The weekend kicked off early Friday with 30 min morning practice sessions followed by the 15-minute qualifying round in the afternoon. Michael and number 96 looked solid in practice but were sandwiched mid field after a course yellow in qualifying. Once the green came back Michael made a charge but was blocked and forced to lock the brakes up blowing a tire on the second to last lap.
The First race took place at 11:30 am on Saturday August 3rd and it was a frustrating ordeal for not only Michael, but everyone in the field as only 4 laps in a 30-minute race were under the green flag. Several cars had left the track and spun with a couple being put out for the weekend. The safety car was the leader for almost the entire race and no one even had begun to get their brakes and tires warmed up.
With the end of the race Saturday everyone was still itching to get up to speed and make some hot laps at Road America and make the charge to the front. Saturday evening the sky turned a dark and ominous and mother nature began a symphony of thunder and lightning in the distance. Number 96 was re-aligned and a fresh set of Yokohama Advan slicks were mounted, everyone was set to make a charge on Sunday morning with a clean track from the deluge.
Early Sunday morning the pits around the Open Road/Mark Motors truck were buzzing with activity. Everyone was making last minute checks and adjustments and running cars through tech inspection after some overnight repairs. Michael and his crew made a few more adjustments to seating position and made some more adjustments to the alignment of the GT3 cup car. The call came over the loud speaker and the GT3 cars all rolled to the pit area to grid up and get ready for the race.
The cars rolled out of the pits at Road America and into the helm of the 640-acre national park of speed! After two laps the green flag was waved and the roar of 40 flat six engines wide open could be heard for miles! The spectacle was quickly attenuated by yet another course yellow after a mix up on the back straight into Canada corner put 2 more cars out of the race. The flags weren’t done flying across the national park of speed as more US cars left the track once again bringing out the safety car. In a 40-minute race a total of 6 minutes were under green. The race and the weekend came to an end with Michael maintaining his spot in the field with no chance of making a move due to the consistent course yellow and red flags.
Although there were no feet on the podium for Porsche Langley, Michael stayed on the tarmac and kept number 96 intact and safe. The team at Bestline auto had it dialed in perfectly and Michael had said it was the best the car has ever felt. After a long and hot weekend of racing 96 was loaded into the trailer and the team departed the national park of speed. It was a great experience to see our car in action so far from our front door and we could not be prouder of our team and driver!