Team Sahlen has improved by one position at every race this season.  1^st it was a 9^th place finish at the ROLEX 24 Hours, then an 8^th place finish at the Circuit of the Americas.  The most recent event at Barber Motorsports Park saw the team net a 7^th place finish.  If this streak stays alive, Team Sahlen should be reaching the top step of the Podium at Road America this year.

Even though the race turned out to be a very warm and sunny affair, the Thursday and Friday practice days were cold and wet.  The 1^st time the Daytona Prototypes saw was in Qualifying.  This put Team Sahlen in a quite a predicament, as the drivers had never seen the track in dry conditions.  As well this made it very difficult to put a set up on the car that would be optimal.  Conversely, Team Sahlen’s competitors in Daytona Prototypes all had years and years of set notes and laps around the track.

Nevertheless, Team Sahlen’s Wayne and Joe Nonnamaker didn’t let this slow them down, as they placed the #42 & #43  in 10^th and 11^th respectively.

“15 minutes a very short amount of time to come to grips with the full effects of downforce on slicks.  The good news was that after Qualifying, we were able to go back and make several set up changes that assisted in our BMW Powered Daytona Prototype handling better in the race.” – shared Wayne Nonnamaker

At the start of the race, Wayne and Joe avoided a spinning #3 Daytona Prototype to get away cleanly down the road.  The race’s one and only yellow flag occurred at the 25 minute mark.  Team Sahlen took this opportunity to pit both the #42 and #43 for a quick top off of Fuel.  From this point on, the 2 hour race went full green.  This made for a very interesting race, as pit strategy was key.  While many competitors choose to short pit, hoping to get fresher tires on their DPs earlier in the race, Team Sahlen instead choose to extend the pit window for both the #42 & #43 so that no further stop would be necessary.  At the point of the pit stop, Wayne Nonnamaker had come to grips with driving the Daytona Prototype and put in a stellar drive.  This saw the #42 sitting right on the rear bumper of the #01 Ganassi Daytona Prototype.  Joe Nonnamaker as well had put in an solid, error free stint, running as high as 10^th place at one point.

Dane Cameron took over the reins of the #42, and continued the push to the front.  As well Will Nonnamaker jumped behind the wheel of the #43, replacing his father Joe.  For both Dane and Will, these were their very laps on a dry track on slicks.

“It was all a bit exciting to be seeing the 1^st laps on a dry track and on slicks in the heat of battle.  Throw into that mix the factor that when I got in the car, the track was starting to have considerable rubber balls building up.  These rubber balls were the size of tennis and baseballs.  Both of my wheel valences broke with rubber balls coming out the fenders.  At one point I thought the whole floor board had broken.  Since we were already not on the lead lap, I thought it would be best to just be safe and pit to check it out.  Sure enough it was just rubber balls, but it sounded awful.  I guess that is the same sound that Justin Wilson heard when he was in the Ganassi Daytona Prototype at the ROLEX 24 three years ago, when he pitted, costing them the race victory.” – shared Will Nonnamaker

At the end of the race, Dane held off a strong charge from Michael Valiante in the #60 Michael Shank Daytona Prototype.  This battle went on for over 10 laps, with the position being traded several times. In the end Dane persevered to 7^th place.

Dane Cameron added his thoughts – “For how little track time we got with the weather and having no idea on our set up for the race, I think we can be really happy with a seventh place. We made some wholesale changes to our car between the Circuit of the Americas and Barber Motorsports Park, I am very encouraged with the progress we made with the handling. We were closer to the pace and better over the stint so I can't wait for the next race at Road Atlanta.”

The next event for Team Sahlen will be the Road Atlanta on April 20^th.  The 2 hour and 45 Minute event will be televised live at 4:40 pm est. on SPEED TV.

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