Prototype Lites: Versteeg Breaks Through At Sebring

Subtitle:JDC Motorsports Driver Earns First Career Victory In Thriller

SEBRING, Fla. (March 18, 2016) – Austin Versteeg earned his first career Mazda Prototype Lites Presented by Cooper Tires victory Friday at Sebring International Raceway, climbing to the front after starting fourth in a thrilling race.

Versteeg, 16, from Sandy, Utah, produced the breakthrough victory in the No. 7 JDC Motorsports entry at the start of his second season in the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) Official Development Series. His previous best finish was third, four times last season and also in Round 1 on Thursday.

“It feels amazing,” Versteeg said. “For my second year ever in a car, to get my first victory at such a historic track, a place I’ve wanted to win at since I was 5 years old, I’m kind of numb right now. I don’t really know what to think.”

Round 1 winner Clark Toppe, from The Woodlands, Texas, finished second in the No. 10 JDC Motorsports entry to keep the Lites 1 championship lead. Michael Whelden, from Sonoma, California, earned his first career podium finish in his second series start by placing third in the No. 14 World Speed Motorsports entry.

Patricio O’Ward, from Monterrey, Mexico, finished fourth in the No. 16 Performance Tech Motorsports Élan DP02 chassis powered by a Mazda engine and racing on Cooper Tires. Max Hanratty, from Milwaukee, rounded out the top five in the No. 30 Extreme Speed Motorsports car.

Todd Slusher, from Las Vegas, earned his first career Lites 1 Masters victory in the No. 62 ONE Motorsports entry after finishing seventh overall. Max De Angelis, from Belle River, Ontario, won the Lites 2 class in the No. 07 Eurosport Racing entry.

Versteeg wasted little time jumping from his fourth starting spot. He climbed to third after the second green flag lap of the race, which started under caution due to a stalled car.

Pole sitter Toppe and O’Ward dueled furiously around the historic 17-turn, 3.74-mile circuit in the early stages of the race, trading the lead four times during the first 20 minutes. At one point, Toppe and O’Ward were running side by side from the exit of Turn 17 all the way through Turn 5 of the next lap.

Meanwhile, Versteeg clawed ever closer, waiting for a chance to pounce while staying within a second of the top two cars.

Versteeg passed O’Ward for second with 21 minutes remaining. Versteeg then pulled to within .459 of a second of Toppe when the second caution period of the race was triggered to remove Gerry Kraut’s stopped car from the circuit with 16 minutes remaining. O’Ward went off course in Turn 10 just before the caution, and Whelden sneaked past for third.

Toppe pulled a strong gap on the restart, but he went wide at Turn 13 on the first lap under green. Versteeg and Whelden slipped past Toppe for first and second, respectively.

“At the end there, I made one mistake, and it cost us a win,” Toppe said. “I just came in there and had a bunch of push and hooked around a bit.

“All that really matters is that we came out of here with the championship lead, and that’s the goal for the year. It could have been a lot worse. I could have been in the fence right now.”

Versteeg had built a .646-second lead over Whelden when the caution flag flew again with seven minutes remaining to retrieve a stranded car. Versteeg pulled away on the restart with three minutes, 30 seconds remaining, and Toppe darted past Whelden for second.

Toppe set his sights on Versteeg. But two separate incidents on different turns of the track with 90 seconds remaining forced the race to end under caution, sealing Versteeg’s victory.

Versteeg felt a measure of redemption after being disappointed with his third-place finish Thursday.

“Especially after yesterday, I was little bit hard on myself,” Versteeg said. “But I just said: ‘Take what you get, learn from it and move on. Critique yourself, don’t criticize.’ That’s what opened my mind last night.”

JDC Motorsports extended a remarkable streak with Versteeg’s victory. The team, based in suburban Minnesota, has won the last 20 Mazda Prototype Lites Presented by Cooper Tires races, a streak dating back to August 2014.

Masters

Slusher earned his first Lites 1 Masters victory in dramatic, unexpected circumstances.

Gary Gibson, from Libertyville, Illinois, led the class from the start and was headed for his first victory of the season when calamity struck with 90 seconds left in the race. Gibson, fellow Lites 1 Masters competitor Naj Husain and Lites 1 driver Andrew Hobbs were caught in a tangle in Turn 3.

Slusher was running second in class behind those cars and just missed the incident. He drove through the scene without a scratch to ensure victory.

“It happened right in front of me,” Slusher said. “I threaded the needle.

“Crazy race. Any time you can get on the podium here, it’s a great day. I don’t care what spot. It’s just an awesome day, awesome feeling. Great job by ONE Motorsports getting the car going and keeping us going.”

Gerhard Watzinger, from Naples, Florida, earned his second runner-up finish of the event in the No. 32 ONE Motorsports entry to take the class championship lead.

2013 Lites 1 Masters champion Jon Brownson, from Breckenridge, Colorado, finished third in the No. 34 Eurosport Racing car. Brownson started his 10th season in the series at this event.

Up Next

Rounds 3 and 4 are scheduled for July 1-2 at Watkins Glen International in Watkins Glen, New York.

For live timing, visit scoring.imsa.com or the IMSA mobile app for iOS, Android or Windows. For live updates on all the action, follow @IMSALive on Twitter.

ROUND 2 POST-RACE QUOTES

AUSTIN VERSTEEG (No. 7 JDC Motorsports, winner): (About first career victory after finishing third Thursday): “I was making a couple of mistakes in second (Thursday). You learn, and you take what you can get and you improve on it the next day. That’s what I did from yesterday to today. I have a lot more to work on, but I can’t thank everyone enough who has been here to help me. Especially after yesterday, I was little bit hard on myself. But I just said, ‘Take what you get, learn from it and move on.’ Critique yourself, don’t criticize. That’s what opened my mind last night. It feels amazing. For my second year ever in a car, to get my first victory at such a historic track, a place I’ve wanted to win at since I was 5 years old and watching the American Le Mans Series, I’m kind of numb right now. I don’t really know what to think.”

CLARK TOPPE (No. 10 JDC Motorsports, second): “We (Toppe and Patricio O’Ward) were side by side all the way from Turn 17 to Turn 5. It was pretty nuts. I finally just kind of decided to back out of it and not try to crash. At the end there, I made one mistake, and it cost us a win. It happened in the Tower turn, Turn 13. I just came in there and had a bunch of push and hooked around a bit. All that really matters is that we came out of here with the championship lead, and that’s the goal for the year. It could have been a lot worse. I could have been in the fence right now.” (Did you have anything for Austin Versteeg if the race stayed green?): “Yeah, definitely. I feel like I had one of the quicker paces of all the guys out there, and I think I could have pressured him there at the end. I wish it would have been green, but you can’t control those things.”

MICHAEL WHELDEN (No. 14 World Speed Motorsports, third): “I couldn’t be any happier right now with how this weekend has gone, from showing up and never having driven the car, never been to the track. The team is pretty new to the car even though we know Mazda products well. From where the car started, setup-wise, to where we got it was an absolute miracle, almost. The first race, I finally got some clean space to get a good lap time, which got me up front for the second one. From there, it was just a dogfight to stay up front. Kyle Masson, I knew I had to get by him to keep up with Pato (O’Ward), Clark (Toppe) and Austin (Versteeg). It was my only chance. I got him going down into (Turn) 17, and from there, I just put my head down and tried to drive back into the race. I was hoping for a little more interaction from Clark, Austin and Pato. They delivered; they delivered a heck of a 45-minute race, and I got involved, too. We had a four-car battle. I couldn’t be happier. Huge thanks to World Speed, huge thanks to everyone who has put this together – IMSA, Mazda, Cooper Tires, Élan for building these cars.”

TODD SLUSHER (No. 62 ONE Motorsports, winner, Lites 1 Masters): “Crazy race. Any time you can get on the podium here, it’s a great day. I don’t care what spot. It’s just an awesome day, awesome feeling. We battled a lot of things out there today. We had oil on the track. We had a lot of really close competition. The guys were just not giving an inch to anybody out there. It was a race all the way through. I’m really super-excited. Great job by ONE Motorsports getting the car going and keeping us going. We had a few challenges with the car over the weekend, but all in all, we had a great time. Couldn’t be happier.” (About last-lap incidents around him): “It happened right in front of me. I threaded the needle.”

GERHARD WATZINGER (No. 32 ONE Motorsports, second, Lites 1 Masters): “Today was very different to yesterday. Yesterday was a clean race. Today I fought a lot of obstacles. I lost my right mirror, and then I had downshift problems. I was in neutral more often, so that’s not really helping you. If you look at my car, the front is full of oil and my visor is full of oil. The car in front of me just lost a ton of oil. You feel like you’re driving in an oil field at times. In the end, a little lucky. But better lucky in second place than a hard-earned last place.”

JON BROWNSON (No. 34 Eurosport Racing, third, Lites 1 Masters): “I was marveling at how far we had gone under green in this second race when all of the sudden all heck broke loose on that last green lap, and we were doing our best to avoid it. I go, ‘Oh, boy, I moved up three.’ Then all of the sudden I was in the grass and moved down three. Not quite as we would have wished. But it’s good to be here on the Masters podium.”