Posted (08/12/2013) -
Following the ROLEX event at Road America, Team Sahlen was able to accomplish everything you could imagine at a race event, except win the race.
In practice, Team Sahlen was at the top of the Speed charts. Then for Qualifying, Dane Cameron got the nod to qualify the #42 and dutifully placed the BMW Powered machine on the Pole Position. At the start of the race, Dane made a wonderful start, and proceeded to march away from the pack.
Then at the 1st round of Pit Stops, Dane jumped out and Wayne Nonnamaker hoped in. As the full Prototype field ran through the 1st series of pit stops, the #42 continued to lead the way.
“I am so proud of the crew and the speed of their pit stops today. Even though there was only 1 weekend between Indy and Road America, the entire crew came into the shop on their Saturday off to practice on pit stop practice. This practice certainly showed through in the race, as we continued to retain our lead during pit stop activity.” – shared Team Manager Jay Chapman
Wayne Nonnamaker drove the race of his life, holding onto the lead for all but the last 2 laps of his stint. When round 2 of the pit stops started, Dane Cameron jumped back in to finish the race. As Dane got up to speed, he quickly picked off those DPs in front of him and started to pull away in the lead. Unfortunately, this is where this magical story ends. Soon a puff of smoke came up from the back the #42 and the Halfshaft broke. This put the #42 out of the race instantly.
Dane Cameron shared his thoughts after the race - “The end result is certainly disappointing but I couldn't be prouder of everyone at Team Sahlen. It was special to get our first pole position in DP and for both Wayne and I to lead a bunch of laps in the race was great. Everyone executed perfectly all weekend to put ourselves in a position to win for the first time. It hurts to see one get away but nobody could have done anything differently to prevent a tripod failure so I'm still very happy with our performance.”
Adding insult to injury, on the very same lap that the #42 drivetrain failed, the #43 Team Sahlen racer wrecked. This was due to the #3 Daytona Prototype blowing its motor in Turn 7, the Will Nonnamaker being the very 1st racer next up on the track.
In the end, Team Sahlen claimed 10th and 11th on the heart wrenching day in upstate Wisconsin, having led 41 of 70 race laps and break near the end
The next event for Team Sahlen will be the SFP Grand Prix on Saturday August 17th at 8 pm. The 2 hour and 45 minute event will be televised live on FOX Sports 1.
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