{"id":1974,"date":"2021-04-15T16:52:01","date_gmt":"2021-04-15T16:52:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/teamsahlen.com\/?p=1974"},"modified":"2021-05-14T15:27:09","modified_gmt":"2021-05-14T15:27:09","slug":"team-sahlen-has-miraculous-4th-overall-with-only-4th-gear","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/teamsahlen.com\/index.php\/2021\/04\/15\/team-sahlen-has-miraculous-4th-overall-with-only-4th-gear\/","title":{"rendered":"Team Sahlen has miraculous 4th overall with only 4th gear"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Team\nSahlen, presented by honeybeeBase.com, entered their 1st<\/sup> event of\nthe season at Pittsburgh International Race Complex in the Summit Racing \u2013\nAmerican Endurance Racing series.  The\nteam had spent their 5 months off season repairing, rebuilding and developing\ntheir Sahlen racers for the 2021 season. \nOn Friday\u2019s Test&Tune, Practice and Qualifying session, Team Sahlen\nrolled out 4 racers to test out.  This\nincluded the #943 \u201cMustard\u201d Porsche Boxster that the team runs in the Tire Rack\n\u2013 ChampCar Endurance Series.  The test\nwent very well with the team learning valuable lessons for the upcoming\nSahlen\u2019s Champyard DOG at the Glen on Memorial Day weekend.  Team Sahlen also brought out #42 \u201cPepper\u201d\nPorsche Cayman out of retirement.  A few\nteething issues were experienced during the day, and Team Sahlen choose to\ninstead replace #42 \u201cPepper\u201d with the #41 \u201cSalt\u201d Porsche Cayman.  The star of the day was the #43 \u201cRetro\u201d Audi\nR8 GT3 Ultra setting the fastest lap of the day to secure the Pole Position for\nthe Saturday 8 hour enduro.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Will\nNonnamaker shared his thoughts – \u201cWe really had a very good day on Friday.\nThe crew did a fantastic job working through all the opportunities that arose\nwith the 4 Sahlen racers.  We learned a\nlot that will helps us throughout this season.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Saturday\ndawned with beautiful blue skies for the 1st<\/sup> event of the season for\nthe Summit Racing \u2013 American Endurance Racing series.  As the race got under way, both Team Sahlen\nracers took their time, letting the race settle in.  Then once the race rolled into the 3rd<\/sup>\nhour, the timing&scoring board showed #43 \u201cRetro\u201d in the lead overall and\nin Class 5.  And as well, #41 \u201cSalt\u201d had\nrisen to the top of the Class 4 and 4th<\/sup> overall.  As the race rolled into hour 4, #41 \u201cSalt\u201d\nsuffered from a Clutch Slave issue that forced an early retirement for the\nday.  #43 \u201cRetro\u201d continued to lead the\npack overall, until a center lug nut issue forced an extended pit stop for repairs.  <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wayne\nNonnamaker shared his thoughts on the day \u2013 \u201cWe had a great run today.  Joe Sahlen did a fantastic job starting the\ncar, handing over the car in the lead.  And\nfrom there we were running in great shape, managing traffic with smooth pit stops\nby the crew.  It was fantastic that the\ncrew worked hard to get us back out on track, and we were able to salvage a 2nd<\/sup>\nin Class 5 today.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Saturday\nnight saw showers sprinkle the race track, causing Sunday\u2019s 8 hour enduro to\nstart with a damp track, but with beautiful blue skies.   The #43 \u201cRetro\u201d Audi driven by Joe Sahlen\ncontinued the pace of Saturday, and led into the early sector of the race.  Wayne Nonnamaker continued forward, and the\nduo soon built up a 2 lap lead on the competition.  With less than a hour to go, a broken right\nfront ball joint put the victory out of reach, forcing Team Sahlen to settle\nfor a 2nd<\/sup> Place in Class 5 and 8th<\/sup> Overall.  Joe Sahlen was recognized at the awards\nceremony for reaching the 2500 Lap Club in the Summit Racing \u2013 American Endurance\nRacing Series.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Joe Sahlen\nshared his thoughts on reaching the milestone \u2013 \u201cWow, 2500 laps is a lot of racing.   I have certainly enjoyed my time racing with\nAmerican Endurance Racing.  This a very\ncompetitive series where you can have lots and lots of fun on track.  I can\u2019t wait add to my lap total at our next event\nat with the series at the Sahlen\u2019s Sports Car Springfest at the Glen in a\nmonth.\u201d <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The craziest\nstory of the weekend was the adventure of the #41 \u201cSalt\u201d Porsche.  Similar to Saturday, Will Nonnamaker started\nthe race off with a double stint, rising up to 2nd<\/sup> in Class 4 and 5th<\/sup>\nOverall.  Then at the 3 hour mark, the Clutch\nin the Cayman found the end of its life and ceased working.  Somehow the Joe Nonnamaker was able to secure\n4th<\/sup> gear and left it in place. \nThis left 5 hours of racing to be completed with only 4th<\/sup>\nGear.  This included pit stops and full\ncourse cautions.  Somehow, Joe & Will\nfound their groove and started clicking of consistently expedient laps.  As the race came to a conclusion, to everyone\u2019s\nsurprise, #41 \u201cSalt\u201d crossed the finish line in 3rd<\/sup> Place in Class 4\nand 4th<\/sup> Place overall!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Joe Nonnamaker\nshared his amazement after the race \u2013 \u201cI really didn\u2019t have much hope in\nfinishing the race, let alone a 4th<\/sup> place finish when we got stuck\nin 4th<\/sup> Gear.  But we put our\nheads down and just drove a very methodical, patient race and there we were at\nthe Checkered Flag with a 4th<\/sup> Place with only 4th<\/sup>\nGear.  Truly, this will be a race I won\u2019t\nsoon forget.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The next\nevent for Team Sahlen will be the May 8th<\/sup> & 9th<\/sup>\nSahlen\u2019s Sports Car Springfest at the Glen again with the Summit Racing \u2013\nAmerican Endurance Racing series.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

2021\nTeam Sahlen Campaign Partners<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

honeybeeBase.com, Porsche Beachwood, Audi Mentor, ECS\nTuning, Tarett Engineering, Guard Transmission, , HubstandsPRO, Maxima Racing\nOil, Brothers Grimm Landscaping, NGK Spark Plugs, CM Racing Products, Mothers\nPolish, Grassroots Motorsports Magazine, Design Engineering Inc., Hard Brakes,\nForgeline Wheels, Optima Batteries, All-Fit Automotive, Mazdaspeed, Winding\nRoad Racing, Performance Friction Brakes & WIX Filters.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Team Sahlen, presented by honeybeeBase.com, entered their 1st event of the season at Pittsburgh International […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1976,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1974","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/teamsahlen.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1974","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/teamsahlen.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/teamsahlen.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teamsahlen.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teamsahlen.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1974"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/teamsahlen.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1974\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2011,"href":"https:\/\/teamsahlen.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1974\/revisions\/2011"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teamsahlen.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1976"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/teamsahlen.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1974"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teamsahlen.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1974"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teamsahlen.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1974"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}