Grand-Am

Sears Point: AIM Autosport qualifying report

AIM Autosport will start eighth of 18 Daytona Prototypes that will take the green flag for the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series race at Infineon Raceway on Saturday. Mark Wilkins of Toronto qualified the team's No. 61 Lexus-powered Riley Mk XI in ...

Edited: Sep 8, 2007, 3:56 AM

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AIM Autosport will start eighth of 18 Daytona Prototypes that will take the green flag for the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series race at Infineon Raceway on Saturday. Mark Wilkins of Toronto qualified the team's No. 61 Lexus-powered Riley Mk XI in one minute 29.519 seconds during a shortened qualifying session on the 2.52-mile road course. He will drive the first race stint, followed by Brian Frisselle of Lynchburg, Va.

"We made a big gain; the platform felt really good," Wilkins said. "The car had been pretty soft and when we stiffened it up, it was better, but we're still struggling. We're trying to get the rear end to stay under the car and we've got more work to do to get there. We started to figure it out in qualifying, but it's hard when we don't have a lot of time. We'll keep working at it and Ian [Willis, race engineer] will come up with a great race strategy."

family time

The AIM crew has been on the road for almost three weeks, with a race at Watkins Glen International in New York on 10 August, a two-day test at Miller Motorsports Park in Tooele, Utah, last week and this week's race in California. In recognition of the team's hard work and the long road trip, AIM owners Andrew Bordin, Ian Willis and Keith Willis invited the crew's spouses to join them for a break in San Francisco. The gesture was appreciated.

"They gave us the choice of flying home after the Miller test or they would fly our families out so we could spend time together in California. I think that's just an awesome thing for the team to do," mechanic Steve Hedrick said. "They did the same thing when I was with the Star Mazda team last year -- they flew our families out to Utah and we spent time with them there. It's a fantastic thing that the team has done for us. It gives the kids a chance to come out to one of my races and see what I'm doing, rather than just me being gone all the time."

-credit: aim

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