Bodymotion Racing Looking Forward To Racing 'At Home' on Saturday As ICTSC Series Visits Lime Rock

Bodymotion, a full-service automotive repair facility, competes in both classes of the ICTSC.

In the top class, Grand Sport (GS), it fields the No. 12 Porsche Cayman GT4 Clubsport driven by 2014 champion Trent Hindman of Wayside, N.J., and rookie Cameron Cassels of Coldstream, British Columbia, Canada. The pair has won three of the four events they've competed in so far this year, including the race at Watkins Glen International in Watkins Glen, N.Y. earlier this month. They missed the season opener because their new car wasn't ready, but they're fourth in the current GS point standings.

Bodymotion also fields a 2012 Porsche Cayman in the Street Tuner (ST) class. Sponsored in part by VeriStor and Delaware Investments, the No. 31 is driven byJason Rabe, a New Jersey native now living in Monticello, N.Y., and Devin Jones, a native of California now living in Mooresville, N.C. They posted their best finish of the season, second, at Watkins Glen. They're fifth in the ST standings.

"For Bodymotion Racing and myself, this is an extremely important event for us because we are based out of the New York metropolitan area," Hindman said. "This is the perfect race for us to perform well in front of many folks we are familiar with. Also, this is an event that is always great to host existing or potential partners of our race program.

"It's also one of my favorite tracks because of the high-speed nature of it, as well as it being close to home," he added. "It's always nice to have some friends and family make the three-hour trip up to northwest Connecticut from New Jersey.

"I like to consider The Glen and Lime Rock as my home circuits, but I've been going to Lime Rock for much longer," added Hindman, 20. "Obtaining a minor waiver to go racing at The Glen was not possible, but it was at Lime Rock and I found myself up there quite a bit over the course of 2010 and 2011 in my Skip Barber Racing School days. I'm very fortunate to have achieved much success at Lime Rock, including my first GS pole position in 2013 when I was driving a Fall-Line BMW with Charles Espenlaub."

"I've done a bit of iRacing just to learn the layout, and I've read some great track notes courtesy of Rob Slonaker [the team's driver coach]," Cassels said. "Racing at Lime Rock gives me an opportunity to spend some time at the Bodymotion shop and meet some of the staff that I would not get to see otherwise," he added.

"It's nice being close to a track, as it makes traveling easier for us," noted Rabe. "It's nice being close so family and friends can come spectate.

"And since it's close to New York City, we're hoping that some Monticello Motor Club members will attend as well as sponsors and a lot of the New York City metropolitan fans," added Rabe, who is the lead pro instructor at the Monticello Motor Club. "The more tri-state region fans, the more exposure and support!"

Skip Barber owns Lime Rock, and it's the home of the Skip Barber Racing School. Jones is one of the school's instructors.

"Before instructing with Skip Barber, I started racing with the Skip Barber Race Series in 2011," he said. "I have time at Lime Rock in a formula car during the National series.

"The fan turnout is always huge for the race at Lime Rock, and it gives the New York-area fans a chance to see what sports car racing is all about," Jones noted. "Now that there are so many new places to watch the racing at the track, I see no reason why it won't be the same this year."

Q:We have a bigger field for this race (GS has eight entries and ST has 27 entries for a total of 35 cars) and the smallest track on the schedule (1.53-mile, seven-turn road course without the chicane). What are your thoughts going into this race concerning 35 cars on the track at one time on a relatively small road course?

Trent Hindman: "On paper, Lime Rock Park seems like the last place that you would ever want more than 30 cars on the track at one time, but for the most part the racing is actually fairly clean and straight forward. The ST cars are much closer to the GS pace at this particular circuit.

"Cameron understands that these races are long and require much patience, especially at the start and when working through ST traffic. If giving up a position is necessary to avoid an incident or even minor contact, it almost always will be worth it in the long run. Cam has been doing a fantastic job of protecting the equipment in the opening stint, and that certainly makes my job much easier.

"The great thing about Lime Rock Park is that almost every car can have a shot at the victory. It's a place where it is going to suit a car with solid, high-speed balance, such as the Porsche, as well as a car that has plenty of torque and horsepower to pull through the lower portion of the track on the uphill. It will be interesting to see this dynamic working on race day, and it will certainly make things exciting!

"Since Lime Rock is only a seven-corner, 1.5-mile circuit, many grow complacent and underestimate the track itself. It bites, and it bites hard if you lose that respect. It's extremely high speed for its size, and with laps under one minute, one mistake could put you lap(s) down or even take you out of the race completely."

Cameron Cassels: "I'm looking forward to getting back into the Porsche GT4 and applying what I learned at CTMP."

Jason Rabe: "I like pack racing in a bull ring, so having that many cars on a small track like Lime Rock should be interesting, entertaining, and fun!

"I've only raced at Lime Rock once before, last year in this race. Since the track is small, usually the lap times are very tight so the challenge is getting the car set up properly so we are able to run consistent, quick lap times."

Devin Jones: "Lime Rock Park is a tight track with close quarters for racing. I like to say Lime Rock races like a short track, coming from my stock car background. I believe we'll have a clean race, but we hope to keep the car out of trouble if any incidents do arise.

"I've always enjoyed Lime Rock because in some ways it races like an oval. There is a certain rhythm you have to get in as a driver to be fast there. The track can be hard on tires, so you have to be smooth with inputs. Also, it's the smallest track we go to so the lap times are always very close. You have to be on your A-game. The key will be no mistakes and good track position, and a little luck won't hurt."

Q: About six hours after we take our first laps of the weekend on Friday, we're going to be qualifying. This means that the car has to be close when it rolls off the truck. Is this something that Bodymotion does well?

Trent Hindman: "Absolutely! That has really been our strong suit all year. Cam, me, Mike [Bavaro, the team owner], Marc Manning [engineer] and all the guys back at the shop work very hard to prepare ourselves and the car as much as possible so when we roll it off the truck we can dial our setup in quickly and then focus on getting Cam in the car to learn the track and maximize the amount of laps he gets before the race."

Cameron Cassels: "This is definitely something that Bodymotion excels at. Now we just need to make sure that I do the same! I'm confident that we will do just fine at Lime Rock."

Jason Rabe: "Since practice and qualifying are all crammed into the same day, I think it's a challenge for most teams, but everybody is in the same boat. Honestly this is a personal goal of mine this year; I want to help get the car's setup even quicker during practice sessions."

Devin Jones: "We have limited practice time, so as a team we have to make quick changes to the car. There is no time to waste, but I believe our baseline setup will be close to where we need it."

Q: As we begin the second half of the season, are you satisfied with how things have been going, and what will it take to move up in the point standings?

Trent Hindman: "It's hard not to be satisfied considering we missed Daytona! Three wins in four races is a very rare thing in the Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge! We cannot take it for granted though. We must keep pushing to get the most out of Cam, the car and me if we want to continue this trend."

Cameron Cassels: "I'm very happy with the season so far. To be honest, I haven't paid attention to the point standings. My main focus remains steady progress as the season continues."

Jason Rabe: "Halfway through the season we're in an OK spot in the points championship, but we're not satisfied. The mechanical issue at Daytona really put us behind, so we've kind of been playing catch-up. With some solid top 10s and a podium at Watkins Glen, we're back in the hunt. There's lots of pressure on the drivers and the entire team to perform very well in the remaining five races!"

Devin Jones: "The team has worked together very well this season. We have shown speed all year and proven it with some great finishes. Aside from one mechanical failure at Daytona we have always been in the hunt. We sit fifth in points, and hopefully in the second half of the season we can keep improving for a better position in the standings."

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