AIM Starts Season On Podium
Herrington Takes Second While Bunker Slices Through Field

2006.03.23: AIM Autosport's Star Mazda Championship team began its 2006 campaign at Sebring International Raceway with a second-place finish thanks to a good drive by Daniel Herrington. The result was backed up by Rob Bunker charging from 36th to ninth and Jay Poscente finishing sixth in the Masters Class (24th overall). A field of 37 came out for the season opener, part of the Twelve Hours of Sebring last weekend.

The Sebring result was a fine reward for the AIM Autosport crew who had been working far beyond the call of duty in recent weeks. Driver signings came very late this year and testing was not wrapped up until late February. Before the long haul to Florida, the team had only two weeks to disassemble, strip, prep, paint, reassemble and race prep three cars. Normally, this process takes over a week per car! Painting was planned and scheduled so that the cars could be reassembled as parts were delivered from the paint shop. The last pieces were delivered the day before the truck left for Florida.

"The paint shop and the AIM Mazda team worked a minimum of fourteen hours a day, twelve days straight," said AIM's Formula Mazda Team Manager, Ian Willis. "The cars looked awesome and all the hard work put in by everyone paid off."

Testing and Practice
Beginning on Tuesday (March 14), there were five 30-minute test and practice sessions prior to qualifying on Thursday. AIM mounted new tires in the hot afternoon sessions as qualifying and racing were to be held in similar conditions. Morning sessions were used to ensure the cars worked well on tires that had done half to full race distances.

Qualifying
The field was split into two groups, each getting 22 minutes on the track. Jay was in the first group and did well until a small mistake saw him spin and bounce the nose of the car off the wall. A quick stop revealed that only the tip was damaged, but a red flag came out before he was able to go for a better time.

Unfortunately, the red flag delayed the start of the second group by about eight minutes. Eight minutes they could not have back due to the full slate of racing at Sebring. To get a clear track, Rob and Daniel were held back as the rest of the pack scrambled off. As the swarm rounded turn three, someone was bundled off the tarmac and the red flag was out again. Rob and Daniel waited in pit lane while the rest of the field came back in and more unrecoverable minutes ticked away.

With less than eight minutes left, enough for just two timed laps, the track was once again open for business. Daniel's first flying lap was quick and he was really going for it next time around, but he aborted following a mistake, electing to reduce wear on his tires. Sadly, Rob suffered a rare and unusual failure on his out lap. A universal joint in the steering column broke and he was unable to post a time.

When all was said and done, Daniel would start tenth, Jay 24th and Rob 36th.

The Race
The race was punctuated by three full-course cautions, the first of which occurred before the end of the first lap. Daniel was off to a good start, climbing to fifth before the yellow flag came out. Jay had gained two places to sit 22nd, and Rob had lunged to 28th. Daniel and Rob were on the move again once the green flag came out again while Jay was embroiled in a battle with some of his fellow Masters Class drivers.

They managed only four laps of racing before the yellow flag was out again, but Daniel and Rob had made dramatic strides. Daniel's Bluetooth car was now second and Rob's Rennsport-sponsored car was fifteenth. With less than five laps of green racing, Daniel had moved up eight places and Rob had impressively gained 21! Jay had been shuffled back a few spots, but was ready to attack when the green came back out.

The yellow flag came down after four caution laps, but before it was even rolled up, there was another crash - a car that hadn't even reached the flag stand! Three more laps went by the wayside and it was clear the race would now be limited by time of which there was enough for about four green laps.

On the restart, Daniel fell back a bit from the leader while his rear tires came up to temperature. Rob managed to pick off four more cars and slot into eleventh. Once Daniel's rear tires were hot, he was able to close on the leader, but didn't have enough time to challenge for the win. Rob took two more places before the checkered flag waved and Jay fought his way back up to 24th, taking his NDA car to sixth place in the Masters Class.

Afterthoughts
Daniel Herrington: Daniel drove very well to finish second in his first Star Mazda Championship race and claim his first professional open-wheel podium!
Rob Bunker: Rob was simply amazing, overcoming the disappointment of qualifying to pass 27 cars and finish ninth.
Jay Poscente: Of the precious few green-flag laps there were, Jay spent most of them in a tough battle. Sixth place in the Masters Class is a good accomplishment for his first Star Mazda race.

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