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< Back to News Home Amazing comeback story for Team Sahlen's MAZDASPEED3 at Utah event

Posted (09/17/2010) -

In one of the more epic races for Team Sahlen in recent memory, the season finale of the GRAND-AM Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge at Miller Motorsports Park was quite the event.  First off, due to Joe Sahlen having prior commitments, Team Sahlen had to make a last minute change to the driver line-up.  Fortunately, the team had the services of 2x ST champion Wayne Nonnamaker on call for just such an occasion.

 

“Jumping into a Front Wheel Drive ST class car after a seven year layoff is not just a snap.  I spent time in the car on Test Day, and that helped a lot.  The MAZDASPEED3 is really fun to drive.  You can throw it around and have real fun with it.” Shared Wayne Nonnamaker

 

In Practice Session #1, The #43 Mazda was in 9th place.  This pace continued as Wayne positioned Team Sahlen into 9th place on the grid.

 

At the start of the race, Wayne took his time and avoided the maddening start.  This shuffled him back to 12th place.  But then Wayne took his time and worked his way back to the front.  One car at a time, he slowly regained positions.  Then at the 45 Minute mark, Wayne stayed out under a full course caution and slid up to 4th place in the ST class. 

 

As the race went back to green, all look well until a fellow ST competitor hit the back of the #43, jarring the rear bumper loose. Once the rear bumper finally detached from the Mazda, the hinges holding the rear deck lid down broke loose causing it to go straight up.  Wayne continued to proceed around the track with the rear deck lid acting as a giant 4 foot rear wing.  Unfortunately, the #43 was blackflagged, and was forced to bit for repairs.  During the pit stop, the crew took the time to fuel, change tires and drivers.

 

At this point, the #43 was in 25th place in class, and was very close to getting lapped by the ST leaders.  Will Nonnamaker drove hard every lap to keep on the lead lap.  Fortunately, the yellow flag that was so badly needed came in time.  This allowed Will to come around and catch up.  Two more yellows over the run to the checkered allowed will to fully catch up and have a chance to run for the Top 10.

 

With 15 minutes to go in the race, Will was in 11th place, and Top 10 was within sight.  The Team Sahlen MAZDASPEED3 made a strong run, and didn’t just stop once in the Top 10.  In fact, the run went all the way up to 7th, which matched Team Sahlen’s finish in the ROLEX event held earlier in the day.

 

“Everyone missed having Joe Sahlen at the event.  But in his absence, we wanted to do our best to give the MAZDASPEED3 a run since we were out here.   The 7th place was a good run.  It would have been interesting to have not had the unfortunate events of the race put us back, as I felt we could have challenged for a podium.  But how epic was it to battle back from 25th to 7th. I will remember this event for years to come.” Stated Will Nonnamaker

 

For the season, Team Sahlen finished in 14th in the Team Standings, despite having missed 2 events during the 2010 season. 

 

The 2010 Team Sahlen GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series presented by Crown Royal Cask No. 16 & GRAND-AM Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge Campaigns will be supported by Mazda, Mazdaspeed, HRPWorld.com, HAWK Performance, Cool Shirt, Racetech Seats, BBS, Racing Print Media, Alcon, Mothers Polish, EMCO, TheRaceSite.com, Grassroots Motorsports, Holliday Canopies, Alcon, CM Racing, Genesis Technologies, Endurance Karting, Bell Helmets, Castrol, Ianetti Design, and SpeedSource Engineering

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