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Trans Am puts on a show in morning qualifying at BIR

September 1, 2013

As the Trans Am field lined up for pre-grid this morning at Brainerd International Raceway, you could feel that something special was in the works. A cool breeze had replaced the sweltering heat of yesterday’s practice session, and the rain had washed off what had been an oily and somewhat sandy track. There was a sense of anticipation as drivers prepared to finally experience the new surface at BIR without the conditions that had hampered their efforts the day before.

And they did not disappoint.

TA took to the track first in the split session. After a short out-lap, the drivers were quick, but not quite quick enough to touch the prior qualifying record of 1:27.116—but that was not the case for very long. It was quickly evident that the cooler air was powering the TA cars forward, placing times four seconds faster than yesterday’s.

Amy Ruman and the #23 McNichols Chevrolet Corvette shot by the starter stand and logged a time of 1:26.866, edging the record by roughly three tenths of a second. It was a fantastic time—but the best was yet to come in all respects.

On his fourth lap out, the #87 3Dimensional.com Chevrolet Corvette of Doug Peterson put on a surge of speed, after what had effectively been two warm-up laps and a solid third outing, and placed a time of 1:26.851—just barely edging that of Ruman’s. The current points leader’s new qualifying record was able to stand the duration of the session and landed him on pole for this afternoon’s race.

Just a few car lengths behind Peterson was defending Champion Simon Gregg in the #1 Gregg Motorsports Chevrolet Corvette; he went by with a similar track time: a 1:26.986, just a tenth of a second off Ruman and Peterson.

All three were well under the track record and well within striking distance of each other; if this mornings session is any indicator of this afternoon’s race, the TA class will put on quite a performance.

However, after qualifying was over, the #23 of Ruman was penalized for non-compliance at impound. A penalty of two seconds pushed Ruman back to fifth position for the start of the race—still within striking distance.

The penalty resulted in defending TA Champion Simon Gregg moving up to second position, right behind the Peterson, the man he has to beat to defend his title.

In TA2 a similar battle raged between two-time defending Champion Bob Stretch, in the #98 Wheels America Fix Rim Mobile Chevrolet Camaro, and Trans Am rookie Robert Hufmaster, in the #27 Kryderacing/VirSec Chevrolet Camaro. They both ended up shattering the prior TA2 record of 1:33.468 but traded fast laps throughout the session.

Stretch struck first with a time of 1:32.210 immediately after his out lap, breaking the record handily—a record he had set himself, here, last year. Huffmaster followed him with a time of 1:32.097, narrowly edging the defending champ. But Stretch responded with yet another fast time, a 1:32.070, one-upping the rookie driver. Meanwhile, Huffmaster had returned to pits. In his absence, Stretch logged two more laps, each faster than the other, a 1:31.916 and then a 1:31.319.

Huffmaster returned to the track as the session ticked down in one final attempt to out do Stretch for the TA2 pole position. His time fell just short with a 1:31.980—a few thousandths of a second off of the defending champ.

Then it all changed as Stretch, like Ruman was penalized two seconds for non-compliance after impound. The penalty pushed Stretch’s time back to 1:33.916, still good enough for third best in the TA2 class, but left Huffmaster the pole sitter for TA2 and qualifying record holder.

“It’s a great feeling,” Huffmaster said. “We’ve been learning throughout the year on how to set up the car and get things tuned in—at the beginning it was a little overbearing but we’re starting to really get it down. This being my first TA2 pole is a great reward for a crew that has worked so hard throughout the season. I’m happy that their hard work has finally paid off.”

Following Huffmaster and Stretch was current points leader Cameron Lawrence in the #11 Ctek/Motorstate/NorthStar Battery Chevrolet Camaro. Lawrence was quick enough to overcome the track record, with a time of 1:33.319, but still a second slower than Huffmaster. It would be foolish to count Lawrence out though, as his four victories this year can testify.

In TA3, points leader David Seuss led the production based class in the #9 Northern Lights Porsche 996 GT3 with a 1:39.184, well above the prior qualifying record of 1:42.570. He was followed by the #60 Ryan Companies US Inc. Porsche GT3 Cup 997 of Tim Gray with a 1:41.317 and defending TA3 Champion Chuck Cassaro in the #76 StackData/Aeromotive/Metallica Ford Mustang.

Trans Am will take to the track at 4:00 p.m. CDT this afternoon for the 100 mile, 40 lap race here at Brainerd International Raceway for Round 7 of the 2013 Trans Am Championship.

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