BAR1 Motorsports Post-Sebring Report

Despite a brilliant effort by both crew and drivers, the 64th running of the Mobil 1 12 Hours of Sebring Fueled by Fresh From Florida, was a challenge. Looking for a repeat of their podium finish in the Rolex 24 at Daytona, the team worked diligently throughout the week trying to get everything to click. Drivers, Johnny Mowlem, Ryan Lewis, Marc Drumwirght and Don Yount were all getting quicker as the week went on. Come race day, the BAR1 No. 20 Southwest Realty Advisors / Southwest Funding prototype team was starting second on the grid with momentum on their side.

“The thing with endurance racing,” noted team owner Brian Alder, “you need everything… absolutely everything, going your way. You need speed, reliability and in the end, you need luck. And even with all of that, you’d better be perfect. We just weren’t perfect. With hard work the crew got the car working fairly well. Johnny [Mowlem] put in a brilliant effort qualifying the car on the front row. Everybody… and I do mean everybody, did their job and did it well. I have no complaints." 

“The start of the race was a bit of a scramble,” added Brian. “Johnny didn’t flinch… he put his head down and within a few laps he was right in the thick of it running second and challenging for the lead.”

“The weather moved in and that put everyone’s strategy out the window,” laughed Alder. “I’d have to say, the weather was the wild card of the race. It changed everything… from tires, to driver line ups … even fuel strategy. And then the red flag for over 2 hours. Nobody could have predicted that and it really affected how we shuffled our driver line up mid race. But we hung in… we were in it, we definitely had a shot at the podium."

That shot expired when late in the race, an additional stop was required to repair the front suspension due to residual damage from an earlier incident. The team pushed on with their “never quit” attitude and finished the 12 hour event 6th in class. 

“Today things just didn't go our way, noted Alder. “We were making crucial race strategy decisions on the fly when the weather rolled in, hoping to take advantage of our more experienced drivers and land our car on the podium… but our best efforts were not enough. Thats racing, we win together and lose together as a team"

Mazda IMSA Prototype Lites

Brian Alder announced his move in the No. 22 Top 1 Oil Prototype to the highly competitive L1 class in the Mazda IMSA Prototype Lites Championship for the 2016 season. The move represents a significant challenge, given the number of cars competing for the championship.

“I’m excited about the move,” said Alder. “There’s a lot more competition in the L1 division and it’s the next step for me in climbing the prototype ranks. The team has a lot of experience with these cars and I think that will be a big plus as we progress through the season. It’s definitely a change, but it’s a change we’re ready for.”

Alders initial outing at Sebring gave the team a glimpse of what to expect. In race 1, Alder finished a respectable 11th place.

“The car had some gremlins in the first race with the newly added paddle shift system cutting our practice time short,” said Alder. “We never really found the set-up or speed to get up there with the front group to compete. But I had a good race and I was happy to get the race laps under my belt. There’s a lot of traffic out there and Sebring isn’t what you’d call a “kind” race track.”

In race two, Alder was off to a much stronger start. Lap times showed him running well in the mix with the front of the pack. Unfortunately, a mechanical issue early in the race forced Alder to pit. When he returned to the track he was right back on pace, but a lap down. A late race incident collected several cars… the No. 22 being one of them. The car retired and the race finished under caution.

“The second race was really frustrating,” said Brian. “The car felt really good and I knew I could run with the lead group. I was just getting settled in when i had to make an unscheduled pit stop.  When we got back on track, the car was great and my pace we really picking up, turning my fastest laps of the weekend in the final stages of the 45 min race. The late race incident happened just in front of me, i moved to the outside and thought I had cleared it but I got hit in the rear from a spinning car resulting in suspension damage and that ended my day. Regardless, I’m happy with our progress and I think we’re going to have an exciting season that will see the No. 22 Top 1 Oil car chasing down some podium appearances as we head to my favorite track on the schedule,  Watkins Glen.