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Team Sahlen captures 7th place at Lime Rock
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Posted (05/31/2007) - Team Sahlen achieved a milestone at the Lime Rock ROLEX GT race weekend by recording the first Top 10 of the season came within 3 laps of not only capturing the team's 1st Top 10 GT finish of the season, but capturing 7th place. Having just raced at Laguna Seca the prior weekend, Team Sahlen had a very hectic week. The Trailer had to travel all the way from California to Ohio. Then the crew spent two days preparing and repairing the 2 HRPWorld.com Corvettes. The #43 racer required extra attention due to a late race incident that knocked the team from 7th to 11th at the end. Team Sahlen arrived at Lime Rock under sunny skies and bright hopes for the weekend. With no test day at Lime Rock, Team Sahlen entered the #41 HRPWorld.com Pontiac GTO for extra track time for the 4 driver line up. Practice saw the drivers gain valuable laps around the short but tricky 1.53 mile circuit. For Qualifying, Joe Nonnamaker & Joe Sahlen qualified the #43 & #42 HRPWorld.com Corvettes 17th and 21st respectively. Raising the Team's hopes a bit higher, Wayne Nonnamaker placed Team Sahlen's #43 HRPWorld.com Corvette 4th in the morning warm up session. The tight confines of Lime Rock have been often refereed to as the "Bristol of Road Courses". And the 2007 edition of the ROLEX GT event lived up to expectations, with lots and lots of door banging. Joe Sahlen drove a super clean race, keeping the #42 on the lead lap. At the 50 minute mark, Joe handed the Corvette over to Will Nonnamaker to finish the 2 1/2 hour race. Using excellent pit strategy, Will Nonnamaker continued through the race, avoiding wreck after wreck. Then on the run to the finish, while other competitors struggled, the #42 jumped up to 5th place. This position was maintained for several laps, until a fine 7th place position was sorted out at the finish. By moving up an amazing 14 positions out of 22 starters, Team Sahlen won the prestigious "SUN TRUST Most Improved Position Award. "What an amazing race. The Team Sahlen crew has been working so hard, its great to be able to give them a solid finish. The HRPWorld.com Corvette ran flawlessly today. This is great momentum going into the upcoming Sahlen's 6 Hours event at Watkins Glen." - states Joe Sahlen Team Sahlen's #43 HRPWorld.com Corvette had an up and down day. Joe Nonnamaker ran a solid 1st hour, but an unfortunate yellow saw #43 loose an early lap. Finisher Wayne Nonnamaker slotted into the #43 racer and put in a solid pace until a mysterious oversteer problem. Despite this minor set back, the #43 persevered to a respectable 13th place. The solid run by #43, saw Joe Nonnamaker gain valuable points in the annual Bob Akin Sportsman Award for GT drivers. Joe is now in 2nd place, only 137 points (2020 vs 2157) out of the top spot. The next round of the ROLEX Sports Car Series will be at Watkins Glen International on June 9th for the Sahlen's 6 Hours. The race will televised on SPEED Channel. Part I will start live at 11 am, and Part II to the finish will start at 2:30 pm. The 2007 Team Sahlen ROLEX GT Campaign is support by HRPWorld.com, GOJO, Kempthorn AutoMall, HAWK Performance, Forgeline, Cool Shirt, TheRaceSite.com, TheRaceMarket.com, Grassroots Motorsports, HOTSEAT, Holliday Canopies, Alcon, CM Racing, Joe Gibbs Motor Oil, Genesis Technologies, Endurance Karting, Racetech Seats, Corsa Performance and Zip Corvette. For more information on Team Sahlen, visit www.TeamSahlen.com |
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