Encouraging Pace for Frisselle Racing in Mexico City
New Dallara fast right out of the box for Burt, while Brian's race effort shows podium-challenging speed
(Mexico City, Mexico) 19 April 2008 – Looking at the final results for the Mexico City 250, it would be hard to suspect that Burt and Brian Frisselle were nearly as excited as the winning drivers, but when you look a little deeper, its easy to see why both drivers are anxious to get to the next round of Rolex Sports Car Series competition. Luckily for both, they only have to wait a week.
Mexico City marked the debut event for the No. 47 BSI/CDOC Ford-powered Dallara of Burt Frisselle and Gabriel Gardel, and if the first time the car hit the track is any indication, Rolex fans should expect to see a lot of the distinctive orange machine up front this season. Despite never having done a lap before this weekend, the brand-new Doran-prepared machine impressed as Burt scored fifth on the grid in qualifying, and would have likely converted that into a top five had the race not brought the first little glitch of the weekend for the newest Rolex Series combination.
“Coming into the pits, the electronic speed limiter didn’t engage so I got busted for going two miles over the pit speed limit and had to come back into the pits for a penalty,” said Burt. “That ruined our strategy, but it was the only time all weekend that this car didn’t do everything perfectly. And for a brand-new car, that’s pretty impressive. The Doran guys have worked so hard and the car was just awesome.”
“The drive-through penalty set us back, but once we got back on track, it was no problem picking people off,” said Burt. “It’s too bad because it really hurt our chances at a top-five, but a top ten and a nearly flawless weekend is certainly not a bad way to start. Bring on VIR!”
On the other side of the Frisselle Racing Mexico City race effort was Brian, who was hoping to convert AIM Autosport’s first-ever Rolex front row start into a podium appearance. That hope seemed well founded as Brian’s teammate Mark Wilkins was the only entry able to keep the hometown hero Memo Rojas in check up front as the two gapped the field in the opening laps. Unfortunately, the effort all came to naught as puffs of smoke began to emerge from the back of the No. 61 Ford-Riley, forcing Wilkins into the pits for repairs. The failure was the proverbial three-dollar part failure, a seal at the back of the Daytona Prototype that the AIM Autosport crew was able to diagnose and repair quickly before sending the Gold Machine back on track, albeit several laps down from the leader.
Fortunately, the pace that the car showed in the early laps hadn’t disappeared as Brian took the controls, moving up from thirtieth overall to finish the race fifteenth in the Daytona Prototype standings.
“It’s so frustrating to have a good run go bad with such a small little problem, but on the other hand, at least we had a problem on a fast race car and not a slow one!” said Brian. “It’s too bad for this race today results-wise, but the speed we had all weekend is really encouraging so that’s what we’ll focus on starting tomorrow and looking ahead to VIR. We’ve had quick cars all year and now we just need a clean run and a little luck to go with it, because we know we are right where we need to be on pace.”
The Virginia International Raceway weekend is a two-day Rolex Sports Car Series event, with practice and qualifying on Saturday, April 26th in advance of the two-hour and forty-five minute race on Sunday.
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Press Notes:
About AIM Autosport
Established in 1995, AIM Autosport operates multi-car teams competing in the Formula BMWUSA Championship and the Star Mazda Series. The company has a mandate to identify, train and manage emerging motorsport talent. AIM has provided many young drivers with a solid foundation on which to build a career in professional racing. The success of the AIM driver development programs has been achieved through the dedication of our employees and the ongoing support of our commercial and technical partners.
Away from the track, AIM Autosport serves the needs of the racing community with a purpose-built preparation shop situated in the Toronto suburb of Woodbridge, Ontario.
Chassis brings resume of success to AIM Autosport:
AIM Autosport's Riley chassis was purchased from Chip Ganassi Racing and comes to the team with an impressive legacy of success, having won the Rolex Sports Car Series Championship in 2004.
AIM Autosport Alumni:
AIM has a long history of bringing drivers up through the ranks, and the alumni list reads like a who's who in the sport: www.aimautosport.com/drivers/Alumni/Alumni.htm
Performance-Oriented:
Performance Drink, the "Official Performance Drink" of Grand Am has signed on as an associate partner for the 2007 season, and will be utilizing the relationship to develop and demonstrate the high-performance capabilities of the drink. The drivers in the Rolex 24 At Daytona will be participating in a unique program that will closely monitor their bodies' performances throughout the enduro. More details to follow.
For additional information
www.aimautosport.com
