Team Sahlen came into the 2^nd Round the Grand American ROLEX series at Barber Motorsports Park with full 2 months of preparation for the restart to the season.  The GT class continued to be a very competitive bunch of cars, with 19 entries for Barber.

In the initial practice sessions, Team Sahlen focused upon set up knowledge and long runs on Tires.  #42 RX-8, with Dane Cameron and Wayne Nonnamaker, made several changes to look for the optimal set up.  The #43 and #49 Mazdas, driven by Joe Sahlen, Joe Nonnamaker & Will Nonnamaker, run long runs on the tires to see what wear would be like.  In fact, #49 ran the most number of laps of any ROLEX competitor.  The positive news was that the drivers were able to get within about a second of their best times even on old tires.

Then as Practice Session #2 came to a conclusion, all the set up work seemed to be paying off for Team Sahlen, as the #42 netted a 3^rd fastest practice time.  To prove the pace was not a fluke, Team Sahlen backed that up with a 4^th, 9^th and 11^th fastest time in Practice Session #4

In Qualifying, Team Sahlen saw a mixed up session with a black flag in the middle place the team in 10^th, 14^th and 17^th.

“I was fully expecting a Top 5 grid slot after our practice runs.  The black flag did cause a bit of mix up in the session.  That is not an excuse.  It’s just a shame because the crew worked so hard and deserved better than our 10^th grid position.” – shared Wayne Nonnamaker

At the start of the race, all 3 Team Sahlen Mazdas made a clean run in the opening laps.  A few bumps and bangs did happen along the way.  Wayne was tapped on the side coming out of a turn.  Joe Sahlen found himself in the middle of a TRG Porsche sandwich in the hairpin.  Despite some body damage, the reliable Mazda continued on.  Unfortunately for one of the TRG cars, it suffered a punctured Tire.

“I really enjoyed my stint behind the wheel.  The Mazda was very comfortable to drive.  It was interesting getting sandwiched in the Hairpin by two Porsches.  But that just shows the toughness of the Mazda that is survived the scrape.” – shared Joe Sahlen

At the 48 minute mark, Joe Nonnamaker found himself on the outside edge of the Museum turn with a Daytona Prototype inside.  This put Joe into an innocent spin. But upon reentering the track, Joe came across another fast approaching Daytona Prototype.  Fortunately, the Daytona Prototype took evasive action, and The #43 was able to return to action without a scratch.

At this point in the race, all cars came into the pits for fuel.  Wayne Nonnamaker handed the #42 over to finishing driver Dane Cameron.  Dane drove a fantastic 1^st stint. He rose all the way up to 4^th place at one point, until the final round of stops occurred.  Dane came out of the pit stops still in 4^th, but for some reason, the car dropped off pace.  Dane could barely match his times on new tires vs the times he was turning on the hour old tires a few laps before.  In the end, the #42 salvaged a 9^th place run on the day. The highlight to the day was Dane being able to set the 2^nd fastest GT race lap, during his 1^st stint.

Dane shared his feelings on the day - “The end Result at Barber was a bit disappointing to be honest but there were still many positives to the weekend. Our execution during the race was perfect, strategy and pit stops were spot on so I have to give the team a big thank you for all of their hard work. I am not sure why but I really struggled on my second set of tires, I was unable to find a balance and then I hurt the tires and started to slip back. We will take it all in and come back stronger in a few weeks in Homestead and get back onto the podium where Team Sahlen deserves to be.”

The #49 Mazda finished by Will Nonnamaker did a valiant drive to stay on the lead lap for a majority of the race. An unexpected fuel cut at lap 72 saw Will barely able to nurse the car back to the pits.  Fortunately, no fast approaching cars hit Will from behind, and the car was soon back up to speed after the pit stop, which then netted a 17^th finishing position, one spot behind the #43 Team Sahlen Mazda.

Then next event for Team Sahlen will be Round 3 of the Grand American ROLEX series to be held at Homestead Miami Speedway on April 29^th.  The race will be televised on SPEEDTV same day coverage starting at 1 pm.

The 2012 Team Sahlen campaign in the

GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series is supported by:

 Mazda, Mazdaspeed, SimXperience, Alcon, Racetech, NGK, Cool Shirt, Racing Print Media, Mothers Polish, TheRaceSite.com, Western New York Flash, Grassroots Motorsports, ASC Industries, Iannetti Design Ideas, CM Racing, Quarter Master, BBS Wheels, MSI Racing Products and Endurance Karting