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GRAND-AM
GRAND-AM: Heitkotter Scores CTSCC Mid-Ohio Pole
Couch to competition as Playstation gamer takes Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge pole at Mid-Ohio...
In only his third CTSCC race, Nissan GT Academy USA winner Bryan Heitkotter took the pole for Saturday's race. (Photo: Brian Cleary/GRAND-AM)
Bryan Heitkotter drove a Nissan 370Z to the Grand Sport (GS) pole with a fast lap time of 1:32.422-seconds for Ohio-based Doran Racing. Heitkotter, who scored his ride through the Nissan GT Academy, bested the Rum Bum Racing Porsche of Nick Longhi by less than a tenth of a second on the 2.258-mile Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course circuit.
“It’s my third career Continental Tire race,” said Heitkotter. “I’m surprised, I’m really shocked that I was able to get pole. We’ve been kind of chasing the handling since we got here. The car was totally rebuilt after Barber and we were chasing neutral. We’re not quite there, but we’re okay at the moment. So I was really surprised when they came over the radio and said, “you won (pole).”
“I got here because of the [GT] Academy. Last year, they set up the top Playstation Grand Turismo 5 racers and put us all head to head. We had a one week shootout at Silverstone, driving real cars. I was the winner and my prize was a drive for Nissan. For me this is a total dream come true. I’ve always wanted to race. I didn’t have the traditional opportunities to do it, so this is a great launch pad into professional racing and I’m ecstatic about it. So I did my best and here I am. You never know what can happen.”
When asked if he had warmed up for the weekend with some extra time on the game, Heitkotter had to admit... “Mid-Ohio is not in the game!”
The Street Tuner (ST) class also provided a non-standard storyline as the HART team scored a pole on home turf with Chad Gilsinger netting a 1:37.226 fast time in the 15-minute qualifying session. The dueling Kia’s followed suit with Andy Lally second and Mark Pombo third, as the Mazda of Jonathan Bomarito scored fourth ahead of Andrew Novich in the Compass 360R Honda Civic.
HART is comprised largely of Honda engineers who operate the racing programs as an after-hours passion project. Gilsinger will start the race before turning the controls over to Michael Valiante.
“We actually skipped New Jersey to try and get ready for this event,” said Gilsinger. “This is our home event. As GRAND-AM qualifying normally goes, there are usually black flags and yellow flags, so I knew I had to get it at the start. I held back and had that one lap and luckily, it stuck. Hondas have always been pretty consistent and I think we can run pretty close to the pole time. Hopefully, we’ll be in good shape. My co-driver, Michael Valiente, obviously is an amazing driver, so I have a good pairing.”
“It’s a team run by all engineers, so we do have Michael helping us on the driving side, but all the cars are built by all engineers who work for Honda. So, I’m an engineer that works for Honda and we do it all after hours. We don’t get paid to do it. That’s the reason we sometimes have to skip a race to sort things out, you know, we’re all doing this after hours.”
The 2.5-hour race is set to go green at 11:00 AM ET, and will be broadcast on SPEED (June something), and some readers will be able to follow it LIVE on SPEED2.com.
With experience at Skip Barber Racing School, Lime Rock Park, and several IndyCar teams, Matt Cleary has covered open wheel and sports car racing for over a decade. Working for Sunday Group Management, Cleary also provides strategic motorsports consulting for a range of clients in the sport. You can follow him on Twitter @sundaygroup.
“It’s my third career Continental Tire race,” said Heitkotter. “I’m surprised, I’m really shocked that I was able to get pole. We’ve been kind of chasing the handling since we got here. The car was totally rebuilt after Barber and we were chasing neutral. We’re not quite there, but we’re okay at the moment. So I was really surprised when they came over the radio and said, “you won (pole).”
“I got here because of the [GT] Academy. Last year, they set up the top Playstation Grand Turismo 5 racers and put us all head to head. We had a one week shootout at Silverstone, driving real cars. I was the winner and my prize was a drive for Nissan. For me this is a total dream come true. I’ve always wanted to race. I didn’t have the traditional opportunities to do it, so this is a great launch pad into professional racing and I’m ecstatic about it. So I did my best and here I am. You never know what can happen.”
When asked if he had warmed up for the weekend with some extra time on the game, Heitkotter had to admit... “Mid-Ohio is not in the game!”
The Street Tuner (ST) class also provided a non-standard storyline as the HART team scored a pole on home turf with Chad Gilsinger netting a 1:37.226 fast time in the 15-minute qualifying session. The dueling Kia’s followed suit with Andy Lally second and Mark Pombo third, as the Mazda of Jonathan Bomarito scored fourth ahead of Andrew Novich in the Compass 360R Honda Civic.
HART is comprised largely of Honda engineers who operate the racing programs as an after-hours passion project. Gilsinger will start the race before turning the controls over to Michael Valiante.
“We actually skipped New Jersey to try and get ready for this event,” said Gilsinger. “This is our home event. As GRAND-AM qualifying normally goes, there are usually black flags and yellow flags, so I knew I had to get it at the start. I held back and had that one lap and luckily, it stuck. Hondas have always been pretty consistent and I think we can run pretty close to the pole time. Hopefully, we’ll be in good shape. My co-driver, Michael Valiente, obviously is an amazing driver, so I have a good pairing.”
“It’s a team run by all engineers, so we do have Michael helping us on the driving side, but all the cars are built by all engineers who work for Honda. So, I’m an engineer that works for Honda and we do it all after hours. We don’t get paid to do it. That’s the reason we sometimes have to skip a race to sort things out, you know, we’re all doing this after hours.”
The 2.5-hour race is set to go green at 11:00 AM ET, and will be broadcast on SPEED (June something), and some readers will be able to follow it LIVE on SPEED2.com.
With experience at Skip Barber Racing School, Lime Rock Park, and several IndyCar teams, Matt Cleary has covered open wheel and sports car racing for over a decade. Working for Sunday Group Management, Cleary also provides strategic motorsports consulting for a range of clients in the sport. You can follow him on Twitter @sundaygroup.
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