DeltaWing finishes sixth at Road America

Elkhart Lake, Wis. – The Claro/TracFone DeltaWing Racing Cars team earned its best finish of the year today, bringing the DeltaWing Coupe home in sixth position in the Continental Tire Road Race Showcase at Road America.

It was the second consecutive race finish for the DeltaWing team, following on the heels of an eighth-place overall result last month at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park. It was also the team’s third-consecutive race finish at Road America.

We were quick compared to what we have been and we finished the race with no issues.

Katherine Legge

Katherine Legge and Memo Rojas shared driving duties for the two-hour, 40-minute IMSA TUDOR United SportsCar Championship race. Rojas took the green flag in sixth position and immediately took the fight to the leaders, moving up to fifth place on lap nine and pacing within a half second of the front-runners. On lap 25, the team chose to pit early to get ahead of the pit sequence, in the hopes that a late-race yellow would put the car into the race lead.

Rojas pitted twice during his stint, both times making his way back into the top seven, running competitive lap times with the leaders. Legge took over the wheel on lap 48 and was also able to quickly make her way through the field and regain contact with the leading Prototype Class. However, the hoped-for yellow did not materialize in the closing laps of the race. The team called Legge in for a splash-and-go with six minutes remaining, but did not lose position. Legge set the car’s quick time of the race on lap 66, with a lap time of 1:58.242.

Next up for the DeltaWing team will be the Lone Star Le Mans at Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas on September 17 – 19.

Team Manager Tim Keene: “There was a car off about a third of the way through the race and it looked as though there might be a yellow. At that point, we were close enough that we could have made it to the end in one more stop – and if we could have been the first car to pit under yellow, that would have put us out front. It ended up that we were about seven minutes short of making it without a splash but it didn’t cost us anything to come in and be sure to make it to the end. But in the end, the whole weekend was good and we were able to keep our streak here alive! It was an issue-free weekend; we rolled off the trailer in good shape and ran competitive laps all weekend. I believe it’s the best the car and the team have worked all year. We’re making good steps forward.”

Memo Rojas: “I’m happy to get our second consecutive finish. The car was really good at the beginning of the race but it got a bit edgy in my second stint. But we were still able to do competitive lap times and I was able to really battle. I think we had a car to fight for the podium and our pit strategy could have helped us, had we gotten a late-race yellow. It was a gamble, but a good gamble, I think. So much of this depends on luck but it was worth a try to do something different. It was fun to be back battling people on track and it was good to get a finish. I hope this is the way the rest of the season will go.”

Katherine Legge: “I'm very happy with the job the entire team did today. We took a gamble with pit stops and it didn’t pay off, but we had to do something different. There wasn’t a yellow when we hoped there would be one late in the race but that’s the way it goes. We were quick compared to what we have been and we finished the race with no issues. We’re closer in times now to the top cars so hopefully we can continue this progression forward. We’re relatively buoyed going into the last two races of the season, including our home race at Road Atlanta.”

DeltaWing Racing