LeCain Paces Atlantic Practice at NJMP
Millville, NJ – The second ever weekend of the new Atlantic Championship Series saw Paul LeCain at the top of the time sheets on Friday turning in a lap of 1:15.059 around the 13-turn New Jersey Motorsports Park Thunderbolt complex in his No. 90 Ralt RT-41/Toyota combination. Following LeCain on the practice two time sheets were David Grant, Bruce Hamilton, Connor Burke and Chris Fahan.
“The track was pretty greasy, but everyone is complaining about that,” said LeCain, who is the only Atlantic car in New Jersey this weekend using carburetors in his Toyota engine.
LeCain won the SCCA National at Thunderbolt just a few weeks ago and said times on Friday were well off for him due to the high temperatures. He added that with the Grant brothers having some mechanical problems, he was curious what their pace would be when they got up speed.
Championship points leader David Grant was second quick in the final practice session– coming off a sweep at the inaugural Series weekend at Road Atlanta, in Braselton, Georgia in May in the No. 12 Polestar Racing Group Swift 014/Toyota.
Hamilton was third quick in the Swift 016/Mazda for K-Hill Motorsports, followed by Burke in the Company Motorsports Swift 014/Toyota with Fahan in fifth, in a Swift 016/Mazda.
Rounding out the top ten John Dole, Rich Zober, Andy Schaufelberger, John Thompson and Joe Blacker completed the top ten. Most of the teams used the afternoon session to put in short runs and make changes in the pits.
The morning session saw LeCain fastest ahead of Fahan, Hamilton, Thompson, Burke, David Grant, Zober, Schaufelberger, Dwight Rider and John Dole.
Not making the weekend easy is blistering heat in New Jersey, with Friday temperatures trending upward to just below 100 degrees. The forecast for the rest of the weekend does not show much promise, with similar temperatures predicted for Saturday and Sunday.
Making matters even more challenging for a few teams was a summer storm that rolled through the paddock Thursday night, with high winds having their way with a number of awnings, one of which was found well down the front straight in the morning.
The weekend continues with Saturday morning qualifying at 8:30 a.m. and race one at 2:50-, both feature live audio and updates on www.AtlanticChampionshipSeries.com as does Sunday, with qualifying taking place at 8:30, followed by the conclusion of the F1600 weekend with race two at 4:30.
Practice Results
Pos No. Name Best Tm Best Spd In Lap Diff Gap 1 90 Paul LeCain 1:15.059 107.915 17 - - 2 12 David Grant 1:15.362 107.481 10 +0.303 +0.303 3 36 Bruce Hamilton 1:16.135 106.390 11 +1.076 +0.773 4 19 Connor Burke 1:16.545 105.820 6 +1.486 +0.410 5 39 Chris Fahan 1:16.656 105.667 7 +1.597 +0.111 6 6 John Dole 1:17.615 104.361 16 +2.556 +0.959 7 66 Rich Zober 1:17.665 104.294 11 +2.606 +0.050 8 34 Andy Schaufelberger 1:18.027 103.810 10 +2.968 +0.362 9 5 John Thompson 1:18.135 103.667 11 +3.076 +0.108 10 29 Joe Blacker 1:19.044 102.475 4 +3.985 +0.909 11 11 Dwight Rider 1:19.424 101.984 11 +4.365 +0.380 12 96 Theodoras Zorbas 1:20.488 100.636 8 +5.429 +1.064 13 24 Lee Brahin 1:21.595 99.271 6 +6.536 +1.107 14 40 Keith Grant -.--- - 0 - - 15 55 John Burke -.--- - 0 - -