3rd Place in GT at Sahlen's Six Hours of The Glen!

Wow, what a weekend at Watkins Glen.  What a couple of weeks, actually!  After traveling to Long Island to see my family, drive up to Lime Rock with my father, drive back to Long Island, go to my buddy's wedding, my grandmother's 95th birthday party, drive up to the Glen, drive BACK to Long Island, then fly home - I'm whooped!  Not to mention I raced a little bit while I was up there too...!

Lime Rock with BGB Motorsports on Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge was a bit disappointing.  A flat tire on my OUT LAP, merely 12 minutes into the 2.5 hour race, put us down 2 laps and basically out of contention right then and there.  We made up one lap, but that was it - 15th place was our best possible finish at that point.

Watkins Glen with BGB was another amazingly hard-fought battle with us finishing 10th against the big muscle Mustang's, BMW's & Camaro's.  Unfortunately my quickest race lap was literally 2 seconds slower than the fastest race lap of the race, once again proving the performance balancing between our little Porsche Cayman and everything else out there with a big V8 is still a bit off - to say the least!  However, as we've always seen during the races, come mid-point of a stint we're basically as quick as the leaders, however it's when we're all on good rubber or packed in tight traffic where we don't stand a chance on pace or ability to pass cars... thus another 'miracle' driving & strategy effort on our part relegated to a lack-luster 10th place finish.  I've never worked so hard in MY LIFE for a 10th place finish - and this has been happening all year!

SATURDAY, however, was a much different story.  I was asked by Jeff Segal, Emil Assentato and Nick Longhi to join the No. 69 FXDD/SpeedSource Mazda RX-8 GT driving lineup for the Sahlen's Six Hours of The Glen, in place of Nick who had prior commitments - and of course I said yes!  It was interesting hopping in and driving a new car for the first time and adapting as quick as I could, with very limited track time leading up to the race.  Jeff & Emil won the GT championship last year, but since the switch to Continental Tires and some adjustments to the rules package for GT, the Mazda has not been quite as strong as it was last year.  However, Jeff, Emil & the SpeedSource crew had a few tricks up their sleeve and did a great job for us during the race.  Emil started the race in the rain & did a great job keeping the car clean and on the lead lap.  Jeff of course was outstanding in the car, turning very fast lap times and improved our position to the top-5.  I got in and with the help of some great pit strategy, ran 2nd and then 3rd for my double stint in the car.  Jeff then got back in to finish, and saw some excitement battling it out with the 88 Camaro.  It looked like we could have possibly won it, but a bump-and-run by the 88 put Jeff back to 3rd, followed immediately by a caution that saw the pace car split the leading 59 car from the rest of the field - giving them a full lap to pit for fuel and grab the victory without contention.  We ultimately finished 3rd, and although we felt robbed of a possible victory, we'll take the 3rd place.

It was great to finish on the podium in my one and only Rolex Series race this year, and also great to be back in a Mazda - a brand that I've had much history and success with, since winning the 2002 Star Mazda Championship and 2005 ALMS Rookie of The Year award driving for Mazda with B-K Motorsports in the LMP2 category in '05 & '06.

Now it's a few days home relaxing & catching up on home life, some coaching with HSR, some testing with ESM, and then back to racing at Road America with BGB for my final Continental Tire race of the season - before the ALMS schedule gets back into swing for the remainder of the season.

Thanks for reading and feel free to comment here via the Facebook plugin!

Sahlen's Six Hours of The Glen Preview

This weekend I'll be joining my good friends Jeff Segal and Emil Assentato for the Grand-Am Rolex Series Sahlen's Six Hours of The Glen, driving the 2010 Championship-winning No. 69 FXDD/SpeedSource Mazda RX-8 GT!

Jeff and I have become close over the recent years working together for various driving programs, including my Cosmo-Sport track events, as well as racing against each other in Grand-Am events. I've known Emil since my very early days of racing, having met him through a mutual friend who was extremely dear to us, the late Joe Stimola.  Jeff and Emil have been a very strong combo for the past number of years and are looking to defend thier championship from 2010.

SpeedSource is a team I've been close to for the past 8 years now, who have realized an incredible amount of success in Grand-Am, however I've never actually driven for them yet.  I'm very excited to join them all this weekend!

As usual I'll continue my duties driving for BGB Motorsports in the Continental Tire Challenge race on Friday, after a full day of testing / qualifying in the No. 69 Mazda - then 6 hours of racing on Saturday!

Stay tuned for hourly updates via my Twitter account (@GuyCosmo) and watch the race live on SPEED this Saturday at 4:30pm!

Ready for Long Beach!

LONG BEACH GRAND PRIX!  YES!  It is that time of year again, folks!  I am all checked in, set up and ready to rip for this one!  Last year was a blast... Ed Brown & I finished 8th, one lap down, but set the fastest lap of the Ferrari's during the race.  This year we're better-armed with our new Ferrari F458 Italia GT and we're going to keep Ed on the lead lap (because he's a PIMP and been working real hard preparing for this race) - putting me in striking distance for the finish.  I cannot wait for this!  I absolutely love this place.

I first drove at Long Beach in 2001, in my very first CART Toyota Atlantic race.  I hadn't been back (driving) until last year.  This year marks 10 YEARS since my first Long Beach experience.  I hope to make it a memorable one!

Practice starts at 7:15AM tomorrow!  First ones on track.  Keep tabs of my Twitter feed (www.Twitter.com/GuyCosmo) for updates throughout the day, and watch LIVE timing & scoring online for session results! (http://scoring.americanlemans.com/scoring.php).

Watch LIVE Online Broadcasts of qualifying & the race on www.ESPN3.com:
-Long Beach Grand Prix Qualifying - Friday, April 15th 8:00PM EDT
-Long Beach Grand Prix Race - Saturday, April 16th 7:15PM EDT

I'll update again tomorrow night!  In the mean time, get your Long Beach juices flowin' & check out the photo gallery from last year: http://www.guycosmo.com/2010-photos/grand-prix-at-long-beach/

Barber, the Recap.

Man - what a wild race! After a pretty grueling few days of lack-luster lap times and handling characteristics, we once again discovered that when it's bad for us, it's probably worse for others! Teammate Stew Tetreault qualified & started 27th, and avoided a few incidents during his 30-minute stint. I then hopped in and began the charge to the front. The track was a disaster - a slippery, greasy nightmare with absolutely no grip - and it got worse lap after lap! The car - not so happy either, but as we ALWAYS prove, in crap conditions, and when everyone else burns off their tires, we are as fast - if not faster - than anyone out there.

Joey Hand was right in front of me and I knew if I could hang with him, we'd be in great shape. Firstly, Joey is one of the best drivers out there - 'Hands' down (hehe, get it...? 'HAND'..?). But Joey's also got a BMW M3 that's GREAT in traffic - so as Joey passed cars, he opened the door for me as well and I hustled that little Porsche Cayman S right in there behind him. We advanced A LOT of positions together, and then pitted again for our last stop. Problem was, we only took fuel - not tires. Although that put me into 5th place, which was an amazing strategy call by the brain trust at BGB Motorsports, I was a sitting duck for those behind me who put tires on during their last stop.

I definitely didn't make it easy for anyone, as you'll see on the SPEED TV broadcast next week, but I did ultimately fall to 8th in the remaining few laps after a final restart & 13-minute sprint to the end. I drove my little heart out, but when you're going sideways & spinning wheels, you ain't goin' forward!

All in all it was a great race for us, and we certainly performed and finished stronger than we expected to. Again, it was some of the most hard-fought, intense, door-to-door, bumper-to-bumper, wheel-bangin' & romp-em-stomp-em racing out there. The racing in this series really is pretty insane - and that's FUN. That's three 8th place finishes in a row, and we're just collecting championship points.

Next round of Continental Tire is at Virginia Intl. Raceway, May 12-14, but next up for me is the GRAND PRIX OF LONG BEACH!!! SWEEEET!! I'm home for three days then off to California! Stay tuned, and thanks for following!

Barber Update & Qualifying Report

Well hello ~ we meet again...!  Barber, oh Barber... part race track & part circumstance, I'm just definitely not in love with this place.  Yes, it's beautiful - but... looks aren't everything.

Collectively we all at BGB Motorsports have worked real hard to get our Porsche Cayman S' a bit further up the charts, to not much avail.  It's just a very challenging weekend, and some tracks suit your car better than others, and Barber is not one for us!  Both cars qualified 26th & 27th on the grid for tomorrow's race, and it's going to be a long one.  I'll likely get in very early and drive nearly two hours, and I'll be sure to give it my all!  It's going to be HOT though!  90 degrees and humid in a car that's going to require lots of activity to keep it on track!  But this is what I do!  And I'll do it with a smile - or at least for as long as I can!  I'm known in the BGB camp to get a little aggravated during these Continental Tire races... ;)  You may (or may not) want to listen to me on the radio.  Maybe one day I'll record some of our radio conversations and upload them.  Or then again, that REALLY might not be a good idea!!

Let's see how tomorrow goes!  As always, and especially in this series, ANYTHING can happen - and I'll be ready to pounce on it when it does!  GO BGB #83!!!

Back at Barber!

Photo by Margie Hersey GerardBarber Motorsports Park.  Clearly one of the most BEAUTIFUL race tracks & facilities I've ever seen, but one thing remains... NO STINKIN' GRIP on the race track!  MAN that drives me nuts!  I've been here two days and already I can't wait to go home!!!  Ok, ok, that's a little drastic, I know.  Honestly, I don't want to go home - I just want to race!  Walking up and down the paddock you hear everyone complain of how terrible their cars are handling and how many changes they make to the cars to make them work, and no one is happy!  Are you kidding me?  We're not talking about clapped out '80's beater vehicles here... we're talking 2010 & '11 BMW M3's, Chevy Camaro's, Ford Mustangs, Porsche 911's and Cayman S' - state-of-the-art icons of the streets these days - all handling like crap???  YEP!  There's only two things other than the car in this equation... tires, and track surface.

ANYWAY, our BGB Motorsports Porsche Cayman S' are suffering a little bit from the lack of grip in the track surface and an easily & very quickly degrading tire situation.  The cars handle reasonably for a few laps at a relatively quick pace, but then the tires burn off and slowly get worse every lap, until all the drivers are whining.  We're gunna need a LOT of cheese in pit lane to go with all of the 'whine'... hehe, get it... whine? Cheese?  I'm hilarious.

Stay tuned as tomorrow we qualify and Saturday we race!  Live timing & scoring can be found on Grand-Am's website (http://www.grand-am.com/) - check it out!  Also follow my Twitter account for my updates throughout the day: http://www.twitter.com/GuyCosmo.

Ciao!

Post-Sebring Update

Photo by John ThawleyOk, ok - so I've ALREADY slacked on my blog and we're hardly into the 2011 season!  Sorry about that... 

But really, I have a good excuse!  I've been BUSY!! :) Seven days at Sebring, half a day at home before returning to Sebring for testing then driving back home the same day. Next flying to Barber Motorsports Park for testing with BGB Motorsports, flying back home THAT night followed by two consecutive days of private coaching with clients at Palm Beach Intl. Raceway - and then I slept... and then I hibernated for a long weekend!

Sebring was a LONG week.  We finished 10th in the No. 002 ESM Ferrari 458 GT after pushing through a few setbacks including some gearbox problems. The team worked tirelessly through the week, then were up literally all night long before the race making changes to both our Ferrari's, only to work even harder through the entire race to keep the car running.  Most of our guys were up for nearly 42 hours. Thankfully we pulled out a top-ten finish and collected some points for the championship in the No. 002.  Our teammates in the No. 001 had terrible luck, being collected in an accident just under two hours into the race, suffering irrepairable damage to the car.  Fortunately our boy Johannes van Overbeek remained unharmed.

Otherwise the week was really fun and of course it was very exciting to get the season underway.  A number of friends and family came to the race to support me and cheer us on, which made it a very special event for me.  Of course I'm forgetting a ton of details from the week, but it IS almost midnight, I'm watching the Formula 1 Australian GP on my DVR, and I'm sleepy!  I'll keep up with the blog more frequently, I promise!  Stay tuned!

Day One Report: Sebring 2011

It's here! I'M here! And already, day one at Sebring is over, and day two begins. Yesterday was a full-day test for only the ALMS teams.  We didn't have a stellar day, but it wasn't bad either.  A number of system checks, brake bedding and data collection took place.  It was a relatively easy-paced day as we know we're here all week long and don't want to burn down the cars.  We worked on the handling and set up of our #002 Patron / Extreme Speed Ferrari 458 a bit in the first half of the day, then focused mostly on getting my teammate Ed Brown up to speed in the second half of the day.  The #001 car of course worked on set up and going fast all day long - which proved well as they got to some quicker lap times than we did in the #002.  The day ended with our usual debrief with the engineers, strategy for day 2 (today) and the boys hard at work prepping the cars and making changes.

Today should be a good day, but much shorter, with only two one-hour sessions.  Hopefully we've made some progress with the set up and will turn some quicker times today!  Will report later on!

Countdown to Sebring!

Boy oh boy, am I ready for Sebring! The 59th Annual Mobil 1 12 Hours of Sebring.  Talk about an exciting one that's destined for the books, huh?  Nearly 60 CARS on the entry list!  24 of them in GT!  I am patiently counting the days until I'm standing in that paddock. 

I've re-signed with Scott Sharp's Extreme Speed Motorsports, Tequila Patron is our sponsor, I'm driving with the President & CEO of the company - Ed Brown, we've got two new Ferrari F458GT race cars, a new look, a new plan, and a year's worth of experience and information in our back pocket... I've got a lot to be excited about!

We're going to have a great year.  I know the competiton will be FIERCE, but I'll thrive on it!  Scott Sharp & ESM have really polished and refined this operation, and I know we're ready.  The 458's, however, are a bit of an unkown quantity to us, and as with any brand-new race car, you just have to take things in stride.  I'm sure the car will be competitive - at least enough for us to be in the hunt at Sebring - as always, reliability will be the big question mark.  However, I'm sure our Italian friends at Micchelotto and Ferrari are confident we'll have no problems.  After all, they've only won races & championship nearly every year for the past five years!

During this past week and my final few days remaining until the week-long extravaganza of Sebring begins, I've been working out, running, eating right, getting rest, and taking care of a whole lot of work at Cosmo-Sport world headquarters.  It's been good.  Time at home is fairly rare for me, as I've been racing, testing and coaching quite a bit already in 2011, so I really enjoy it when I am home.

But Sebring - I'm ready for you!  It's about time to get my name in the history books!  While my #02 ESM/Patron Ferrari might not be a favorite to win this year's 12 hour, don't be surprised if it does - and even if we don't - there's a bunch more races this year that we might!  C.A.N.T. W.A.I.T!!!

CTSCC Round 2: Homestead-Miami Speedway

This past weekend was Round 2 of Grand-Am's Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge, at what has become one of my new 'home' tracks, Homestead-Miami Speedway.  All in all it was another successful weekend for us at BGB Motorsports with our Porsche Cayman S'.  We were among the top 5 quickest cars in each of the practice sessions on Thursday; a bit less competitive on Friday as we experimented with some set up changes; my teammate, Stewart Tetreault, qualified nearly two seconds faster than his previous best lap times (in a shortened qualifying session); and we had a pretty strong race! Starting 23rd of 60-something cars, Stew had a great start, held his own, avoided a few incidents and didn't lose any positions for the first 30 minutes.  I then hopped in and began 'doing my thing' - which is going to the front of the pack!  Surviving & definitely enjoying some of the hardest, closest racing I've had, we were all set for a 7th place finish before I got shoved off track and lost a few positions - ultimately finishing 10th.  What an insane race though!  Incredibly tough & close competition, and boy is it fun!  We'll take the 10th and focus on the next race, which will be at Barber Motorsports Park in Brimingham, Alabama, April 8-9th. But before that is the Sebring 12 Hour with Extreme Speed Motorsports! Can't wait!!

Photo Gallery: Kia 200 at Homestead with BGB Motorsports