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| July 22, 2012 News |
| Prototype Lites: Nunez Returns to Winning Ways at CTMP |
 | Tristan Nunez added another Prototype Lites win to his 2012 resume in race two of the CTMP doubleheader
(Photo: IMSA-Darren Pierson Photography) |
Cooper Tires Prototype Lites Powered by Mazda points leader Tristan Nunez of Performance Tech Motorsports reaffirmed his position as the driver to beat on Sunday (July 22), leading fellow series race-winner Mikhail Goikhberg and JDC MotorSports teammate Gerry Kraut to the checkered flag in Round Eight at the Canadian Tire Motorsport Park.
Nunez and Goikhberg lined up 1-2 on the front-row for the early morning race based on Round Seven’s fastest lap times. It was their race as early as lap one, as Nunez got the jump on Goikhberg at the drop of the green flag.
Nunez pulled away early in his Élan DP02 on loan from Performance Tech Motorsports teammate Daniel Mancini and was able to build up a lead of over three seconds at one point. However, Goikhberg continued to lay down fast laps in the low 1:16’s to track down the 16 year-old and get close enough to contemplate a pass in the middle part of the race.
Frequent encounters with lapped cars kept Goikhberg at bay as Nunez battled an engine down on power as they neared the end of the race. Nunez managed to continue to post fast laps as he relied on momentum in the corners to mitigate the loss in straightaway speed.
His strategy worked well enough to keep him on point as rain began to fall in the final part of the race. The rainfall was sufficient to cause multiple spins and off-course excursions, which brought out a full-course-caution that lasted until the checkered flag gave Nunez the race win.
“We had a bit of a mechanical issue,” said Nunez. “I think something broke on the car and I lost big power on the straightaway. But the rain came out just in time for the finish, which made things much more interesting. I have to give big props to Mikhail [Goikhberg] for sticking with me the whole time. I have never looked in my mirrors more during a race. I was driving really hard to hold him off and he clearly had a fantastic weekend."
Goikhberg had to settle for a hard-fought second-place trophy. He set a new race-lap record while filling up Nunez’s mirrors for most of the race, but ran out of time before the full-course-caution.
“I was a little bit disappointed when the yellow flag came out,” said Goikhberg. “I think I was running a little bit faster than Tristan [Nunez], but that’s racing and congratulations to him. I think it was an awesome race. He drove superbly the whole way and I had a lot of fun battling with him.”
The 45-minute sprint also saw a battle for the final step on the L1 Podium among Kraut, Performance Tech Motorsports’ Daniel Goldburg, and race one second-place finisher Jon Brownson. The trio traded positions a number of times and were pushing hard right up to the finish. Kraut retook his third-place starting position before the rain fell, securing a place on the podium and the L1 Masters Class victory.
“I was happy overall, but the race was a bit frustrating,” said Kraut of his battle. “I got hung up in turn two and [Jon] Brownson and [Daniel] Goldburg got by me. We were just a bit off-line and we nearly had an incident. But it worked out in the end. This is not a very technical track, it just takes guts. You have to hold the throttle down and convince yourself it’s gonna work. It’s a real racer's track in that this is why you drive a race car, so you can go exceedingly fast and scare yourself.”
Brownson claimed second in L1 Masters, followed by Performance Tech Motorsports’ Ritchie Holt.
L2 Pole-sitter Level 5 Motorsports’ Scott Tucker took an early lead over race one’s class-winner Robert Sabato of 6th Gear Racing. Tucker stretched his lead throughout the race to take the class win in one of several races he entered on the day.
“This is race number one of two, um, well three,” said the busy Tucker. “I think I’ve lost count. It was a good race. The rain obviously slowed us down at the end, but the car was good and we had a great race.”
Alain Nadal from Ansa Motorsports got by Sabato as well by the halfway point, in search of his second podium of the weekend.
Sabato crossed the stripe third in class, but relinquished it afterwards to Alan Wilzig who pitted early with a mechanical problem. Sabato was excluded from official scoring for leaving the post-race compound early.
The Cooper Tires Prototype Lites Powered by Mazda title chase continues on August 17-18, with Rounds Nine and Ten at the famed Road America road course in Wisconsin.
The top-three will be posted following every session on the ESR Facebook page and ESR Twitter page.
Prototype Lites
Round 8 - Race Results
July 22, 2012
Canadian Tire Motorsport Park - Bowmanville, Ontario
| Pos. | Driver | Team | Diff. | Fast Time| 1. | Tristan Nunez | Performance Tech Motorsports | - | 1:16.170 | | 2. | Mikhail Goikhberg | JDC MotorSports | 0.412 | 1:16.108 | | 3. | Gerry Kraut | JDC MotorSports | 35.773 | 1:17.320 | | 4. | Daniel Goldburg | Performance Tech Motorsports | 36.216 | 1:17.073 | | 5. | Jon Brownson | Eurosport Racing | 1 Lap | 1:16.738 | | 6. | Scott Tucker (L2) | Level 5 Motorsports | 1 Lap | 1:19.981 | | 7. | Ritchie Holt | Performance Tech Motorsports | 1 Lap | 1:20.062 | | 8. | Darryl Shoff | Comprent Motor Sports | 1 Lap | 1:20.265 | | 9. | Dan Weyland | Eurosport Racing | 5 Laps | 1:20.487 | | 10. | Alain Nadal (L2) | Ansa Motorsports | 6 Laps | 1:31.355 | | 11. | Alan Wilzig (L2) | Wilzig Racing | 28 Laps | 1:39.025 | | 12. | Jim Garrett | Eurosport Racing | 31 Laps | 1:46.511 | | DQ | Robert Sabato (L2) | 6th Gear Racing | 21 Laps | 1:22.823 | |
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