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<< The Aim Autosport Formula BMW USA team came
away from the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, Ohio with the
points lead in all three of the series categories: overall driver championship,
rookie driver championship and team championship.
The team, including rookie drivers Rob Bunker and Kevin
Lacroix were looking forward to building on their great start in the
first two rounds at Laguna Seca, California heading into practice and
qualifying for rounds four and five of the fourteen race championship.
Practice & Qualifying:
“We tried to conserve our tires during practice and qualifying
as much as possible leading up to the races,” said team manager
Keith Willis. “Knowing the wear of the tires is critical here
we always try to have fresh rubber for the races- and it turned out
to be the correct strategy for both cars.”
Saturday Race:
16 year-old BMW Junior and AIM Autosport Rookie driver Kevin Lacroix
took his second win of the 2005 Formula BMW USA Championship season
in round three taking the lead on the second lap after pole sitter Philippe
and second place starter Piscopo both jumped the start and were forced
to serve stop and go penalties.
Kevin finished 1.988 seconds ahead of James Davison
in the 15-lap contest to extend his points lead in both the Overall
and Rookie Driver Championship standings.
AIM Autosport teammate Rob Bunker also had a great
drive in race three, moving from 14th to eighth respectively after a
terrific start and strong run- contributing to the teams point total.
Sunday Race:
After a good qualifying effort (second), Kevin had his worst finish
of the season in fourteenth after an incident on the opening lap, Kevin
was hit by another competitor in a first-lap incident while he was in
second place. He resumed racing from last place and climbed eight positions
with bent suspension, ending in 14th place but out of the points.
Rob had to start in 17th after trouble in qualifying-
got his usual “John Force” holeshot start and drove a great
race to bring his AIM Autosport Formula BMW FB2 car home 11th. Rob now
sits 10th overall and eighth in the Rookie standings while the team
has a one point advantage in the Team Championship.
Kevin Lacroix #22 (AIM Autosport /Auto Parts Plus-Uni-Select
/Pennzoil/CR/ SKF Motor sports/Raybestos/Tenneco Automotive/Les Pièces
d'auto Lacroix)
Saturday Race: Qualified- fourth (1:30.874) / Finished- first
(+1.988 sec.)
Sunday Race: Qualified- second (1:29.746) / Finished- fourteenth
 Quotes
from Kevin:
“I started at four and got the third place at the start“,
said Kevin. “I tried to get the second place, but got blocked
a bit. I got second and after I saw that Philippe had come in the pits.
I had some problems with my radio so I didn’t know anything. I
was really confused, I braked, I didn’t know what to do and everybody
behind me was almost crashing. But then I saw that everyone was racing
on the track and I won the race after that.” About race two: "I
am very disappointed, said Lacroix. That move was completely insane
from that driver (Stevens). He was probably frustrated because he jumped
ahead of me at the start but I overtook him cleanly just before that
turn. We are coming to Montreal with the points lead like we wanted
to, but the margin is not as comfortable," noted Kevin.
Rob Bunker #18 (AIM Autosport /Team RennSport)
Saturday Race: Qualified- fourteenth (1:26.676) / Finished- ninth
Sunday Race: Qualified- seventeenth (1:26.057) / Finished- eleventh
 Quotes
from Rob:
"Having everyone around me and in front of me during a race makes
me hustle that extra bit more," said Rob. "The results weren't
quite what we hoped, but if you look at the performance we put into
it, it's just as good as any other race. The only thing we really need
to work on is qualifying. As far as our setup was concerned, we adapted
incredibly well. We went anywhere from a very cold track to a track
that was warm with a lot of [tire] rubber to a track that was soaking
wet to a track that was damp," he noted.
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