I was slowly catching the #22 Honda, but when we crested the hill and rounded Southbend we both found ourselves behind the #181 VW on a cool down lap. (Photo: MikeSkeen.com)

And that it did. At the start, I managed to pick off a few cars and get myself up to 6th by Turn 3. Over the next several laps, I had a few cars drive by me down the back straight because of our lower powered car. On the other hand, our lighter weight allowed me to make up some ground in the corners and brake zones, which kept me in contact with the lead train. After a few laps, things settled down a bit and I managed to slowly move back up the order, getting to 6th again before the first full course yellow. At that point, Freedom Autosport had all three cars in the Top 6 and we were looking very good. Be sure to check out the High Definition in-car video from my stint on Vimeo or at MikeSkeen.com.

After that caution period and the first round of pit stops, we experienced our first sign of trouble. The car developed a stumble that felt similar to fuel starvation, but we knew we had plenty in the car. We decided to come in for another stop to check the car over and do a driver change while trying to solve the problem. Brian jumped in the car and took it back out, but the problem resurfaced on the out lap. He took it into the paddock and the crew quickly went to work diagnosing the problem. With good feedback from Brian and help from the data, the car was back on track after going a few laps down.

Brian took the car back out and started turning some great laps before the problem resurfaced over an hour later. The problem was more-easily fixed this time and Brian finished off his stint strong with no other problems. Jon got in the car as the sun started to get low on the horizon and he put in steady laps as we thought we finally got our problems under control. With the light of the sun long gone and the race nearing its end, Jon brought the car in with a problem that put us out early.
Though each of the team cars had some trouble during the race, it was really impressive how hard the crew worked to keep each car going as long as possible. The hard work paid off too, because Tom Long managed to bring the #146 back from a lap down to a Top 10 finish, even knocking out fastest lap of the race and picking up 9th place on the very last lap.

To come out of the box with this type of performance in my first race with a high-caliber professional team was very encouraging and it is a testament to the work Freedom Autosport has done all year long to put these cars at the pointy end of the field. Though this event was a tough one for many teams up and down pit road, you can be sure this team will only get better as a result. I just hope to be a part of such a strong effort for the entire 2009 season as I love the challenge of the stiff competition in this series.

See the VIR Video