Author: FormulaD

Two Podium Results in Mosport for McQuarrie and Lotus

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Photo: Formula Drift star Tyler McQuarrie in the No.19 LPL Lotus Exige S on his way to his second podium finish of the weekend in Mosport. (Mark Webber photo).

May 23, 2010 (Mosport, Ontario) – For the second straight day, Formula Drift star Tyler McQuarrie wheeled the No.19 LPL Lotus Exige S to a second-place finish in the World Challenge GTS class at the Victoria Day Speedfest presented by Optima Batteries at Mosport International Raceway.

Unlike Saturday, however, McQuarrie secured pole position with a blistering 1:30.478, his second GTS pole position in three races. Gridded right behind him was Saturday winner John Heinrecy and multi-time champion Peter Cunningham, setting up an interesting race among three cars with differing levels of power and handling capabilities.

McQuarrie made the best start but was unable to stay in the lead on the first lap, as the Lotus Exige S could not match the power of Heinrecy’s Corvette down the long Andretti Straightaway. McQuarrie was able to catch and pressure Heinrecy throughout the rest of the course, but each lap Heinrecy would pull out an advantage on the straightaway.

As the race wore on, McQuarrie had to defend second position from Cunningham, whom he had a race-long battle with in Saturday – and much like Saturday, the two traded positions and ran side-by-side through several corners. And, like Saturday, McQuarrie crossed the finish line in second place, taking his third podium in three World Challenge GTS races.

“There wasn’t much I could do about the power of the Corvette,” said McQuarrie. “We had him covered everywhere else but he was able to stay ahead and then get a big gap down the straightaway. When Peter caught me it made for a really fun race, we ran side by side through half the track. I got a great run down the back straightaway and got underneath him in turn nine.

“We had the speed to win, but just couldn’t make it work on this track. But I’m glad the LPL and DRS guys have scored two more podium results and the Lotus was consistently fast throughout the weekend.”

His results move McQuarrie to third place in the GTS points standings, and he is the highest placed rookie in the championship.

LPL Motorsports is currently planning to continue with the World Challenge season and welcomes inquiries from drivers interested in partnering McQuarrie in a second Exige S. For more details about the LPL Motorsports program, contact Efrain Olivares at [email protected].

Formula D Driver Andrew “ACP” Comrie-Picard Scores Decisive Win at Oregon Trail Rally

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Formula DRIFT driver and Samuel Hubinette Racing teammate Andrew Comrie-Picard took the victory at the Oregon Trail Rally this past weekend.

Portland, Oregon (ACP RACING) – North American Rally Champion Andrew “ACP” Comrie-Picard and the NOS Energy Rally Team won the long and difficult Oregon Trail Rally this weekend, scoring victory with a strong and steady drive in an event that saw both close competition and some major crashes. The team led almost the entire event on the way to the win.

“It’s a great result,” said Comrie-Picard, “everything went according to our strategy and the win is an important one at this point in the season. It’s great that the car, the team, and our partners are all working so well.”

Comrie-Picard and co-driver Jeremy Wimpey, in their NOS Energy Mitsubishi on BFGoodrich tires, started off the three-day event with a strong performance at Portland International Raceway and took a narrow lead into the first night over rivals Ken Block (Ford/Pirelli), Dave Mirra (Subaru/BFGoodrich), and Antoine L’Estage (Mitsubishi/Yokohama).

Early on the second day of competition, in the Hood River region of Oregon, Block set two fastest times and briefly overhauled Comrie-Picard for the lead, but on the next stage rolled the car and was unable to continue. The same corner had claimed Mirra with a roll earlier in the day. L’Estage cracked a wheel and dropped back in the field but was able to claw back to third place overall by the end of the competition.

William Bacon, in a Mitsubishi Evolution similar to Comrie-Picard’s, put in a steady and fast drive with no major problems to finish second, 44 seconds off the winning time.

“We just went out with a pace in mind and stuck to the plan,” said co-driver Wimpey, “we pushed a bit on the first night to get the lead then paced ourselves for the next two days to be where we needed to be at the end.”

The event included a wide variety of road characters and surfaces, from tarmac and mixed tarmac stages on Friday, to twisty, technical, and rough gravel stages on Saturday, to very fast, smooth, and silty stages on Sunday. Hot weather tested the endurance of cars and teams.

The result vaults Comrie-Picard past Block and into to a tie for fourth place with Dave Mirra in the Rally America Championship.

Rally car racing is considered the extreme sport of automobile racing and is often described simply as “real cars, real roads, real fast.” This all-season motorsport sees drivers and their co-drivers take modified road cars to the limit as they achieve blistering speeds over courses that cover hundreds of miles of gravel, dirt or snow-covered roads.