Grand-Am

SCC: VIR: Jason Martinelli race notes

Jason Martinelli Learns Fast Way Around VIR ALTON, Va. -- Jason Martinelli had a challenging time during the Grand-Am Cup VIR 250 at Virginia International Raceway on Saturday, October 2, as he found himself charged with the task of making up ...

Edited: Dec 21, 2009, 5:26 AM

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Jason Martinelli Learns Fast Way Around VIR

ALTON, Va. -- Jason Martinelli had a challenging time during the Grand-Am Cup VIR 250 at Virginia International Raceway on Saturday, October 2, as he found himself charged with the task of making up for time lost due to an early-race mechanical problem.

Martinelli and Don St. John co-drove the No. 08 Automatic Racing BMW M3, a Grand Sports class entry, in the three-hour race around Virginia International Raceway's 3.27-mile road course.

It was Martinelli's first trip to VIR, and he spent the day prior to the race finding the fast line around the historic track. "It's a difficult track, and it took me a while to get the gist of it," he said. "There's not a lot of room for error, but it's a beautiful track and they have a beautiful facility. It's one of the best tracks I've been to. It's like a roller coaster out there! I think I still have more that I can learn here, but we got pretty quick laps."

St. John started the race, but was forced to come into the pits early with a mechanical problem. It turned out to be a loose transmission plug, which was easily fixed. Martinelli then got in the BMW to recover some of the positions that had been lost while the car was in the pits.

"I think we made a great comeback. I felt really great out there," enthused Martinelli. "I can tell that we've improved a lot since our first race at Mid-Ohio. In spite of breaking, we were still able to move up and get a better finish than we did there. I went out for an hour and 15 minutes, then Don finished the race and did a great job."

Martinelli and St. John finished 23rd in the Grand Sports class. The VIR 250 was only Martinelli's second Grand-Am Cup race.

There is only one week before the next Grand-Am Cup round, which will be held at Barber Motorsports Park on Saturday, October 9.

-bw-

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