Austin, Texas (9 March 2015) –Making his first-ever Pirelli World Challenge appearance at the Circuit of the Americas, Guy Cosmo had an up and down race weekend as he got the last-minute call to pilot the No. 23 Tampa Bay Jaw Surgery Audi R8 LMS ultra for M1 Racing.
The weekend saw Cosmo demonstrate some impressive pace as his first full day in the car generated the second fastest overall time in Friday’s official practice. But the weekend also featured some frustration for the former ALMS race winner.
Race 1 qualifying on Saturday was hampered by a misfire, keeping Cosmo from setting the kind of times he had shown the package to be capable of. But knowing that the car and driver indeed had the speed, Cosmo was optimistic ahead of Saturday’s first race.
Alas, that optimism was soon curtailed as the clutch—an all-important part of not only a standing start, but also the rest of the race, started to fade on the pace lap. Cosmo was forced to retire on just the second lap.
Sunday brought a new and daunting task for Race 2, as a significant downpour greeted the competitors. The radar was so severe that the series decided to move the start time ahead some 30 minutes.
But even with a rolling start, Cosmo suffered some tough racing luck. His race one DNF meant a starting position of 36th in the 49-car pack. Despite a great start and many positions gained on the first lap, he was caught up in accident resulting with left rear suspension damage. He limped his car to the pits and his day once again came to a premature stop.
“What a disappointing weekend. The M1 guys worked so hard but the hits just kept coming,” said Cosmo. “This was still a great learning experience for me and M1 Racing, though. To show the speed we had in a car I’d never run at this track against guys who had been preparing for this weekend all off-season long was really encouraging. The Audi R8 LMS ultra is a fantastic race car and the support from Audi Sport customer racing was impressive. They were right there to help us rebound from all of the setbacks we had.”
While Cosmo’s weekend featured some bent bumpers and spoiled clutches, he came out of the event with an even stronger focus on finding his way back on the incredible GT3 grid sometime soon.
"Many thanks to Walt Bowlin and Tampa Bay Jaw Surgery for bringing me on board this weekend,” said Cosmo. “I’ve wanted to race in Pirelli World Challenge for some time now and it was great to finally do so. I’m looking forward to my next opportunity to race in this series again and would love to become a permanent fixture here. I’m available and ready for action. Special thanks must go to Sombra Mezcal for joining us as a sponsor for the weekend. I was honored to represent their brand and to give them their first taste of the excitement and power of motorsports marketing.”
In addition to the support from Sombra Mezcal (www.sombramezcal.com) and Tampa Bay Jaw Surgery, Cosmo is also benefiting from new programs with Anthros, Inc. (www.anthrosinc.com) & Lake Austin Spa (www.lakeaustin.com) as well as support from Ironclad.com & moleculemotorsports.com.
For the event photo gallery, click here: