Despite having the best race of our season, we lost a shot at the podium, and maybe a win, in unfortunately spectacular fashion.
Coming off of a podium finish in Round 9, I was feeling confident going into Round 10 at Circuit of the Americas. Our Engineer Gary De La Rosa's setup on the car was the best that we've had thus far in the season, with a small change to further improve on it going into this race. I was enjoying the track and enjoying racing with the group up front. Starting from 5th on the grid, I felt that I was within striking range of the front-runners.
We had a standing start for this race and I was on the inside row heading into Turn 1. Toby Grahovec, starting in 4th, got a great launch and got to the inside of his teammate Matt Travis going into T1. But, he braked just a moment too late, pushing wide and slowing Matt through the turn, as well. That opened the inside for me to pass them both and immediately get up to 3rd place before we even reached Turn 2! I pressed ahead and kept pace with Wittmer and Liefooghe as they battled up front, while Grahovec kept pressure on me from behind. Keeping close and managing my pace paid off when Liefooghe tried getting inside of Wittmer going into the tight T15, but made contact with Wittmer's inside rear, getting him loose and slowing them both down. I got a run out of the turn and got inside of Liefooghe going into the T16-18 complex and came out ahead, now up to 2nd place! I caught and put pressure on Wittmer, going side-by-side with him at the end of the back straight. I felt that I had a bit of pace on him and had built a small gap from Liefooghe behind me. I was having a lot of fun at this point! And that's when the full course yellow came out...
On the restart, I stayed on Wittmer's bumper and got a good run out of Turn 1, creeping up beside him on his left as we went through T2, getting fully beside him at the turn-in point for T3. Side-by-side through the esses is a challenging task that requires a lot of cooperation between both drivers. As I was on the inside for the left-handed T3, I had an advantage on entry and he backed out. As I left him room to go beside me, it put me off-line into T4 and the car got loose. In order to recover and not get into Wittmer in the process, I had to bail out, which caused me to shortcut T5. Knowing that this was not a clean pass, I looked for an opportunity to let Wittmer get back around me. On the run down to T11, I let him go by as efficiently as possible, but Liefooghe took advantage of the situation and went on the inside of me into T11. We came out side-by-side, with me tracked out fully onto the curb and we had a solid side-to-side bump that folded in my mirror. I pushed it back out and gave him a thumbs-up as we proceeded down the straight next to each other. He got a bump-draft from Grahovec that nudged him ahead and he edged me out going through T12, running me out to the runoff. He was racing aggressively, which was just fine, though he also received a warning from the stewards.
Liefooghe got a run to the inside of Wittmer as they went through the T16-18 complex side-by-side, which put him on the outside for T19. I followed Wittmer's inside line, with the intent to keep Liefooghe on the outside and hopefully execute a pass into T20. Liefooghe tried to tuck in behind Wittmer as they went into the turn, though, and at that point I was committed to being there. We made contact (my bumper to his door, at the most optimistic point) and our wheels banged as he spun out in the turn. I headed into the gravel trap, knowing that my suspension was bent or broken. I was able to limp the car into the pits and not draw out a caution as Liefooghe managed to continue to finish the race. I wasn't going to finish this one... The implications are bigger for Greg, sadly, who is fighting for the championship.
Upon my review of the incident, I accept that I carry the majority of the responsibility, mainly from the perspective that I was the passer, rather than the one being passed. Call it 51%. However, there was joint responsibility. Greg had been driving aggressively in general, but he changed his line during the entry phase of the corner and essentially committed to me backing out of it. I am not going to be pushed around, and I had committed just as much to my move as he had to his. I spoke with Greg and I apologized to him after stating the above.
I only know Greg in a casual perspective, but I don't have any problems with him or the way he drives. He might have a problem with me at this point - I don't know. But, I like him just fine. I must add that he was a complete gentleman and spoke with me calmly about the incident, despite what I could tell was a lot of negative emotion churning within him. He gains a lot of my respect for that.
I come away from this weekend hugely proud of our team's performance. We ran truly up front, keeping pace with the leaders and contending for an overall win for the first time. In fact, we were fastest for the first time in a race session, running the fastest lap of the race. This came in large part from a revised setup that Gary and I developed coming into this weekend. Eric and Marshall prepared the car impeccably and, with Kevin's help, collected the data that Gary needed to prescribe the additional incremental changes through the weekend that led to this result. Thanks to Todd Brown for assembling this team, Michelle for essentially keeping us all alive, and Sean Brown for doing anything that needed doing. I am impressed how far we've evolved and matured as a team this year, and we're proving that we're a force to be reckoned with!
