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| August 19, 2011 News |
| Prototype Lites: Brownson Returns to Victory Lane in Wisconsin |
 | Jon Brownson scored his second win of 2011 with a victory in race one of the doubleheader at his home track of Road America
(Photo: Darren Pierson-DPerceptions) |
In a wild race at Road America, Jon Brownson duplicated his success of a year ago, winning at his home track in Lites 1 class on Friday (August 19), as Rob Sabato continued his record-setting ways, earning his eighth straight Lites 2 victory in Round Nine of the Cooper Tires Prototype Lites Championship at the Time Warner Cable Road Race Showcase.
Brownson won his first Cooper Tires Prototype Lites race at Road America a year ago – the track he virtually grew up on, as his Dad was a local SCCA volunteer. But he won from the pole last year; in Friday’s race, starting alongside Eurosport teammate Antonio Downs in second position in Lites 1, he had to get around both Downs and Jonathan Gore on a restart to take the win in the 12-lap event.
“I came into this weekend hoping to repeat the success I had last year,” said Brownson, driving the No. 34 Little Mountain Development Élan DP02. “There’s just something about Road America that works for me! It was a tough day and I had some great battles, but my team gave me the car to get to the front. Antonio had an issue on the restart and I was able to get by both he and Jonathan, and hold onto that lead til the end.”
As the season gets down to the last few events, drivers are focusing on the championship. Intersport Racing’s Ricardo Vera holds the title lead, and it was an incident between Vera, Eurosport Racing’s Lucas Downs and Comprent Motor Sports’ Charlie Shears that brought out the first yellow. Downs bore the brunt of a three-wide go into the Carousel – Downs was on the outside and ran out of runway. The gravel in turn nine grabbed him and flipped him over, but in a testament to the durability of the Élan DP02, Downs walked away.
“That was a wild one,” said Gore. “There was a lot of beatin’ and bangin’ in that one. We didn’t win, but it’s close, and it works out for us with the championship. I’m not sure what happened with Antonio on the restart, but Jon and I got by, which worked out great, even if I couldn’t get by Jon!”
“It was a very exciting race,” said Downs. “I felt comfortable at the start and my car felt good in the first stint, but after that first restart, I had some problems with my brakes and Jon and Jonathan were able to get by. I’m just glad I was able to hold onto third! The main thing now in the championship is to get good finishes, ahead of Ricardo, and we did that today.”
The Lites 2 championship is all but decided, with Sabato holding a solid lead after winning eight of nine events. But Sabato found himself in second position behind Level 5’s Scott Tucker, running in the class for the first time.
“That was crazy,” said Sabato. “Scott came up on me like a freight train, he was so fast, which was pretty incredible. I knew I only had a few laps to try to get by him. On the restart, I got a good jump on him going into corner one, then in five, I got a draft, out braked him and got by. I got by a Lites 1 car – I knew I had no business going by the L1 car, but Scott was all over me. I’m really happy to get the win - it was a good race!”
Sabato’s 6th Gear teammate Michal Chlumecky finished second, with Alan Wilzig third.
The series is divided into two classes: Lites 1, featuring the Élan DP02 chassis, powered by a 2.3-liter, four-cylinder Mazda MP2 engine; and Lites 2, utilizing the West WX10 and WR1000 chassis, with either a Kawasaki ZX10R or a Suzuki GSXR motor.
The Prototype Lites Championship cars are back on-course at Road America on Saturday (August 20), with race two of the doubleheader (Round 10) at 10:45 am in Wisconsin.
The top-three will be posted following every session on the ESR Facebook page and ESR Twitter page.
Prototype Lites Championship
Round 9 – Race Results
August 19, 2011
Road America - Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin
| Pos. | Driver | Team | Diff. | Fast Time| 1. | Jon Brownson | Eurosport Racing | - | 2:08.275 | | 2. | Jonathan Gore | Comprent Motor Sports | 1.848 | 2:08.373 | | 3. | Antonio Downs | Eurosport Racing | 6.587 | 2:09.580 | | 4. | Charlie Shears | Comprent Motor Sports | 7.659 | 2:09.123 | | 5. | Matt Downs | Eurosport Racing | 8.638 | 2:08.852 | | 6. | Ricardo Vera | Intersport Racing | 9.013 | 2:08.736 | | 7. | Gerry Kraut | JDC MotorSports | 9.999 | 2:08.980 | | 8. | Richard Fant | Ferrari of Houston | 19.408 | 2:10.927 | | 9. | Owen Kratz | Ferrari of Houston | 31.438 | 2:12.162 | | 10. | Wayne Ducote | Intersport Racing | 39.674 | 2:13.956 | | 11. | Robert Sabato (L2) | 6th Gear Racing | 44.040 | 2:14.597 | | 12. | Michal Chlumecky (L2) | 6th Gear Racing | 50.868 | 2:15.728 | | 13. | Darryl Shoff | Leslie Racing Services | 58.875 | 2:09.575 | | 14. | Alan Wilzig (L2) | Wilzig Racing | 1 Lap | 2:31.737 | | 15. | Scott Tucker (L2) | Level 5 Motorsports | 5 Laps | 2:15.449 | | 16. | Lucas Downs | Eurosport Racing | 10 Laps | 2:10.354 | |
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