This past weekend the Grand Am Cup series visited the historic Watkins Glen International Speedway for this season’s fifth round of the ten-race championship. The Race Prep Motorsports team of Mike Levitas, Spencer Pumpelly and Mike Pickett came into the weekend hoping for a podium finish after coming very close in the past three events.
The weekend started off well for the team with both #18 and #19 Porsche 996 cars lapping quickly in practice, but mechanical issues forces both cars to miss qualifying and the team had to start in the back.
At the drop of the green Mike Pickett in #19 and Mike Levitas in #18 quickly found their attempts to move through the field stifled by caution after caution. A stop for fuel and a driver change left Spencer in the #19 to try his luck, but again several more yellow flags meant no passing for much of the race. Finally the cars ahead started to pit and the #19 car found itself in the lead with a very fast car. Unfortunately the car ran into fuel pickup problems forcing it to give up the lead and pit early. Now back in the pack, more full course cautions meant the earlier situation would repeat itself. The #19 did gain a few more positions, but the last 20 minutes of the race were run under yet another caution relegating the car to 12th in the GS class.
The #18 car was off to a good start as well. Mike Levitas started with a double stint as Mike Pickett was busy in the #19. The car was running as high as 4th despite all the yellow laps. Pickett got in with an hour to go and was looking for a strong finish, but a mechanical failure sent the car to the gravel trap (which need to be paved over) and any hope of finishing on the lead lap was gone.
The RPM team has been running very strong and has established itself as one of the top teams in the series. Hopefully the luck that has so far eluded the group will show up when the series runs the next event in Mid-Ohio, August 7th.
|
