Team Sahlen entered their home town race at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course with high expectations of being in the hunt for the top spots.  The Nonnamaker family knows the Mid-Ohio track very well.  And recent recruit Andy Lally has had his fair share of success at the track. 

Right at the start of practice, Wayne Nonnamaker placed the #43 in the 6^th fastest position.   Practice Session #2 saw Andy Lally place the #42 Mazda in the 5^th spot on the sheets.  For Practice Session #3, Wayne continued the upsurge, and placed #43 in the #4 slot in the competitive GT field, and capped it with a 6^th best in Morning Warm Up.

“The crew worked so hard to get us the #43 ready for this event.  A practice wreck at Watkins Glen forced the crew to work every day to try to put back together.  The car first went to Riley and Scott to have pieces fabricated. From there the car spent three days in the SpeedSource shop getting put back together before coming home to have final install work done. To see it come out here and right out of the box and perform well says a lot about the professional service provided by Riley & Scott as well as SpeedSource Engineering. “ – stated Jay Chapman, Team Manager

Starting the race would be Joe Nonnamaker in #43 and Will Nonnamaker in #42.  Both drivers did a very good job of keeping out of trouble and handing the Mazdas over to their co-drivers in one piece.  This opportunity came at the 30 minute mark when a full course caution came out on track.

“It was a very intense time out there. The Daytona Prototypes were very aggressive, and you had to be careful. This was evident by the 1^st caution came out when a DP forced a GT car into the front straight wall.” – stated Will Nonnamaker

Wayne Nonnamaker jumped into the #43 and Andy Lally hoped into the #42 racer.  As the race continued to unfold, Team Sahlen used pit strategy to continue to top off the Mazdas with fuel for the late run to the checkered.  During this period, the GT competitors had to pit as well.  This positioned the duo in 3^rd and 5^th spot on the track in the intense GT field. 

At the mid-point in the race, Wayne Nonnamaker had an unfortunate spin that caused him to loose two laps in the sand trap.  Wayne did not let this slow him down though, as he proceeded to get back on track and set the 2^nd fastest lap of the race.  Eventually Wayne finished 11^th in class.

Andy Lally continued to hang tough with the best in GT, with late race cautions bringing competitors with fresher tires to up to the front.  In the end the #42 Team Sahlen Mazda was listed in 8^th place.  This was Team Sahlen’s 5^th Top Ten GT finish of the season.

The next event for Team Sahlen will be the Brumos Porsche 250 at Daytona International Speedway will take the green flag on Saturday, July 3^rd at 11 am, and be Televised same day at 1 pm  on SPEED TV.

 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