Phoenix American Motorsports Debuts in Trans Am
June 17, 2015
Millville, NJ – Andrew Aquilante took the Phoenix Performance/Calvert Dynamics Corvette from last to first in an exciting drive in Sunday’s Trans Am Series race at New Jersey Motorsports Park in the TA3I class. As part of a four-car effort from Phoenix, also including Preston Calvert, David Sanders and Mike Geldart, Aquilante was a late fill-in in the black and yellow No. 32 Corvette.
With temperatures spiking in New Jersey, Joe Aquilante decided to sit out the race, placing a Sunday morning phone call to his son Andrew. Ninety minutes later, the five-time SCCA National Champion was at the Thunderbolt circuit, and ready to strap in to the Corvette, a familiar type of machine that has taken Andrew to the last two National Championships in the GT-2 class.
Adjusted for Trans-Am competition, the Corvette is built for the SCCA’s T1 class, and only required small (air) restrictor and weight changes. The tire for the weekend was a set of long-lasting Hoosier R7s.
With the green flag out on the 100-mile race, Aquilante showed his form, charging through the field to take the lead by mid-race. A caution bunched the field, but Aquilante went back to work and extended his lead.
“Not too bad for sitting on the couch this morning,” said Aquilante. “I got a call from my dad; he said it was going to be a little warm out and asked if I wanted to come out and race. I couldn’t turn that down. It’s great to add a Trans-Am win to my name and to do it at home here in New Jersey.”
Joe won the Series’ “Cool Move of the Race” award for handing the drive to Andrew on short-notice.
Running efforts in SCCA, and Pirelli World Challenge, it was the first appearance of the season for Phoenix in Trans-Am, and one the team hopes to repeat.
“TA3A and TA3I are really neat classes that are catching on,” said Joe. “The customer service provided by the Series is extremely competitor-centric. They are on top of it, friendly, and helpful, and well organized.”
After qualifying and running third most of the race, Calvert logged a fourth place result in his TA3A Ford Mustang, while Mike Geldart was seventh in TA3A, also in a Mustang. David Sanders completed the top five in TA3I in the No. 72 Phoenix Corvette.
It’s a full and busy summer for Phoenix, as they next head for Elkhart Lake’s Road America with Andrew Aquilante, Preston Calvert and Kurt Rezzetano and the Pirelli World Challenge, June 26-28. Rezzetano currently leads the World Challenge GTS point standings at the half-way mark of the season, while Aquilante sits third.
Phoenix on the web: http://www.phoenixperformance.net/, http://phoenixperformance-news.com/ and https://www.facebook.com/PhoenixAM
Team partners include Calvert Dynamics, Phoenix Performance, Ford Performance, Ron Davis Racing Radiators, Hawk Performance Brakes, Penske Racing Shocks, Brembo Brakes and Go Puck.
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Phoenix Performance is a performance tuner specializing in Corvettes, Mustangs, Camaros and high-end imports, providing maintenance, tuning and diagnostic services for foreign and domestic cars and trucks, along with performance upgrades and tuning for street and track cars. The team's 32,000 square-foot race shop is located 30 miles west of downtown Philadelphia and has built over 30 SCCA Runoff-winning cars. For 2015, Phoenix American Motorsports runs a multi-car, multi-class effort in the Pirelli World Challenge and is also competing in SCCA Majors and the Trans-Am Series.
