NJMP 2019 AER

A new track, a few new drivers and a "light" crew could have made for a stressful weekend but the AutoWorx team performed flawlessly to a overall win for the weekend!

Friday: After spending a few sessions in the vehicle to learn the track and dial the car in, we started to give a few quick rides to the drivers that hadn't been to NJMP or in Big Red, before letting them loose in the driver seat. Everyone got up to speed quickly but strong competition caused us to qualify 3rd.

Saturday: With the crew on "high alert" to ensure no mistakes were made in the pits, we were able to make up a lot of time on other teams by repeatedly being within a few seconds of the minimum required pit stop time. Along with good pit stops, each driver kept the car in good shape and picked up even more speed as they got used to both the track and vehicle. With the whole team hitting their marks, we were able to push ahead to first place!

Sunday: As our competition picked up speed, and faster cars moved into our class, we knew that we had no room for error if we wanted a podium finish today. The crew once again got the car in and out of the pits quickly, while the drivers dealt with challenging (slippery) track conditions. Despite the change in conditions, we were able to hold our lead, though with a decreasing gap to 2nd and 3rd place. Betting on a caution for the last stint, we swapped the last driver (myself) in early for the last stint to try and extend our lead. However, there were zero cautions during my 2 hour stint! This meant we were using our gas reserves faster than anticipated. Weighing the pros and cons of pitting for a splash of gas, versus when the pits would close and running out of fuel, we opted for the safe approach. We pitted, took gas and got back on track in about a minute, but that was enough time for second place to catch up and pass us. With the race being called early, we only had three remaining laps to shrink the gap before the checkered flag was thrown. Despite our best efforts, this landed us in the 2nd position for Sunday, but allowed us to safely take the overall win for the weekend and maximize our series points!

Overall it was a great weekend, the vehicle, crew and drivers all performed very well and allowed us to podium both days. Now the waiting begins, as the next race for this team is in September but during the "break" the car will continue to get a few more upgrades as we look towards Summit Point :)

Thanks to All Odds Media for all of the media below!