guys who he said you know i i have aerodynamic experience i finished second and just about any championship that you can name in the road to indy so i've got formula car experience that had aerodynamics involved with it but yeah the lmp3 car a little bit different but i think i'm coming to grips with it pretty well and i'm just having a ball hopefully i'll get an opportunity to do more of these and it was just a pit stop there for call number 30. that was a penalty thomas merrill running in fifth position in that junior three racing car taking over from our ebay log and thomas merrill leads he lives literally around the corner from weathertech raceway laguna seca uh had a lot of success in trans am cars in recent years for some he's a very accomplished driver coach and a very accomplished driver in general himself and some reason he's managed to maintain a bronze status in terms of driver ratings over the last few years but he's he's quick he's fast but unfortunately he just served a penalty for running over a hose in the pit lane uh actually i'm not sure whether it was in his pit or somebody else's pit but he ran over some big equipment therefore has to serve a drive-through penalty and that'll be very costly for that calendar 30 and thomas was up into the fifth position uh which is uh which is where uh ari baylor had been running in the early stages of this race that's going to be pretty costly for that team meanwhile this battle continues now for fifth place moving ahead and taking advantage of that pits for extra pits up for the caliber 30. tyler maxson the the the the youngster here one of the youngest drivers in the race in the mlt motorsports entry that's the car that won the championship last season for josh sarshay and dakota dickerson who are this weekend making their debut or that team's debut in the into a tech sports car championship and tyler maxson here is doing a fine job just 17 years of age from bogart in georgia he's the youngest driver in the field made his debut at daytona just his second race then in these cars and holding off somebody who's much more accomplished and experienced in overall terms in patrick kuyala yeah i've been impressed with maxon behind the wheel here i thought piallo his experience would help him perhaps get by max and he got it to the rear wing but two ligier chassis tyler maxson has not put a wheel wrong and he has matched the pace or exceeded the pace for the more experienced kayala for the last several laps and i think again you look at tyler maxson's experience in michelin pilot challenge where the field is deeper with the number of cars they've got gs cars and the tcr car so there's always something going on right now this must seem relatively relaxing for him he only has one car on his rear wing that's a good very good point and again another very talented youngster though is is tyler good to see him spreading his wings and getting experience in different categories that is always a good move for young drivers the more drive different cars you can drive the more experience you have you can gain and you can draw from as you extend your racing career so interesting kazimitz still has yet to make his fuel stop 48 second lead in hand it's a 93 second stop when they fuel and it doesn't matter i was just thinking about this i was like well if he goes a long way they could do a time fuel fill at the end you know and get him right back out but that strategy doesn't work in emsa prototype challenge jeremy because if the fuel hose goes in it's 93 seconds whether you need 10 liters or a full fill indeed so uh so which is frustrating for him right now as somebody's been around this for a long long time he's coming up here to to put a lap on the third place car of david grant uh is uh is tony's chasmets he's just heard his best lap of the race has our race leader women at 18.802 that's about a full second behind parker thompson's best part thompson still the only driver in the 17's remarkable lap by here he's running in that kind of seventh position but uh but for uh back to this battle here for the fifth and sixth place tyler maxson soaking up that pressure from patrick kuyala who's fastest in the practice sessions yesterday with a lap time at 117.8 round two of the 2022 emsa prototype challenge championship continues from mid-ohio it's been almost four months since these teams and drivers were in action but great to see them here at this racetrack especially such a different track than where round one was you think about the high banks of daytona international speedway and now the flowing natural terrain road course here at the mid-ohio sports car course and this battle or fifth continues to rage the 54. tyler maxson threw the keyhole dragging the 77 of kuyala with him kayala not letting maxon get away kazimitz meanwhile tonys chasm it's up front in the 60 yet to make his fuel stop that big lead that he has will indeed go away the question is can you extend it anymore and jeremy i'm kind of looking at at the gap that he has and as he gets caught in traffic i almost feel like you should stop as soon as you get held up with traffic so that you can maximize the gain that you got and make sure you're not losing any more time and traffic and then you've got time to get back out there and fight again in that sec in that latter stint after you've made your fuel fill exactly right and did he get past uh the uh the laptop did he put david grant a lap down didn't you think he did because i think he must have done because he just turned again for a second that running is his best lap and racial this time is at 19 3 as he comes across a little bit slower this time around but his gap over alex kariba in second position is maintaining pretty constant around about 48 seconds he has over the second place car and as we just saw visually you've got it pretty much exactly a lat lead over the third place car off david grant but he's going to drop he might be able to get out in the top five after he makes his pit stop tony's councilman's going to be pushing as hard as he can but literally it's battle here developing in the midfield now with oscar bitter uh has been caught not only by tyler maxson and patrick kujala but also park thompson is right there as well four-car battle for fourth position what you see is not always what you get in motorsports and that's what exactly what you're looking at here tony's chasm is with the lead but you know one minute and 33 seconds will be given up on the stop that chasmets must make for fuel as soon as he comes in for fuel that's the minimum pit stop time and then the complexion of the race changes the lead then currently jeremy should go to alex karima then david grant oscar betar tyler maxson buyala this group that's tangled up coming through the carousel is all going to come into play as soon as kazamitz heads to pit lane indeed another another best lap of the race there by the race leader uh attorneys casual has won 1867 now for a race leader so he's extending the he's just a little bit over actually didn't on that last step because kareem was actually a little bit quicker 18-6 for career but won his battle here fourth third fourth fourth position wow tremendous wow kayala does manage to get by maxson and i believe it was oscar bittar that kind of held up that train they were all in a gaggle coming out of turn one and down to the keyhole a lot of bobbing and weaving and tyler maxson got the worst of that yeah there's a lesson there parker thompson goes back look at that maxim trying to get that the power dying coming over the crest of the hill in turn five to get back past parker thompson unable to make that happen so thompson now up into what is that uh fifth position i think isn't it yeah that is great stuff great stuff indeed that gaggle into the keyhole really changed things up that last lap you saw four or five cars into the keyhole that last time by and that's where i think tyler maxson just guessed wrong moved to the wrong place got checked up and that's what allowed kuyala by and that's what we're used to seeing especially in the latter portions of these prototype challenge races there's a six place right now for parker he's going to look to the inside there of the [Applause] carnival 77 unable to make that one stick here it was from last time you see yala goes to the outside and maxine in the 54 stays to the inside he didn't really get caught up in traffic it was just a powerful move by kayala but what that did was it slowed maxin down and it allowed parker thompson to get there and that's what allowed thompson then to get by maxson just a little bit later than that he i think thompson did a great job of reading that realizing those two cars side by side into the keyhole were going to check everything else up he sat back got the great run off the keyhole and then got max in just a little bit later oops ouch wow betar around into the fence did he get help up and over the crest of turn nine did kuyala get into the back of the six up and over the crest thompson now looking to the outside tyler maxson trying to slide back up the inside and regain the position from thompson that was wild just up and over the top i i could tell that oscar beats our was a little bit loose in that red and blue number six as he crested the hill there in turn nine but i don't know if cajala got into the back of him or not take a look here they come through madness that's bitar in the blue and white number six he's already a little loose a little out of shape jeremy gets loose at the top no just lost his own losses on his own like a bit of a tank stop and i wonder whether whether one of the tires was losing pressure perhaps that car just snapped sideways on him he had a wobble going into the corner as you say brian and he lost it over the crest of the hill and and i do think there was some contact there but again jeremy i don't think the contact it was incidental i think kajala got caught up in a car that had a problem in front of him and had nowhere to go i agree kind of incidental contact there i think if there was any at all between those two but uh that was a scary moment for oscar he's gonna got it going again that's the good news and he's still inside the top ten and um he might well be still with on the lead lap so if there's a full score of caution could potentially get himself back into the fray he's got some damage to the left rear body work and perhaps some of the aerodynamic aerodynamics we call it the cheese wedge that's there behind the wheel that may affect down force just a bit hopefully it doesn't affect the tire it doesn't rub into that left rear michelin and begin to overheat it or cut it down but you know i don't think television does the elevation changes here at mid-ohio justice that is a completely blind corner and they call the area just before it madness because you're up and over and there's a big compression right about the time you come into a braking zone and if you don't have the car exactly where it needs to be and you come off the throttle too aggressively at that compression in the braking zone the car can get out of shape and that's what we saw with pizzar car a little out of shape before he ever got to turn nine now david grant around in the same corner yeah so is there some fluid down there potentially good question of the racetrack because that's a very dangerous place right over the crest you cannot see that car at all as you come over even to the apex of that of that corner so let's see what happens he just loses it coming off the apex yeah and running in a comfortable third position yeah was david grant yeah we'll have to keep an eye on turn nine perhaps there is some fluid down but again i'll go back to the traction control aspect a lot of these drivers not using it because they feel like it's too intrusive and they can't really turn it down enough so the best level of turn down is turned off and at that light area there in turn nine when the car gets light coming across the top of the hill trying to squeeze that 450 plus horsepower down can be a challenge at time and it only takes a little bit of wheel spin up and over the top the car is always a little bit loose there trying to squeeze that power down and sometimes bite you alex kuriba should be your leader when kazamitz pits and he's working through traffic very smoothly methodically he knows that he'll have a nice lead in hand when chasmets makes that pit stop he has yet to do and there he is i was wondering when it was going to happen and jeremy as i said earlier and i think you and i were on the same page i think i would have tried to make that a little bit earlier so i would have had more time on the clock to claw my way back up to the front well he's got plenty of tires here so the the uh are they gonna change tires on this car as well nope are you not are you allowed to change tires during the pit stop nope aren't you okay um well the left front did come off so they are gonna change well and he's got plenty of tires this weekend as well because he hasn't used it on the track well yeah i you know what the surprise to me is he's about to go 69 minutes on this first tank of fuel which is a long long wait generally speaking it's about around about an hour so he's on 69 minutes it's been green all the way uh and to extend the fuel margin that long is a very impressive effort by tony's cousins but now through into the lead we'll go alex karima he won't be classified as the lead on this lap because tony's chasing us his pit is past the start finish line so he's already scored as completing his 51st lap but next time around alex carriba will be leading this race been an exemplary drive by him he's been pretty much matching the pace maybe maybe closed in just a little bit on tony's chasm it's during his stint despite the fact he's well clear almost a minute clear 50 seconds clear of the second what is now the second place battle with patrick kuyala and parker thompson so they are scrapping for second position in number 77 and 14. [Applause] yeah in fact i think tonis chasmus is going to come out in second place chasman's now out of the pits kayala thompson should just be coming into the shot at the top of the screen through turn one but chasm it's on cold tires not only are they cold i noticed that they are sticker tires they haven't been scrubbed in because he hadn't been in the car he didn't have a chance like you said jeremy certainly has a lot of tires so it's going to take three laps or so to get those michelins up to temperature and up to pressure to their ideal working and performance capabilities for tony's chasmets meanwhile patrick kayala parker thompson are going to be closing down on him they're right behind him right now and they've got much much better machinery underneath them yeah they've they've got their tires they're fully up to temperature here those michelin tires as you say do take a few laps to come in so uh tony so with his experience he's get up to speed as quickly as he can but he can see that patrick cuyarlo is right behind him and uh the allies actually edged away just a little bit from parker thompson over the course of last lap or two but it is parker thompson who has set the fastest lap of the race and off the weekend the woman hits 17.583 and now uh there's a mistake there for thompson in the uh in the carousel but to kayala right with tony's cousins and head towards turn one and if keala's gonna get it done he really needs to get it done in this next half lap i believe because once you get back into madness it's very difficult to get a pass done he needs to strike while the iron or the michelin tires that he has on the 77 or odd and are still a bit cold on the 60 because if he waits too long tonice kazamitz is going to be one tough customer to deal with down the back straightaway towards turn four heavy breaking at the end and then through the s's biala looks to the inside gets to done relatively easily could parker thompson close up on the back of the the 60. he's right there but thompson with a mistake in the middle of the carousel last time washed out lost five or six car links and has to claw his way back up to this battle and in so doing gives tony's chasm it's just that much more time to get those tires up to temperature yeah but uh chasman's here once he gets these the tires up to temperature take two or three laps but he has now absolutely brand new set as you said of michelin sat so he's going to have really good pace in that number 60 wolver racing legie for the closing stages of this race his tires good bit uh pressure of course than those cars had already made their pit stops what to 20 laps ago try not to lose too much ground and then as the other tire as the other competitors perhaps lose just a little bit of grip but these tyres are pretty consistent the hope that uh that kuyala comes back into his grasp anthony mantella in the green number 17 to the left side of the picture alongside the six and he was somewhat alongside of him as they got to the keyhole there and the sixth little contact right rear to left front hopefully that did not damage michelin tire meanwhile parker thompson with those fresher michelin tires has gotten past cosmets but as you said this is not over because once the temperatures and pressures do get ideal for kazamitz that michelin rubber much fresher he may be able to mount an attack and you've got to fight his way back up to a podium position that's his hope and of course this is a full course caution hopefully there isn't because we would like to go green all the way through the race but should there be a full course caution then tony's with those fresh tires would be in really good shape for the closing stages just 15 minutes to go in this race boy that time went past quickly indeed it did and once kiala got by kind of left the battle to thompson and kazamitz he's been able to extend that gap back to thompson thompson in that red white and blue number 14 and then chasman's in that fluorescent orange number 60 with the ukrainian flag colors on it trying to stay there trying to get those michelins to their ideal working temperature and see if he can remount an attack on parker thompson right now top three alex kuriba patrick kayala parker thompson and for kariba we said the pressure was squarely on his shoulders and an ideal day for racing the racetrack in great condition his teammate hands him a perfect car a lot of pressure on that young man's shoulders and just like we saw at daytona he has been rock solid [Applause] he has a lot of pressure here though for the number six six car oscar bitter anthony mantello it's a super battle between these two at this stage in the race with now just under 14 minutes to go [Applause] and uh and mantela really putting the pressure on bittar in the six and 46 danny from all not in the fight that green and white number 46 not in the fight because he's down the order a couple of laps but you saw him slide to driver's left and make it easy for kuyala to go by and that's the other thing that i like to see the professionalism shot by jerry crout earlier when he let the leader go by he saw memo gidley coming and just pulled over and let him go by it's another thing the experience that jerry crowd has is race for so many years race these lmp3 cars in europe and just said you know i'm not in this fight i'm not going to get involved in that you saw the same thing there when uh the 46 of danny formal had the leaders coming through yeah and just he's uh a driver doesn't have a huge amount of experience at danny four-mile but other than karting where he's an absolute for many many years he got an opportunity to answer motorsports uh to drive in the lamborghini super trofeo a couple of years ago and was just outstanding right away and a result of that he's got other opportunities to drive cars as well he also won one of the races in the lamborghini super trofeo at weathertech raceway to do the saker a couple of years ago are driving now for wayne taylor racing but uh he got his opportunity here he is super fast and uh you know his co-driver is still getting up to speed but but uh for danny formal a great opportunity to shine but this battle here is intense as parker thompson has just lost that position to tony's chasms and right behind him again still is tyler maxwell who just will not go away well yeah that was interesting i'm not sure where chasman's was able to get that done and meanwhile we were talking about danny formal as he came into the carousel let the leaders throw again and headed to pit lane so perhaps they have a problem on the 46. tyler maxson yep there's the 46. thompson's still being shown in third i thought he had the chasmets had gotten by i guess that's not the case but a problem for the 46 season pit lane no problems for alex koriba through the essence one more time madness up and over look at the car get light you can see it thompson now is in the pits what is going on here fuel yes did they not get enough fuel on board well that's and that's a problem obviously because hey you're off the racetrack but i go back to as soon as the fuel probe goes in this stop turns into 93 seconds it doesn't matter if you've done your regular stop earlier if you fuel in prototype challenge it's a 93 second stop yeah so there's damage to the left front and is the shock cover off as well has he made contact with something oh i thought no i thought the headlight lens on the left front might be missing but the shock cover is missing there yeah but uh that's maybe one has to assume that they just didn't get the fuel on board that car that they thought they did on their regular slot stop which came with uh around about an hour to go and given the fact that member gidley rounds or excuse me uh ponies chasmx ran an hour and uh nine minutes should have been no problem there but uh clearly there has been for sean creek's motorsports that's going to be very very costly that's going to lose them a lap to to the to the contenders to the bottom end of the top 10. meanwhile alex kuriba doing a super job nice and consistent laps at the front of the field but a commanding lead 45 seconds over that battle for second place between uh well kyle is actually pulled away now from tony's chasm it's [Music] karima inside ten minutes to go round two the 2022 imsa prototype challenge championship and we talk about this driver pairing memo gidley split into the car at daytona somewhat last minute unexpectedly but this driver pairing has been absolutely spectacular alan demolis who owns this car who was going to drive and then stepped out said i i want to continue to make sure that it's fielded the team i made a commitment to them so we're going to put this car out there i made a commitment to alex and for kariba it's the best thing that could have happened to him you put an experienced driver in because otherwise alex and alan were two inexperienced drivers in this car you put an experienced driver in that could teach alex the the ways and how to improve a car what to look for thoughts about strategy thoughts about racing in general and how to make passes all of that education that comes with it and this young man has been nothing but a sponge soaking it all in and you can see it and talking to the team they said it's unbelievable the first couple of tests that we had we were scratching our head going i don't know how this well this is going to work memo got here and it was like the professor had arrived class was in session and everyone has learned john church at jdc said i think me memo may be available and i kind of laughed and i said i imagine memo answered his phone and the first words out of his mouth were yes he didn't even listen to what you had to say john you know and yeah you know and and it's just been it's been a great pairing ever since then and the chemistry with that team is spectacular it is isn't it and uh chemistry is so important in this sport but uh mimer has chemistry with everybody he's just a great guy as we were talking about earlier on but uh alex creeper what a impressive young man it's the 24 years of age from branson missouri originally and uh got this opportunity from alex tomales to drive this car and he's grabbing that opportunity with both hands it's been a super performance nice consistent lap times mid-19s is what he's doing uh at the moment uh he doesn't have to worry about the fact that he needed to miss just a little bit over second place patrick kuyala he just yeah no point in pushing too hard in case there might be even with only seven minutes remaining if there was a caution period and maybe a lap or two shootout at the end he doesn't want to make sure he doesn't take too much out of his michelin tires that car ahead of him is david grant the last car on the lead lap in canada 40. [Applause] david grant slides out of the way lets the leader buy into the keyhole meanwhile patrick biala you look back at where he is on the racetrack and the lead that kariba has karim is halfway down the back straight away and kayala just now coming into the carousel 43 seconds that's an eternity around this racetrack yeah basically half a lap isn't it almost exactly a half a lap around here but to still be an excellent performance by the number 77 team of uh brian thinus and patrick kuyala in that ogara change slash u.s racetronics entry and i'm going to come away with a they hope here second place finish exactly as they did in the opening round of the championship at daytona by the way jeremy don't ever let me call strategy for a car well you know i was saying i i would have thought that perhaps the 60 would have stopped earlier and given chasmets more time to get back up well they read that perfectly even after that 93 second stop he rejoined the racetrack right there in third dropped back a little bit and then has moved forward but i mean he didn't lose much at all i thought he would be back in fifth or sixth you know well down the order but didn't drop nearly as much as i thought he was going to so like i said don't don't ever let me call strategy or if i do just tell me i'm wrong by the way they we saw that pit stop for the number 14 car dropped him out of the fourth position lance wilsey holds the hop tap back into that uh sean creech motorsport entry i think that's a pretty smart move because lance is also going to be driving of course this afternoon in the um tech sports car championship race you know an almost identical car for sean creek motorsports to be sharing this afternoon with joel barbosa so just getting some more track time here so he's ready to go for this afternoon yeah and uh yeah not about plan well let me ask you this jeremy is there a chance that perhaps they were short on drive time no berlin sir no he he came well at will after the fourth the okay 40 minutes uh i think so no i think uh yeah they probably realized that they weren't going to be able to challenge for the lead at that stage parker wasn't going to be running he's not going for the championship lance woolsey this is the first race of the season for parker thompson uh lance i'm not sure whether he's playing to do all the races or not but even so i don't think he's going for the championship so it's just a question for him gaining some more track time in preparation for the interwear tech sports car championship race later on today the same with several other drivers in the race as well [Music] what's funny i was talking to lance this morning and yesterday as well and this morning i walked up and he said you think there's anything else i can drive this weekend it's kind of like mark kwame who drive drives just about anything that he can get into in today's race and um was supposed to be in the weathertech race ran michelin pilot challenge yesterday runs lamborghini super trofeo from time to time and lance a stalwart in this lmp3 machinery and in the beginning he bought one just as a track car because he enjoyed the formula so much and then was like hey no this is fun and did a lot of the races on his own he just said i enjoy the drive time incredibly fit and i asked him remember they won at daytona and i asked him you know do you feel like with the championship uh well they did in the lmp3 category i should say and weathertech and i asked him about having a championship on his shoulders and he said you know whether i'm in ipc or lmp3 and weathertech i treat it like i i treated surgery when i was an active surgeon it's always the same but it's always different because every patient or every racetrack needs a different focus and a different approach while the basic concept of it is the same you have to approach it a little bit different if you want the result that you're after and that's success and he said so i just i just enjoy it immensely and he'll drive anything that he can whenever well and further to that uh he's done quite a bit of gtd racing on and off over the years has lance woolsey and he originally bought the lmp3 car just to attract a car just to go have some fun basically but he had so much fun driving the car he went out and bought another one yeah he won another one uh so he had two cars he was just yeah he would go for it for a a test session or a track day you drive one car until it ran out of fuel then while they were refueling that car you hop in the other one to go drive that one as well brilliant if one isn't enough two is bound to be better and what alex kuriba is looking for right now is the number one position i think he's gonna have to do two more laps because he came across the line with about a minute and 25 26 seconds left on the clock and he's been turning one minute and 19 second lap times he could slow down enough to make this the checkered flag lap if he wanted to because he has that kind of a lead but certainly looking for that first win and one of the biggest cheerleaders watching this today is bob stallings and if you're a race fan you'll certainly remember bob stallings the red dragon back in the day in daytona prototype category with the gamesco sponsorship on the side of it he just sent me a text a minute ago and said memo epitomizes the passion and determination of a professional race car driver so happy for him and it i know a lot of the fans are too know a lot of the fans and family members for alex kariba will be happy if he can bring this car home for about another three and a half miles or three miles around the mid-ohio sports car course this team has been exemplary all weekend long and they have not put a wheel wrong like i said first in the first practice session second quick in the second practice session then led again in qualifying memogidly putting that car on the pole and jdc motorsports has handed these two drivers a spectacular ride and they are going to enjoy it all the way to the checkered flag 2.2 miles to go for alex kuriba his first professional race win lies two miles down the road yeah and uh yeah he's worked hard to to create this opportunity for himself i remember hearing from alex uh four or five years ago probably when he was just starting out trying to make a his way into the sport and asking all sorts of questions the right questions and here he is a few years later all of a sudden driving this car and doing a just a fantastic job i'm really impressed with the job he did at daytona okay had to settle for third place at daytona but uh assuming he can get around this final half of the oops off the racetrack that's a spinning uh dylan mcavoy in caliber 18 for mueller motorsports another guy was making his debut this weekend and as a busy boy this weekend he was driving yesterday in the michelin pilot challenge right sharing with none other than bill auberlin they had a great run going there until they ran out of fuel on the last lap but uh yeah tremendous uh effort here by memory gidley and alex carey but two of the most deserving men in this pattern just a little bit of traffic in front it will not be a factor of the 23 looking for the flag young alex kuribo looking for the flag his first professional race win and they do they win at mid-ohio memo gidley alex kariba jdc motorsports what a drive this weekend you know jeremy some weekends you just have the car and obviously these drivers have talent but they just had such a good ride all weekend long and yala kagawa slow overturned nine he's slow and out of the way chasman zips by chasman's will finish second kayala dropping back tyler maxson in there as well maxine into the carousel it's chasmets who will take second maxson takes third what happened to patrick kayala got to be fueled going to be running out of fuel i mean he made his pit stop with uh around about an hour to go he's been running super hard and i think that's uh you know one of the reasons why tony's casualties wasn't but wasn't super fast in the early stint of this race because he was saving fuel he wasn't running flat out i'm pretty sure that'll be what the problem is for patrick kiyala he's going to limp home now in fifth position and what would have been the championship lead or equal championship lead has gone away for the finn that's a really unfortunate place for that for that number 77 team after a tremendous drive [Music] it's why we race isn't it jeremy it is not over until you make it around i don't ever want to call anything until i know the cards across the line and heartbreak or kayala he was right there he and brian venus had good battles throughout and it just all went away literally with four turns from the checkered flag wow and that that's talked about the the points implications and uh this is just massive for that team uh with the the second place finish today for the daytona winners bruce hamilton bruce hamilton uh shared the the car with tony's chasm it's daytona now it's totally it's on his own you will have 670 points unofficially after today's second round of the six race series in second position 20 points back will be memo gidley and alex kariba and now brian thinus and patrick kuyala would have been tied on points with the leaders instead will afford to fall to third on 580 as we head toward round three wow what a day this is a day that this young man will not forget maybe that young man either he saw some great racing you always do in imsa prototype challenge mid-ohio sports car course certainly delivers and for alex kuriba memo gidley congratulations on their first win of the series will there be more to come there's more prototype challenge coming your way in 2022 we're jeremy shaw i'm brian hill thanks for joining us we'll see you next time [Music]

Channel: IMSA Official

Views: 17,085

Keywords: IMSA, International Motor Sports Association, Prototype Challenge, IPC, Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, Mid-Ohio

Id: 0kMnbLlUTKM

Length: 98min 59sec (5939 seconds)

Published: Sun May 22 2022