Leguizamon Holds Off Mount For Win at Road Atlanta, Sweeps Weekend
Braselton, GA – From pole, Baltazar Leguizamon led all 29 laps to win the opening Atlantic Championship Series event of the 2018 season at Road Atlanta in an entry from K-Hill Motorsports. He fended off a late race charge from teammate Blake Mount en route to his first Atlantic victory. Mount finished second while Bob Corliss won the Masters Class with a brilliant drive to third for Comprent.
A day later, in race two, Leguizamon prevailed again, this time in tricky wet conditions, to take a convincing victory in the rain over Mount and Corliss.
Race One Quotes:
Leguizamon said: “It was a good race overall. We had changed the engine earlier today, and did our work in the second practice. We did well in qualifying ; the K-Hill car was very good and stable. The race was long, it felt like it would never end – and the car was getting looser as the tires wore at the end. I went off in turn three near the end and we kept the pace up after that and did a good job with my first Atlantic race.”
Mount said: “Everyone out there had the same issue. It was just super slick out there. Every single time I was getting a good run out of turn seven, the car just got sideways. I was chasing Baltazar pretty hard. There is something inside of you that clicks toward the end of the race when you’re not in first place and you’re trying to get there.”
Corliss said: “We didn’t have the top-end today. I started at the back of the pack and the two guys got away and I wasn’t going to make up all that distance. The car was good and the guys at Comprent killed it, tomorrow is another day.”
After running as high as third, Spencer Brockman’s podium run in the No. 34 came to an end with a reported mechanical issue. Brockman was able to rejoin the race, but finished two laps down to the leaders.
K-Hill’s Bruce Hamilton hassled Bob Corliss for the Masters Class lead early in the race, but retired on lap 19.
The 29-lap event was run under near perfect weather conditions on Saturday afternoon at Road Atlanta, with temperatures in the low 70s and near cloudless skies.