Grand-Am
SCC: Mid-Ohio: Automatic Racing race report
Automatic Racing/Fresh from Florida's Thornton and Segal on the Podium Again at Mid-Ohio LEXINGTON, Oh -- Automatic Racing unleashed "Fruit and Vegetable Fury" in Saturday's KONI Challenge Grand Sport race at Mid-Ohio, earning top-five finishes ...
Edited: Dec 21, 2009, 5:26 AM
Copy link
Share on Viber
Automatic Racing/Fresh from Florida's Thornton and Segal on the Podium Again at Mid-Ohio
LEXINGTON, Oh -- Automatic Racing unleashed "Fruit and Vegetable Fury" in Saturday's KONI Challenge Grand Sport race at Mid-Ohio, earning top-five finishes for the Fresh from Florida BMW M3s, including a third place for Jep Thornton and Jeff Segal.
The podium finish is the second in a row and third of the season for Thornton and Segal, who co-drive the No. 09 Automatic/Fresh from Florida BMW. In addition to the taste of champagne and the thrill of standing on the box, the pair also gained valuable ground in the driver championship hunt. Not only did they maintain their second-place standing, but they shrank the gap to points leader Joe Foster and are now just five points in arrears.
"It's all about consistency now, more than getting on the podium," said Thornton. "If we can bring home a top-five finish every weekend, we have as good of a shot as anybody in the points."
During his stint, Thornton found himself in a tough situation when a car ahead of him spun. He was forced to dive to the edge of the track, where the dirty surface sent him into a spin. "It was a freight train of cars passing me, and I had to work my way back up," Thornton said. "We got a yellow about an hour in, so I pitted and Jeff did the rest. The strategy was great and (crew chief) Joe Varde built us a killer car."
Segal agreed that the podium was even sweeter this weekend than it was two weeks ago at Mosport. "The last time we got lucky, but this one we earned," commented Segal. "The guys never stopped working on the car. We finally got a good car in morning warm-up before the race."
Tom Long and David Russell finished fifth in the No. 99 Automatic/Fresh from Florida BMW, their first top five of the season. Long and Russell have been consistently fast all year, but bad luck has kept them from earning a finish indicative of their potential.
At Mid-Ohio, though, the bright green BMW stayed at the front of the pack all day. Russell earned a front-row start in qualifying, and from there the No. 99 pushed on for a strong finish.
"Our car was fast and we had a great setup right off of the trailer," remarked Russell. "In fact, we had time to try a different setup that we wound up using in the race. Our brake package didn't work quite as we'd planned, but we definitely had one of the strongest cars on track this weekend."
"David did a great job running in the top three before he handed over to me," said Long. "At the end Jeff and I were running nose-to-tail and we got to work through the traffic together. I had a great battle for fifth after our last restart. It was a fun race."
The No. 91 BMW M3 of Tim George, Jr. and Conrad Grunewald had an early end to a strong race after contact put them out of contention. The No. 90 of Jon Miller and Serge Glazunov also retired early because of contact, after running in the top ten.
-credit: ar
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article SCC: Mid-Ohio: Subaru Road Racing Team race report
Next article Mid-Ohio: Stevenson Motorsports race report
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Jeff Segal
TR3 to run two Lamborghini Huracans in Rolex 24
IMSA
IMSA
TR3 to run two Lamborghini Huracans in Rolex 24
Lu and Segal sign up for full ELMS campaign in JMW Ferrari
European Le Mans
European Le Mans
Lu and Segal sign up for full ELMS campaign in JMW Ferrari
Bell: AVS debut podium a result of effort, dedication, precision
IMSA
IMSA
Daytona 24
Bell: AVS debut podium a result of effort, dedication, precision
More from
Automatic Racing
Deep field, deep storylines as Pirelli World Challenge heads for Mid-Ohio
SRO America
SRO America
Mid-Ohio
Deep field, deep storylines as Pirelli World Challenge heads for Mid-Ohio
SCCA Pirelli World Challenge GT, GT-A, and GTS teams head to Detroit for a double
SRO America
SRO America
SCCA Pirelli World Challenge GT, GT-A, and GTS teams head to Detroit for a double
TUDOR Championship teams test at Watkins Glen
IMSA
IMSA
TUDOR Championship teams test at Watkins Glen
Latest news
Complete NASCAR Cup points standings after 2026 Phoenix II
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Phoenix II
22 min
Complete NASCAR Cup points standings after 2026 Phoenix II
Kyle Larson reacts as points lead completely vanishes in costly Phoenix wreck
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Phoenix II
40 min
Kyle Larson reacts as points lead completely vanishes in costly Phoenix wreck
Official race results: 2026 NASCAR Cup Phoenix II
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Phoenix II
1 h
Official race results: 2026 NASCAR Cup Phoenix II
Tyler Reddick wins Phoenix NASCAR Cup thriller as Kyle Larson crashes
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Phoenix II
1 h
Tyler Reddick wins Phoenix NASCAR Cup thriller as Kyle Larson crashes
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe