Poscente Third in Class at Trois Rivieres
Bunker and Wilkins Both Knocked Out of Race

2006.08.08: The 37th edition of the Trois Rivieres Grand Prix marked two-thirds of the way through the 2006 Star Mazda Championship. With its challenging temporary street course and array of night life, Trois Rivieres is a favourite among drivers and crews alike. Success on a temporary track, surrounded by concrete walls, requires unbroken concentration as mistakes often result in broken race cars. Even if you don't make a mistake, being near someone else's mistake can be just as costly and sadly that was the case for two of AIM's three drivers. While Jay Poscente had a fine run after an early hiccup, finishing tenth overall and third in the Masters Class, Rob Bunker was taken out at the first turn and Mark Wilkins (filling in for Daniel Herrington) was caught up in another driver's crash ten laps from the finish.

Three races on from the huge wreck at Montreal, it's repercussions were still being felt. Making a big impact with the team was the loss of Daniel Herrington whose budget had been heavily stressed by the crash at Montreal, then drained dry two races later by another crash in Portland. Although neither incident was his fault, everyone pays for their own cars. Daniel is hopeful he'll rejoin the team for the final two races of the year. In the meantime, Mark Wilkins will drive the car. Mark has been with AIM for several years, racing Formula Ford (2001), Formula 2000 (2002), Fran Am (2003), Formula Renault (2004) and Formula Mazda (2005) and will be racing AIM's Daytona Prototype next year. In addition to Trois Rivieres, Mark will race at Road America and Mosport, ironically competing in the three races he missed last year when he broke his foot.

On the way back from Portland two weeks ago, the team stopped in at Road America for a one-day test in preparation for a race there in mid August. Daniel was unable to run due to the damage his car suffered at Portland and Rob completed just seventeen laps before his engine blew up - in its defense, it had over 8000 km on it and you won't find many racing engines that will work so hard for so long. Unfortunately, there were no engines left so Rob was done for the day. Jay logged nearly 500 km and, although there was no official timing at the test, he was second fastest.

Upon arriving home after a lengthy road trip, the crew had just two days at the shop before they had to leave for Trois Rivieres and there was much to do. Jay, who had raced a rented car since his was wrecked at Montreal, would once again have his own car as a new tub was waiting at the shop. It just needed to be turned into a race car. Daniel's car needed considerable repairs. There was also the matter of replacing Rob's engine.

The cars were loaded onto the truck in less-than-optimal condition: The rebuild of Jay's car was only partially done; Daniel and Jay's cars had no data systems as they were sent for repairs, but loaners from the manufacturer were to be picked up in Montreal; and since a new supply of engines would be picked up in Trois Rivieres, Rob's motor would be switched at the track.

Testing and Practice
The first order of business at Trois Rivieres was to get the cars prepared for practice on Friday morning. A fresh engine was installed in Rob's car, while the reassembly of Jay's car continued. The loaner data systems were stuck in customs, so a borrowed unit was installed for Jay while the crew hooked up a mechanical oil-pressure gauge for Mark. At 10pm Thursday, as work on Jay's car neared completion, it came to light that the seat had been left back at the shop. Although the custom-molded seats can be made on site, they take 24 hours to cure and the car was to be on the track in 12.

Luckily, AIM Autosport's Formula BMW Team Manager, Keith Willis, was between races. He picked up the seat from the team's base in Woodbridge, Ontario, and took it to Port Hope. From there, the business partner of AIM's Formula Mazda tractor-trailer driver headed off for an overnight drive to Trois Rivieres. On the way, he stopped in Montreal to collect the data units, but confusion reigned and the units were still not released from customs. After dropping off the seat at the track, he went back to Montreal while AIM's office manager, Theresa Proto, spent a day of her vacation making phone calls trying to sort out the customs problem.

Finally, some action for the cars. It's 10am Friday and the cars are on the track. Mark, driving without the use of an electronic display was thirteenth in the session. Jay, feeling out his freshly rebuilt car was 25th, while Rob suffered a problem with a suspension pickup and completed only four laps, ranking 29th.

In the second session, which was shortened by rain, Rob was thirteenth, Jay fifteenth, and Mark sixteenth, fighting a steering problem.

Back in Montreal, the customs issue was resolved - an errant waybill number - and the data units were on the way to the track to be installed in the cars for Saturday.

Qualifying
Rob led the way for AIM, taking tenth with a time of 1:02.787. Mark was twelfth with a 1:02.959 and Jay was sixteenth, third in the Masters Class, with a time of 1:03.559.

The Race
Following a morning warm-up session, a rare luxury for the Star Mazda Championship, several drivers were docked grid positions for ignoring the checkered flag signaling the end of the session. As a result of this, Rob gained a spot on the grid, moving his row-five starting spot from the outside to the favoured inside spot. The AIM cars had looked strong in the warm-up with Rob second fastest and the team was filled with optimism as the race drew closer.

The first corner of any race at Trois Rivieres is always exciting, but the track is wide at that point so there's lots of room to avoid trouble. It's hard to avoid trouble when you can't see it though. As Rob was braking for the first turn, trouble was brewing behind. Two places back, a driver locked up under breaking and hit the car ahead, pushing it into the back of Rob. He made it around to the pits, but the car was in no shape to race so he dejectedly climbed out of the car.

Mark gained three places on the first lap and was looking very competitive while Jay made great use of all that room at turn one, rocketing around the outside and gaining several positions to assume the lead of the Masters Class. He then gave it all back while trying to adjust the front sway bar to dial out some understeer. A bump knocked his hand into the ignition switch, located not far from the sway adjuster, and shut off the engine. He'd lost five places before he was back up to speed.

Setting some very quick laps, including the second quickest lap of the race, Mark was up to seventh place by lap 26 of 36. Suddenly, a car ahead of him hit a tire wall and as the wayward car rebounded, Mark clipped it and, in turn, was hit from behind taking him out of the race.

The handling of Jay's car came to him as the race went on and he began climbing back up the order. Third in the Masters Class, and tenth overall, he was closing in on the class leaders when his advances were thwarted by a late-race incident that saw the race end under a full-course yellow.

Afterthoughts
Jay's third-in-class follows his class win at Portland and helps get him back in the thick of the Masters Class points fight. He fell from third to sixth following the crash at Montreal, but is now back to fifth with 101 points, just ten points shy of the class leader. Rob was most unfortunate to be knocked out at the first corner. With a good starting place and having shown so well in the warm up, he was entirely capable of taking a top-five finish. Stepping in to replace Daniel, Mark quickly found his feet and got faster with every lap. Like Rob, he had the potential for a top-five finish. Look for even better performances from Mark when he races at Road America and Mosport.

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