Team Sahlen, presented by honeybeeBase.com, entered their 2nd event of the season at the Sahlen’s Champyard DOG at the Glen. On Friday’s Test Day, the team ran all three Porsche Boxster: #941 “Chili”, #942 “Ketchup” & #943 “Mustard”. All three racers ran great all day with the Team Sahlen drivers having successful stints behind the wheel. Making a guest appearance for the test day was Joseph Sahlen, who drove “Chili” the entire day. And by the end of the day, “Chili” had turned the most number of laps of any car on track, and Joseph was able to secure the 11th fastest lap of the day.
Saturday dawned with beautiful blue skies. Team Sahlen drew the random starting spot of mid field in the 92 car entry. Team Sahlen did not let this deter them from driving to the front, and soon both Porsche Boxsters were running in the Top 5 OVERALL, with the #943 briefly leading the race.
At the mid point of the race, “Mustard” had a mechanical issue that put it behind the wall. This left the responsibility to team honors to “Ketchup”. The team was running in 3rd place with a great chance for a 2nd place on the line with 90 minutes to go in the race. And then a perfectly timed Code 35 came out just as the team was having to put with low fuel. This pit stop under full Code 35 placed Team Sahlen just 15 seconds behind 2nd place. And battle soon ensued as the race went back to green. In what appeared to be an extended period of time that the battle would ensue, a sudden thunderstorm blow in, forcing the race to be checkered 60 minutes early. Fortunately the #942 had just passed for 2nd when the Caution came out.
Wayne Nonnamaker shared his thoughts after Saturday’s 2nd place finish – “Catching the Code 35 Cautions at the right time to make a pit stop was crucial at the Glen. With the long laps when running at 35 mph, being at pit entrance vs pit exit on track when the Code comes out can make or break your strategy. We had several instances during the raced where we fell on the wrong side of the Code 35. But the odds finally fell in our favor on the Code 35 just as we were pitting for the last time, which put us right on the bumper of the Rockwell Autosports Development Boxster. Joe and Will did a fantastic job putting the car in the Top 3 and I was then able to have a great run in traffic to sneak by for the 2nd place finish.”
Sunday dawned with clear blue skies again. Team Sahlen was looking forward to a strong run with both the #942 and #943 Boxsters. And early on things looked very promising, with both “Ketchup” and “Mustard” taking turns leading the race OVERALL. Unfortunately both Boxsters suffered from Mechanical issues that ended the day prematurely.
Team Sahlen’s next event will be the Pittsburgh 6 Hours with the Endurance Karting series on June 29th.
2024 Team Sahlen Campaign Partners:
honeybeeBase.com,
Malco Products, Porsche Beachwood, ECS Tuning, Tarett Engineering, Guard
Transmission, HubstandsPRO, Maxima Racing Oil, Pagid Brakes, NGK Spark Plugs,
CM Racing Products, Grassroots Motorsports Magazine, Design Engineering Inc.,
Hard Brakes, Forgeline Wheels, Optima Batteries, All-Fit Automotive, Winding
Road Racing, & Capri Tools.
