Formula BMW

USA: Indianapolis: AIM Autosport summary

Lacroix holds Points Lead, Bunker Battles From the Back The Aim Autosport Formula BMW USA team left the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Sunday with rookie driver Kevin Lacroix still leading the overall driver's championship by 3 points and teammate ...

Edited: Dec 16, 2005, 10:59 PM

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Lacroix holds Points Lead, Bunker Battles From the Back

The Aim Autosport Formula BMW USA team left the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Sunday with rookie driver Kevin Lacroix still leading the overall driver's championship by 3 points and teammate rookie driver Rob Bunker slipping to 13th in the standings.

Kevin had trouble in Saturday's race finishing 21st, but coming back for a solid second place in Sunday's race. Rob had an eventful weekend with 17th and 16th place finishes respectively.

Practice & Qualifying:

"We struggled during practice and qualifying this week at Indy." Said team manager Keith Willis, "We were unable to get our drivers in position to draft on the long front straight as some of our competitors did. And in the races we had some handling issues cost us positions. We have some testing coming up that should prepare us for a strong second half of the season- we have no doubt that we'll be fighting for race wins and podiums."

Kevin Lacroix #22 (AIM Autosport /Auto Parts Plus-Uni-Select)
Race Seven: Qualified- Sixth (1:37.796) / Finished- 21st.
Race Eighth: Qualified- Third (1:37.852) / Finished- Second.

Quotes from Kevin:

"In the Saturday race, he reeled in a few competitors and was going for another podium when an incident happened. "It was obvious I was faster and the guy was blocking. I tried to go under him but he moved in front of me and I paid the price. I always drive hard but sometimes I come back empty handed."

"I tried to pass a slower guy for many laps but he braked so hard at the end of the front stretch that my front wing was broken. Besides not finishing, I get put on probation by the officials." Said Kevin.

Starting from third place for the Sunday race, Kevin played it safe in order to score points. "I didn't want to take too many chances, he said. This time, the guy in front of me got disqualified. Anyway, he was here visiting the North-American series for only two weekends. It was the same scenario as my encounter yesterday."

Today, my second place cheered me up because I stayed on top of the championship points chase. I know I will have to work hard to get some more speed out of my car, but I feel confident my UniSelect #22 car will be quicker in the next rounds. I know the title hunt will go right down to the wire."

Rob Bunker #18 (AIM Autosport /Team RennSport)
Race Seven: Qualified- 17th (1:38.678) / Finished- 17th.
Race Eighth: Qualified- 17th (1:38.719) / Finished- 16th.

Quotes from Rob:

"The front wing got sucked up underneath the front of my car in the Saturday race. I was lucky enough to get it back into the pits and my team did a fantastic job -- it was like F1-style, ripping the nose off, putting the new one on and getting me out there before the safety car came around," he reported.

"We had to start in the back, but we were running times very close to what the guys up front were running. The performance we put into the race was fantastic, but the results weren't that good."

The second race was closer to Rob's trademark style, as he charged through the field. But a handling problem dropped him back to finish 16th.

"I got another good rocket start; within the first few laps I was up to 10th or 11th. But we were battling understeer that progressed as the race went on, so we ended up losing positions and falling all the way back to 16th," he said. "I drove the car at its limits, but the results unfortunately don't show that. It was a bit of a rough weekend for the whole team."

Rob acknowledged longer races might contribute to stronger results -- "Something involving pitstops would be nice!" -- but he enjoys the high competition level in the BMW series. "Even though this is like an entry series and there are a few techniques that we as drivers haven't learned yet, we pull out all the stops trying to win."

-aim-

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