**** GUEST BLOG – BY JOSH MCGUIRE ****
Day 1: Practice session, we were super excited and nervous at the same time. We looked forward to getting out on track to drive because it’s a track that we had not had the opportunity to experience so we did not know what to expect. Once out on track, we were given minimal practice time, with one practice lap while conditions were dry we put together a blind run to establish whether we needed set up changes or not. I felt comfortable in the car, so we didn’t make any changes. Then it started to rain. The rain was beneficial in a way to see how the track and car handled in wet conditions. We were conservative while in the wet conditions, and we were only one of a few cars that didn’t go off track during these conditions. Going into qualifying: Definitely we were nervous because we were only allotted a couple practice runs. We were able to complete a run that locked us in for 6th position in qualifying.
Day 2: We were excited about our qualifying position and couldn’t wait to battle in top 16 when we went out for practice we had ignition problems with the car that would let the car run for only an allotted time and then it would shut itself down. Knowing this we knew we were gambling to be able to throw down a solid run. This added a stress but my crew members and I tried to fix the problem before our first battle we thought we had it fixed, when I went out on my first run, the car shut itself down at the top of the horseshoe, claiming us a zero. We called 5 minutes to make repairs on the car. Which we were able to complete in the 5 minutes. We then re-lined up to do our follow run, knowing we were at a big fault, it didn’t change my mindset on how I should drive, giving my 100 percent. In our 5 minutes of repair time, track conditions changes immensely, causing the car to grip up, which we had not planned for. So we ended up shallow on our first inside clip, I quickly corrected and fell back into the follow position keeping close proximity for the remainder of the course. It however was not enough to compensate for the zero on the first run.
Over all even though we didn’t advance, it was a great learning experience. We are looking forward to Rd 3 in Orlando, and also to return to drive again at Road Atlanta in 2017.
-Josh
