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Another Terrific Podium for Forest & Dalziel!
Jun 1, 2010The #8 Corsa Car Care/Dynacor Media Daytona Prototype co-driven by Ryan Dalziel and Mike Forest finished 2nd after a top 10 qualifying. The venue was the Memorial Day Classic at Lime Rock Park, Round 5 of the GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series presented by Crown Royal Cask No. 16.
A large crowd watched the first appearance of the Daytona Prototypes at the demanding 1.5-mile circuit under sunny skies, while the 90-degree temperatures took their toll on the drivers.
Mike Forest qualified 10th in the #8 Starworks DP and drove a great first stint. Jumping from 10th to 8th on the opening lap and picking up another spot on lap two. By lap 5 Forest had moved up to 5th before bouncing between 5th and 7th. On lap 45 Forest handed the reigns over to Dalziel in 6th where the team found themselves a lap down due to the different strategies the other teams were running.
"I was very pleased with my drive. I can't thank the team enough for the job they are doing. In a 1 day event and with the busy nature of this track it was extremely taxing on everybody, but we were all focused and worked really hard to deliver. Bill Riley (engineer and race strategist) made an excellent call to get us off of our initial strategy onto the leaders pit sequence, which got us our lap back and lead to the second place. I can't say enough about Ryan's driving he did an amazing job; he had been on those tires for double what they are meant to do mileage-wise and was still turning quick laps" Forest said.
In the final hour of the race Dalziel moved from 7th up to 2nd and missed the victory by only 4.791 seconds. This result is the best finish so far for the Starworks Motorsport team this season and the team is motivated to carry the momentum to the Watkins Glen event next Saturday.
Team owner, Peter Baron, was delighted after the podium finish. "I am so proud of the crew and our drivers," announced Peter Baron. "They have done a phenomenal job and prepared two competitive race cars. We scored another podium finish, the second in four races with this drivers' line-up. We finished third at Barber, second at Lime Rock, so the next result should be our first win! I am so excited by Ryan and Mike's results since they are now in contention for the championship" Baron continued.
Thanks to this new podium finish, Dalziel is solidly in 2nd place in the championship and only 7 points out of the lead while Forest is in 5th only 3 points out of joining Dalziel for 2nd in the championship. Dalziel and Forest won their fourth consecutive SunTrust Improve Your Position Award while Mike Forest collected his third Jim Trueman award for young up & coming driver. Forest was also able to overcome a sprained wrist he suffered during a training bicycle ride weeks prior with the help of a solid tape job & a handful of pain killers.
"It's a great day for the entire Starworks Motorsport team," declared Ryan Dalziel after the race. "I am so happy that we finished second, especially with the #01 car result which scored minimum points. It really puts us back in the points hunt and the whole team did a fantastic job this weekend. All credit to Starworks and Peter Baron for making this possible. Mike Forest gave me the car in a great position and we just had a really fast race car all day," added Dalziel who scored his third podium finish of the season in only five races.
It will be a quick turnaround as the team heads west a few hundred miles to the famed road course of Watkins Glen. This will be the second longest race of the year as the drivers will be faced with the task of negotiating the difficult course and other competitors for 6 hours! The event will be broadcast LIVE on SPEED Channel from flag to flag Saturday beginning at noon mst (11am pst).
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