5/07/2006 Monterey, CA- The Grand Am Cup 200 at the 2006 US Sports Car Invitational can be characterized by many things: seam-busting field sizes, numerous cautions, and intense green flag action. But for Subaru and GOTO:Racing, it brought a series debut, and the marques first Top 10 finish.
“I had only dreamed about a debut like this,” said Brian Lock after stepping from the car to the cheers of a crowd Subaru fans waiting for him in the paddock, “To finally run a Subaru in a series like this, with cars and drivers like this, and be competitive; it was amazing. I had a smile on my face the whole time.”
Starting in 22nd position, the Lock brothers managed to quickly move the Legacy through the pack, in a race where green flag laps were at a premium. Multiple incidents in the GS category brought out a total of 7 cautions, making opportunities for pit strategies numerous, but confusing. Good racecraft, on track and in the pits, was key to a good finish.
“Considering our practice times were only par for the field, we weren’t expecting to find ourselves so high so early,” said Chris Lock, “I was presented the chance to take 4 positions into the first turn, and took it. Then I just started passing people. Looking at my MOTEC, I determined I was not going faster than I had been. The race pace was just slower, so I just kept driving around people.”
After 18 laps (only half of which were under Green), Chris had improved the team’s position from 22nd to 15th. At this point, Chris relinquished the cockpit to Brian. The team took fuel only, keeping the Subaru on the lead lap. “It was always the intention to have Chris establish position, then pit at the first full course caution to get the driver change done with,” explained Steve Lock, GOTO Crew Chief, “Chris has experience getting cars through 70 car starts from his 25 Hour experience, but once the race had established itself, we wanted Brian in the seat to click off our hot laps.”
Even though the large number of cautions threw their strategy off a bit, the team managed to pick the best strategy for the yellows, bringing Brian in on the 6th caution for a quick splash of fuel, a move that many other top running teams did not make. As the minutes ticked off toward the end of the race, Brian battled his way through the field bringing the car up to 9th place. At this point a few of the leaders who had neglected earlier opportunities for fuel found themselves coming to pit lane, and in the 7th caution, Brian found himself in 7th place.
“After the green, I managed to catch up to the #70 SpeedSource car,” commented Brian on his drive, “Normally I had trouble out braking the RX-8s, but for whatever reason, this time he defended inside. I managed to sneak down on the outside of turn 2, and make it stick. We went two wide though the whole turn, and I took the position into turn 3. I thought to myself, ‘I just past SpeedSource’. It made my day.” The #70 would pit soon after, leaving Brian to battle for 6th with the #144 and #27 RSXs, but Brian would hold the position to the finish.
There are many people and organizations GOTO:Racing would like to thank for making a debut like this possible: Gruppe-S, DMS North America, RacingBrake, Calculated Risk, ROTA Wheels, Goodridge, Hotchkis, COBB Tuning, and Canepa Design. Thank you for your time and efforts!
For more information:
http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=997019
Nothing like starting in 22nd weaving your way to 6th and whooping the factory Mazdas with the factory drivers on thier own turf on your virgin GrandAm run. 