Road America: AIM Autosport race report

AIM Autosport's Ostella finishes seventh at Road America
Smart drive in wounded car yields important championship points

Elkhart Lake, Wis. (August 22, 2010) -- David Ostella drove his Global Precast car to seventh place yesterday at Road America in round 11 of the Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear. The seventh-place finish brought important points as David clings to tenth in the Drivers Standings and AIM hangs on the fifth in the Team Standings.

Driving the lone AIM Autosport entry this weekend as Walt Bowlin, driver of the Tampa Bay Jaw Surgery car, was unable to attend this race, David showed good pace in Friday's opening practice and set the fifth-best time. In the second session, however, he lost important track time and damaged the car when he put two wheels off the track and slid into a barrier tearing two wheels off the car.

The AIM Autosport crew repaired the Global Precast car and prepared it for Saturday morning's qualifying session. Although the car was good, David was unable to hook up with a vital drafting partner on the long, fast circuit and qualified tenth with a 184.606 km/h (114.709 mph) lap.

In the hours between the qualifying session and the race, the team made some set up adjustments and briefed David about how the track would change. They also showed him how the team used data collected from the car along with his feedback to help create a fast set up that suits his driving style.

When the 45-minute-long race began at 1pm, David had the pace to gain positions at the start, but was squeezed and settled to remain in tenth, before moving up to ninth on the second lap. On lap five, David's car was subjected to a hefty knock that threw out the alignment. Quickly falling to twelfth, David then did his utmost to simply hang on and keep going.

With time running out and David running in eleventh thanks to someone dropping out, the race was interrupted by a full course caution. When the track was cleared for a restart, there was only time for a single-lap dash to the checkered flag. Well aware that many drivers would make an all-or-nothing charge, David took advantage of the ensuing chaos to gain four places and finish seventh.

"We had a quick car, thanks to a good set up," said Chief engineer and AIM Autosport principal, Keith Willis. "But once the alignment got knocked out, it came down to David's driving and he did well to finish seventh."

The Star Mazda Championship now heads to Canada and AIM Autosport's home race at Mosport International Raceway in Bowmanville, Ont., on August 28.

-source: aim autosport