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GRAND-AM
IN THE COCKPIT: Andy Lally, Homestead-Miami
So if I’m going to write a column after every race, it wouldn’t be me if I wasn’t extremely honest...
Andy Lally and John Potter logged a top-ten finish in a rain-soaked battle at Homestead-Miami Speedway. (Photo: Magnus Racing)
So if I’m going to write a column after every race, it wouldn’t be me if I wasn’t extremely honest.
The Rolex race this past weekend stunk.
I’m not saying there weren’t many positives, and I’m lucky to have two great teams during GRAND-AM weekends, but this was one of those weekends that was just forgettable.
It’s too bad, because I was excited headed in to the weekend. As most people know, I currently have 99 podiums in GRAND-AM competition, and between my no. 44 Magnus Racing Porsche GT3 Cup and no. 10 Kinetic Motorsports Kia Forte Coup, I had a really good shot at getting podium number 100, or even 101!
What I didn’t know, was that apparently both teams were pretty aware of this as well, so much so that they put together a little wager on me. Whichever team is first to get my 100th GRAND-AM podium will make the opposing team wear the Kia hamster suit to dance on the grid at the next race. If Kinetic got me to the podium first, Magnus Racing’s Team Manager Shannon Davis would have to do the dance. Shannon is one of my best friends and someone I’ve known for a long, long time. If Magnus got me to the podium, my Kia teammate Nic Jonsson would have to do the same. He’s a pretty hairy guy so it’s not much of a stretch.
In typical Magnus fashion, I was deliberately never told that any of this plotting was going on, so much so that when they announced the bet, they purposefully waited until I was on my way to the airport to make it public. It was an odd morning as I left the house and read “Who Will Wear the Hamster Suit” in my Email. I love both of these teams.
Coming in to Miami, we had a good chance for a podium. The Kia had been on the podium at both races prior, and Homestead was a track that we had a shot at. The Porsche definitely would face some challengers with the track configuration and oval, but our 4.0 liter motor would have some advantages with the torque it produced.
Unfortunately, the hype from the bet would become the highlight of the weekend.
During the promoter’s test on Thursday, I think I went about seven laps getting the Magnus Porsche dialed in when… kaBLAMow!! Game over. For our second straight race, we lost a motor in practice. It’s nothing the Magnus guys did. It was straight from the factory, and as everyone knows Porsches are known for their reliability, so it’s just been an odd fluke. Luckily a spare engine was loaned to us.
What this meant was we lost the entire day of practice. Not cool.
Coming in to Friday, it was a bit more productive. John Potter and I spent the bulk of the day just working on the car, and getting a sense of what our rivals had. We were never setting the time charts on fire, but with the weather coming, it was never our aim. Continental qualifying would occur later in the day, and it was a bit more promising, but also a little frustrating as well.
I told everyone I’d be disappointed if we weren’t on pole for Kia in the Continental race. Well, I wasn’t on pole. Luckily, my teammate Mat Pombo managed to do it, with myself in second, for an all Kia front row (and Kia was the title sponsor of the race). Mat is a good driver, but admittedly I wasn’t terribly happy with qualifying second. Congrats to him, he’s a good guy and he deserved it.
As the sun set… it turns out we’d never see it again...until about 20 minutes after the checker was thrown on Sunday, but that’s for later. This became one of the wettest weekends I’d ever seen. Saturday morning practice in Rolex was interesting. The oval at Homestead is nothing like the one at Daytona, because it’s a corner that you really have to suck it up and drive through. With our Porsche, you sort of have to crack the throttle and hold your breath. It’s heavy loading and it’s definitely a turn that separates the men from the boys. In the wet you add in the loss of about 85% of your vision when you’re anywhere near someone else in front of you, and it turns into a very memorable turn.
I actually spun once and went off a second time in morning practice. Neither did any damage, but the transition from turns one in to two is extremely tricky in the wet. It’s essentially the point on the track where you transition from the outside oval to the infield road course, which means a slight descent from the cambered straight to a change in pavement on a somewhat blind corner. Because of the slight decline, it also pools water right at the transition, and if you watched the race it’s where a lot of incidents happened. If you go on to the Magnus website, they actually posted my spins from the on-board camera on there. They also did that without checking with me… thanks guys!
The Rolex race this past weekend stunk.
I’m not saying there weren’t many positives, and I’m lucky to have two great teams during GRAND-AM weekends, but this was one of those weekends that was just forgettable.
It’s too bad, because I was excited headed in to the weekend. As most people know, I currently have 99 podiums in GRAND-AM competition, and between my no. 44 Magnus Racing Porsche GT3 Cup and no. 10 Kinetic Motorsports Kia Forte Coup, I had a really good shot at getting podium number 100, or even 101!
What I didn’t know, was that apparently both teams were pretty aware of this as well, so much so that they put together a little wager on me. Whichever team is first to get my 100th GRAND-AM podium will make the opposing team wear the Kia hamster suit to dance on the grid at the next race. If Kinetic got me to the podium first, Magnus Racing’s Team Manager Shannon Davis would have to do the dance. Shannon is one of my best friends and someone I’ve known for a long, long time. If Magnus got me to the podium, my Kia teammate Nic Jonsson would have to do the same. He’s a pretty hairy guy so it’s not much of a stretch.
In typical Magnus fashion, I was deliberately never told that any of this plotting was going on, so much so that when they announced the bet, they purposefully waited until I was on my way to the airport to make it public. It was an odd morning as I left the house and read “Who Will Wear the Hamster Suit” in my Email. I love both of these teams.
Coming in to Miami, we had a good chance for a podium. The Kia had been on the podium at both races prior, and Homestead was a track that we had a shot at. The Porsche definitely would face some challengers with the track configuration and oval, but our 4.0 liter motor would have some advantages with the torque it produced.
Unfortunately, the hype from the bet would become the highlight of the weekend.
During the promoter’s test on Thursday, I think I went about seven laps getting the Magnus Porsche dialed in when… kaBLAMow!! Game over. For our second straight race, we lost a motor in practice. It’s nothing the Magnus guys did. It was straight from the factory, and as everyone knows Porsches are known for their reliability, so it’s just been an odd fluke. Luckily a spare engine was loaned to us.
What this meant was we lost the entire day of practice. Not cool.
Coming in to Friday, it was a bit more productive. John Potter and I spent the bulk of the day just working on the car, and getting a sense of what our rivals had. We were never setting the time charts on fire, but with the weather coming, it was never our aim. Continental qualifying would occur later in the day, and it was a bit more promising, but also a little frustrating as well.
I told everyone I’d be disappointed if we weren’t on pole for Kia in the Continental race. Well, I wasn’t on pole. Luckily, my teammate Mat Pombo managed to do it, with myself in second, for an all Kia front row (and Kia was the title sponsor of the race). Mat is a good driver, but admittedly I wasn’t terribly happy with qualifying second. Congrats to him, he’s a good guy and he deserved it.
As the sun set… it turns out we’d never see it again...until about 20 minutes after the checker was thrown on Sunday, but that’s for later. This became one of the wettest weekends I’d ever seen. Saturday morning practice in Rolex was interesting. The oval at Homestead is nothing like the one at Daytona, because it’s a corner that you really have to suck it up and drive through. With our Porsche, you sort of have to crack the throttle and hold your breath. It’s heavy loading and it’s definitely a turn that separates the men from the boys. In the wet you add in the loss of about 85% of your vision when you’re anywhere near someone else in front of you, and it turns into a very memorable turn.
I actually spun once and went off a second time in morning practice. Neither did any damage, but the transition from turns one in to two is extremely tricky in the wet. It’s essentially the point on the track where you transition from the outside oval to the infield road course, which means a slight descent from the cambered straight to a change in pavement on a somewhat blind corner. Because of the slight decline, it also pools water right at the transition, and if you watched the race it’s where a lot of incidents happened. If you go on to the Magnus website, they actually posted my spins from the on-board camera on there. They also did that without checking with me… thanks guys!
Road Atlanta
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