Quick Turnaround for Sheehan After Mechanical Setback Halts Charge at Sonoma Raceway
April 27, 2025
Sonoma, CALIFORNIA – April 27, 2025 - The imminent CUBE 3 Architecture TA2 Series Pro Am Challenge race at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca means driver Tom Sheehan has the opportunity to put the race at Sonoma Raceway behind him almost immediately. Tom was charging his way up the field when a mechanical failure ended his race prematurely.
Qualifying at Sonoma was cancelled due to heavy rain, so the field was set according to practice times which put Tom starting in P31. The race was then a stop-start affair almost from the outset, with a crash bringing out the full-course yellow on Lap 2. When the racing resumed, Tom began picking off opponents one-by-one, with the sunburst orange No. 97 LTK Insulation Technologies / Vixen Motorcycle Co Ford Mustang making the way powerfully up the field to P22. However, Lap 20 saw engine components suddenly fail and the engine expired. The situation on track was further complicated by rain starting to fall over the circuit. Unfortunately, green-flag racing was not able to resume, and the checkered flag waved after the allotted 75 minutes.
Tom is a resilient competitor and will put the disappointment behind him and focus forward, with the Mike Cope team who prepare the car now readying it for the second instalment of the Spring California double-header at the WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca next weekend, May 2-4.
“It was my first time ever turning a wheel at Sonoma, with limited practice marred by some bad luck – we had tire failure in my first practice. Then, a crazy shifter failure in the official practice session took away more track time for us. It’s a long way to come for eight laps of practice. I had hoped to log some laps in the race and leave with a little bit of experience at a new track for me. It just didn’t happen. The race car doesn’t have a mark on it and will have a new bullet in for Laguna Seca.”
A paved road racing track in central California used for both auto racing and motorcycle events, Laguna Seca is Spanish for dry lake: the area where the track now lies was once a lake, and the course was built around the dry lakebed in 1957. Close to both Salinas and Monterey, it's a fabulous track, with multiple elevation changes, sweeping and tight turns, as well as a straight that stretches long enough for big cars like the current Trans Am contestants to stretch their legs. The race track is 2.238 miles, with a 180 ft elevation change. Its eleven turns are highlighted by the circuit's signature turn, the downhill plunging "Corkscrew" at Turns 8 and 8A. Laguna Seca is classified as an FIA Grade 2 circuit. After the course was reconfigured, two artificial ponds were added.
The track record for Trans Am at Laguna Seca stretches all the way back to 2004 when Tommy Kendall clocked 1:26:800 (92.820 miles per hour).
It's a very quick turnaround for the muscle car series with no official testing session and practice for the TA2 cars at 10am on Friday, May 2. Qualifying is in two groups starting at 2:25pm on Friday afternoon with the race scheduled at 12:05pm on Saturday, May 3.
If you're unable to attend the race in person there's great coverage on the Trans Am presented by Pirelli YouTube channel and also broadcasts are live on SPEED SPORT 1.
https://youtube.com/@thetransamseries?si=Em99pQHygO8GHNJG
Follow Tom’s social media channels via his Facebook page, Damon Racing, Instagram account (@TomSheehanTA97), and X account (@TomTA2_97). For more information on LTK Insulation Technologies and the line of high-quality products go to: https://ltkinsulationtechnologies.com.
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