Pobst and Pilgrim finish 4th and 5th in Round 5 of SPEED GT at Watkins
Glen
Randy Pobst and Andy Pilgrim began Toyo Tires Watkins Glen Grand Prix
Presented by Lala Motorsports, Round 5 of the SCCA Pro Racing SPEED World
Challenge GT Championships, with a lot of questions and uncertainty but
finished 4th and 5th as their K-PAX Volvo S60s performed well.
The K-PAX/3R Racing team and Pobst and Pilgrim both felt that finishing
4th and 5th in today's race was a victory of sorts after all of the
concerns surrounding transmission difficulties made even finishing the
race a big question mark.
Pobst's #1 K-PAX Volvo suffered a transmission problem during
Thursday's practice and Pilgrim's #8 Volvo had transmission problems
during qualifying on Friday afternoon. After burning the midnight oils
to replace the transmission in the #1 Volvo the team had to repeat the
chore on the #8 car. What made the situation worse was that the team had
to cobble together a working transmission out of the two broken ones to
get a working unit into Pilgrim's car.
At one point there was some doubt that Andy Pilgrim would be able to
start the race let alone finish it.
"I feel like I won," said Andy Pilgrim who made three passes late in
the race to finish his #8 K-PAX Volvo S60 in 5th position. "It feels
like a win because we couldn't do a proper start because we were worried
about first gear. This was just another amazing job by the K-PAX 3R
Racing guys. We started the race with the crew saying, 'this is all we
could do' and we came away with a 5th.
"It was just fantastic! The transmission worked well for the entire
race. I was being a little gentle with it and making sure I was all the
way out of the gas before I shifted but I didn't have any problems at
all."
"Will Moody, my car-chief, is one of the best suspension engineers there
is and he is a darned good transmission engineer as well because he has
had to become one," said Pobst with a smile. "He spent about 20 hours
building the transmissions for these two cars and he did it right. My
Volvo shifted beautifully the entire race."
Randy Pobst, of Gainesville Georgia, started his #1 K-PAX/3R Racing Volvo
S60 6th and early on was able to pass Davis' Mustang for 5th.
"I had a great time driving the K-PAX Volvo today," said Randy Pobst.
"The handling is just getting better and better. I really enjoyed the
competition. At the start I got by Brandon Davis and then he went by me
down the straight like I was tied to a tree. "
The race settled in and despite a visibility problem Pobst rallied back
and applied constant pressure on Davis for the 4th position as Daskalos'
Viper faded back due to handling issues.
"Up to that point it was really enjoyable but we did pick up a water
leak which lubricated my windshield and I couldn't see a darned thing
for the second half of the race," said Pobst. "I was using the
"Force" to drive. My K-PAX Volvo got better and better and towards the
end of the race I was turning my best lap times and so enjoyable to drive
I am really looking forward to the next race."
Randy finally got past Davis on the closing lap to capture a well earned
4th place finish.
Andy Pilgrim, of Boca Raton Florida, started the #8 K-PAX Volvo 7th but
was in 11th as the field streamed into turn 1. There was so much concern
about the transmission and first gear Andy chose to make a less than
aggressive start to save the equipment.
Andy moved back up and soon began a race long battle with Tony Rivera for
7th. Rivera and Pilgrim caught the fading Daskalos halfway through the
race. Andy was able to pass not only Rivera and Daskalos on the final
laps but Davis as well to finish 5th as Davis suffered a broken throttle
only a few turns from the checkered flag.
"I think Tony [Rivera] and I had different problems, he had an over
steer and a problem with the back end of his car and I had a problem with
the front end of my car," said Pilgrim of his race long duel with Rivera
and his Porsche. "It was a see-saw battle the whole time. It was a good
race but I couldn't get out of the corners very well and I would lose
just enough on the straight-a-ways that I couldn't make a move at the
end of the straights.
"Early on he was strong out of the corners but when his tires started to
go away I got in a position where I could get close to the back end of
his car. He was bad coming out of the last turn and I finally got by him
going down into turn one. It wasn't like he made a big mistake his back
end was going out on him and it got worse.
"My car was pushing but it stayed consistent throughout the race. Jason
[Daskalos] bobbled coming out of the toe of the boot and tried the inside
of him but he went right. I moved left and got alongside of him on the
outside going into the next corner and then I was on the inside through
the left hander so I got by him there."
The 5th place finish for Pilgrim kept him in 3rd position in the
Drivers' Championship with 448 points while Pobst's 4th place finish
moves the defending GT champ up to 6th with 351. Davis leads the
championship with 464 with Tony Rivera in 4th with 443. Volvo is 4th in
the Manufacturers' Championship Presented by Racer Magazine with 18
points. Porsche leads the chase with 35.
"Even after being adjusted earlier in the season I think these Volvos
have the capability of winning again and 3R Racing has done such a great
job for K-PAX so far this season making these cars run and work so well.
This is a development year for us and we have both cars finish well and
we ran at the leaders pace today so I think we are going to get another
win this year, we are going to get a win!"
Next up for the K-PAX 3R Racing Volvo S60s of Randy Pobst and Andy
Pilgrim is Round 6 at the Autobahn Country Club in Joliet Illinois on
July 24-26 2009.
The Toyo Tires Grand Prix at Watkins Glen Presented by Lala Motorsports
will be broadcast on Tuesday, July 22 at 2 p.m. (EDT).
-credit: k-pax/3rr
