AIM Autosport Watkins Glen qualifying report

AIM Autosport’s GAMMA88 Car to Start Seventh at Watkins Glen Fourth-row Start for Early Evening Race

#61 AIM Autosport BMW Riley: Burt Frisselle, Mark Wilkins

Photo by: Adriano Manocchia

Watkins Glen, NY (August 12, 2011) — Burt Frisselle qualified AIM Autosport’s BMW-Riley sponsored by GAMMA88 for a seventh place start in tomorrow’s Canadian Tire 200 at Watkins Glen International. Burt’s time of 1m 07.169s translates to an average speed of 131.311 MPH (211.325 km/h) around the famous 2.45-mile (3.94 km) long, eleven-turn road course.

Although the team was somewhat disappointed with the result, the mood was buoyed by faster times set earlier in the day and a productive final practice session. Although much of the qualifying difficulty was likely the result of the Continental tires not working well with the rubber used by the NASCAR series running here this weekend—the only time the stock cars were on track today was immediately before the Rolex Series qualifying session—the team was still a little baffled.

It is hoped that data gleaned from the one-hour practice session that ended the day will provide a nugget of information to help create a fast setup for tomorrow’s race.

“We’ve worked hard to catch up after missing some races, said Burt. “I’m disappointed that my qualifying time was slower than my practice time. That’s unusual. We’ve got some more work to do, but I anticipate that we’ll have a great car for the race.”

“We’re a little behind the 8-ball as there have been some changes since our last race,” said Mark. “The team has worked really hard and it’s a team that will just keep digging. We’ll have a good car tomorrow. I’m looking forward to it.”

“We’ve got some more work to do,” said Chief Engineer and Team Principal, Ian Willis. “We may have gone out a little to early in the qualifying session and not got the most out of the tires and the track, but we’re not completely sure why we were slower than in practice... actually, we’re a little surprised. It’s not insurmountable. We just have to see where we’re at and figure out the setup for tomorrow.”