Wilson and Jakes optimistic for Sunday’s Sonoma race

Sonoma, California – Both Justin Wilson and James Jakes are enthusiastic about their chances in tomorrow’s GroPro Indy Grand Prix at the Raceway in Sonoma.

James Jakes, Boy Scouts of America Dale Coyne Racing Honda

Photo by: Jeff Davidson

Running in Group One of the first round qualifying, Wilson’s No. 18 Sonny’s Bar-B-Q Honda easily finished in fifth position to advance to the Firestone Fast 12 round two.

In his sixth trip to the Firestone Fast Twelve this season, Wilson qualified into the 10th position with a time of 1:18.6258 seconds (109.201 mph).

However, he will be starting the race in 20th position due to a grid penalty for an unapproved early engine change last week.

"I was pretty happy with the overall performance of the car today,” said Wilson. “It was a shame that we couldn’t get the No. 18 Sonny’s Bar-B-Q Honda into the Firestone Fast Six. The car handled really well and was pretty fast, which allowed us to get into the Firestone Fast 12.

I got hung up a bit in second round qualifying, which hurt our time. We have to serve a 10-grid penalty since we had to change the engine early after testing here at Sonoma last week. We’ll have our work cut out tomorrow for the race, but I think we have a legitimate shot at getting a top 10 finish. The team has done a great job all weekend.”

Following a strong test last week at Sonoma, Jakes, driving the No. 19 Boy Scouts of America Honda, was ready for big results this weekend in Sonoma. This morning’s practice session had Jakes running in the top-ten most of the session. But qualifying didn’t go Jakes’ way and he qualified 26th for Sunday’s race.

“Things haven’t gone the way we would have liked them to for the No. 19 Boy Scouts of America car this weekend in Sonoma,” said Jakes. “The crew has been doing a great job trying to give me a good car. They are going to make some more changes overnight and we will see how things go in the morning warm-up session tomorrow.

We are going to have to start near the back of the field, but with a little luck and if we stay out of trouble, we can have a good finish to end the weekend on a high note.”

Source: Dale Coyne Racing