LEXINGTON, OH – The Aim Autosport Formula BMW USA team came away from the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, Ohio with the points lead in all three of the series categories: overall driver championship, rookie driver championship and team championship.
The team, including rookie drivers Rob Bunker and Kevin Lacroix were looking forward to building on their great start in the first two rounds at Laguna Seca, California heading into practice and qualifying for rounds four and five of the fourteen race championship.
Practice & Qualifying:
“We tried to conserve our tires during practice and qualifying as much as possible leading up to the races,” said team manager Keith Willis. “Knowing the wear of the tires is critical here we always try to have fresh rubber for the races- and it turned out to be the correct strategy for both cars.”
Saturday Race:
16 year-old BMW Junior and AIM Autosport Rookie driver Kevin Lacroix took his second win of the 2005 Formula BMW USA Championship season in round three taking the lead on the second lap after pole sitter Philippe and second place starter Piscopo both jumped the start and were forced to serve stop and go penalties.
Kevin finished 1.988 seconds ahead of James Davison in the 15-lap contest to extend his points lead in both the Overall and Rookie Driver Championship standings.
AIM Autosport teammate Rob Bunker also had a great drive in race three, moving from 14th to eighth respectively after a terrific start and strong run- contributing to the teams point total.
Sunday Race:
After a good qualifying effort (second), Kevin had his worst finish of the season in fourteenth after an incident on the opening lap, Kevin was hit by another competitor in a first-lap incident while he was in second place. He resumed racing from last place and climbed eight positions with bent suspension, ending in 14th place but out of the points.
Rob had to start in 17th after trouble in qualifying- got his usual “John Force” holeshot start and drove a great race to bring his AIM Autosport Formula BMW FB2 car home 11th. Rob now sits 10th overall and eighth in the Rookie standings while the team has a one point advantage in the Team Championship.
Kevin Lacroix #22 (AIM Autosport /Auto Parts Plus-Uni-Select
/Pennzoil/CR/ SKF Motor sports/Raybestos/Tenneco Automotive/Les Pièces d'auto Lacroix)
Saturday Race: Qualified- fourth (1:30.874) / Finished- first (+1.988 sec.)
Sunday Race: Qualified- second (1:29.746) / Finished- fourteenth
Quotes from Kevin:
“I started at four and got the third place at the start“, said Kevin. “I tried to get the second place, but got blocked a bit. I got second and after I saw that Philippe had come in the pits. I had some problems with my radio so I didn’t know anything. I was really confused, I braked, I didn’t know what to do and everybody behind me was almost crashing. But then I saw that everyone was racing on the track and I won the race after that.” About race two: "I am very disappointed, said Lacroix. That move was completely insane from that driver (Stevens). He was probably frustrated because he jumped ahead of me at the start but I overtook him cleanly just before that turn. We are coming to Montreal with the points lead like we wanted to, but the margin is not as comfortable," noted Kevin.
Rob Bunker #18 (AIM Autosport /Team RennSport)
Saturday Race: Qualified- fourteenth (1:26.676) / Finished- ninth
Sunday Race: Qualified- seventeenth (1:26.057) / Finished- eleventh
Quotes from Rob:
"Having everyone around me and in front of me during a race makes me hustle that extra bit more," said Rob. "The results weren't quite what we hoped, but if you look at the performance we put into it, it's just as good as any other race. The only thing we really need to work on is qualifying. As far as our setup was concerned, we adapted incredibly well. We went anywhere from a very cold track to a track that was warm with a lot of [tire] rubber to a track that was soaking wet to a track that was damp," he noted.
- From AIM Autosport
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