A high paced raced saw Team Sahlen battle hard for a 4^th place finish in the ST class at Virginia International Raceway.  The result allowed Team Sahlen to retain their point lead by a narrow margin of 1 point. 

Team Sahlen had previously been to Virginia in the Spring of 2014 to test.  This allowed the team to unload with a set up that was tuned to the twisty race track.  Additionally, the Virginia race weekend started off with a Test Day.  And this provided an extra amount of time to fine tune that set up.  Team Sahlen entered both the #42 and #43 on test day to allow for a proper amount of tuning the set up as well as driver track time.  The super hot day proved to be work out for the drivers.

“It was very hot on test day.  After driving the #43 on the entire test day, I found myself on the scale pads and found I had lost 7 lbs of fluids.  That is over a gallon of water.  The humidity made it deceptively hot.” – shared Will Nonnamaker

In practice, Team Sahlen continued to work on set up.  The 1^st session was cut short due to 2 red flags.  The 2^nd session saw Will Nonnamaker take the whole session, and work towards qualifying pace.  In the end, this was not necessary, as Qualifying was rained out, and the grid was set according to points, which placed Team Sahlen 1^st on the grid.

At the start of the race, Will Nonnamaker held charge at the start of the field.  The racing was tight and hard fought at the front.  Will held strong in the Top 5 until the 1^st caution came out at the 30 minute mark.  As the race went back to green, Will continued to battle with the front ST back, until it was time to pit at the 1 hour and 20 minute mark, handing the car over to his brother Wayne inside the Top 10 in ST.

Team Sahlen performed an excellent pit stop, and rejoined the race in the heat of the battle.  Interestingly, the yellow at the 30 minute mark was the only full course caution of the race.  This meant that the final 2 hours of the race were run under green flag conditions. 

Wayne battled hard in the traffic, fending off competitors from behind, while still working to make advances forward in the ST class.  In the end, this resulted in a 4^th place finish. 

“It was a real battle out there.  I didn’t have a single lap in 2 hours of driving where I wasn’t racing someone.  I am proud of the crew for giving us another excellent stop.  After the race, we were able to look at the pit road times, and again, just like Road America, our team was tops in in/out total time.” – shared Wayne Nonnamaker

By securing 4^th place, Team Sahlen retained the lead in the ST championship by a narrow 1 point lead.

The Virginia International Raceway will be televised on FoxSports1 on August 31^st at 10 am EDT.

The next event will be at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas.  The race will be at 1:20 pm EDT on September 19^th.  The race will be televised tape delayed on Fox Sports 1 at 12 noon EDT on September 28^th.

2014 Team Sahlen Campaign Partners:

Turbo Performance Center, Tarett Engineering, MOMO, Guard Transmission, Forgeline, Porsche of Beachwood, Pittsburgh International Race Complex, HubstandsPRO, MSI Racing Products, NGK Spark Plugs, TheRacingInsiders, CM Racing Products, Mothers Polishes, Winding Road Racing, Grassroots Motorsports Magazine, Maxima Oil, CV Products, Design Engineering Inc., Hella, Racing Print Media, Hard Brakes, CRC Chemicals, Penske Shocks, Alcon Rotors, Lamin-X, Optima Batteries and TheRaceSite.com.