Posted (07/17/2007) -
Team Sahlen entered the Iowa Speedway weekend with high hopes. And race day did not disappoint. Joe Sahlen and Will Nonnamaker drove their #42 HRPWorld.com Corvette to a season high 6th place. This was not only the highest finish by a Team Sahlen race car all year, but it was additionally the highest finish by a Corvette in ROLEX GT competition in 2007.
Starting on Thursday Test Day, Team Sahlen started working on a set up that would work on the tight confines of the IOWA Speedway road course.
"Learning what worked and didn't on this short but tricky course was going to be key to the weekend. Having both HRPWorld.com Corvettes out on the track certainly made a difference in trying contrasting set ups."
- states Wayne Nonnamaker
The efforts of Team Sahlen's Test Day session certainly paid off with the time sheets from practice consistently showing the HRPWorld.com Corvettes in the Top 10. Come qualifying, Team Sahlen's pace continued to stay consistent, with the 1st Top 10 grid position of the year. Joe Nonnamaker placed the #43 racer in 10th spot, with Joe Sahlen right behind in 11th place.
Race day dawned with bright skies, a packed grandstands and high hopes in the Team Sahlen garage. At the start of the race, the #43 and #42 HRPWorld.com Corvettes took their time sorting out the traffic. Both were running comfortably in the Top 10. Then at 20 minutes into the race, Joe Nonnamaker encountered the #30 Pontiac, that was a few laps down due to an early race pit stop. After catching the #30 from behind, Joe proceeded to take his time, saying behind the Pontiac for a few laps. Then Joe proceeded to make a pass on the lapped car. Unfortunately for Team Sahlen, the #30 appeared to not understand the blue flag of the corner marshalls, and proceed to crash into Joe, in a bold blocking maneuver. This incident broke the front suspension of the #43 HRPWorld.com Corvette. This forced Joe to the pits for repairs, placing the car eventually in 12th place at the end of the race.
"Its unfortunate what happened with #30. We certainly had a top 10 finish. Our pace was there all weekend. And that is a good sign of things to come as we close out the 2007 season." - states Joe Nonnamaker
The #42 HRPWorld.com Corvette proceeded forward and made the mandatory pit stop in the 45 minute pit window. Will Nonnamaker entered the car at that time to finish for Joe Sahlen. The rest of the race was incident free for Will. Several late race yellows caused the pack to bunch up, but Will did his best to avoid any wrecks, eventually crossing the line in 6th place.
"Joe and I came here in April for the KONI Challenge Street Tuner race in our HRPWorld.com Dodge. We finished in 10th place then. That was a great learning experience, and it paid off today with a 6th place. Not only is this our best finish in GT for the year, but it is the best finish by a Corvette all season in GT. Its been a development year for Team Sahlen, and its nice to see all the hard work that the crew is doing finally pay off." - stated Will Nonnamaker
The next ROLEX Grand American GT race will be at Barber Motorsorts Park on July 21st. The race will be televised live on SPEED TV at 4 pm.
The 2007 Team Sahlen ROLEX GT Campaign is support by HRPWorld.com, GOJO, ZIP Products, Kempthorn Auto Mall, HAWK Performance, Forgeline Wheels, Cool Shirt, TheRaceSite.com, TheRaceMarket.com, Grassroots Motorsports, HOTSEAT, Holliday Canopies, Alcon, CM Racing, Joe Gibbs Motor Oil, Genesis Technologies, Endurance Karting, Racetech Seats, and Corsa Performance.
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