Performance Tech Trio Stays Steady in Exciting, Rough-and-Tumble Race at Road Atlanta

BRASELTON, Ga. (Oct. 1, 2015) - Robert Alon and Performance Tech Motorsports took home a third-place finish after a stirring, wheel-to-wheel duel with competitors Thursday, Oct. 1 in Round 13 of Cooper Tires Prototype Lites Powered by Mazda at Road Atlanta.Austin Versteeg finished fourth in the No. 16 Performance Tech Motorsports car, while Joel Janco placed fourth in Lites 1 Masters in the team's No. 25 entry.(left to right) McMurry, Koch and AlonAlon, who started second in the No. 00 Performance Tech entry, began the exciting 30-minute race three-wide in Turn 1 on the 12-turn, 2.54-mile course. Exiting Turn 1, Alon was running side by side with former teammate Matt McMurry. Alon overtook McMurry, claiming second place and setting his sights on gaining ground on 2015 Cooper Tires Prototype Lites Powered by Mazda Champion Kenton Koch.A caution period nine minutes into the race stopped Alon's progression and packed the field together.On the restart, the field resumed tough racing. Alon, McMurry and the No. 10 of Clark Toppe fought for second place. This time Toppe challenged Alon. The two drove side by side, with McMurry hot on their heels.Toppe was forced to pit, trimming the race for second to a two-man show. McMurry overtook Alon for second in Turn 3. Alon lost pace and settled with a third-place finish."Going into the race I felt good, we had a good qualifying session," Alon said. "P2 is pretty strong for us. We had a strong car. It was pretty close racing up there with Matt McMurry and Clark Toppe, but that's the fun of it. We had some close racing for a majority of the race, and then my car just fell off and I didn't have the pace to stay with them. Hopefully we can have the car tomorrow to keep it up there."Versteeg began the race fourth and fell back at the start as he attempted to follow Alon through Turn 1. Versteeg settled behind the fight for second and set his own sights on regaining lost positions. With consistent lap times, Versteeg worked his way back to finish fourth. </img>"Another positive result," Versteeg said. "Throughout the year, we've had consistent top-five finishes, and we finished fourth today. I struggled with the front of the car a little, just trying to make it work how I'd like it to. It was a good race. We were consistent on lap times; we were working on racecraft some. I really don't have any complaints after that race."Janco enduring his fight for position further back in the field, also finding himself side by side with many competitors in full-contact racing."We finished fourth, and that was all right," Janco said. "We thought we should have been further up the ladder. But there was a lot of rough racing out there, and luckily we didn't get wrecked into a wall. So we're happy, and we're coming back tomorrow."Team Principal Brent O'Neill had his eye on the driver point standings entering this season-ending event. Alon and Versteeg are in the running to finish third in the Lites 1 Drivers Championship, while Janco is contending for second place in the Lites 1 Masters points championship. </img>Round 14 - a 45-minute race that's the last of the season - starts at 8 a.m. (ET) Friday.O'Neill was pleased with the performance of each Performance Tech driver in Round 13."It was a good day," O'Neill said. "Robert did a great job out there and ended up on podium. Austin ran some good lap times; he just couldn't get there. He kind of got boxed in on the restart. Joel was like a ping-pong ball out there. It was just crazy with some of the Masters competitors out there. But Joel handled it well and gave himself a little cushion to keep second in the Masters Championship."It was a good, competitive race, and all the guys did a good job. We'll get after it tomorrow."Live timing for all sessions is available at scoring.imsa.com and on the official IMSA app for iOS, Android and Windows. Live text commentary during the race is available on Twitter @IMSALive.Keep up with Performance Tech Motorsports by following the team on Facebook and Twitter at @Perf_Tech. For more information on the team, visit performancetechmotorsports.com.