Rocky Mountain Highs and Lows
Denver Yields Another Mixed Weekend

2006.08.16: Two weeks after racing at San Jose, the AIM Autosport Formula BMW USA team was in Denver, August 11-13, for the penultimate event of their 2006 season. As has been the case in almost every race this season, the AIM cars were quick, but results were mixed. When all was said and done, Daniel had pocketed fourth and fifth-place finishes and led the Rookie Championship, while Doug overcame a crash in race one to take twelfth in race two.

Testing and Practice
Like San Jose, the Denver track is a temporary street circuit, but is a little more interesting thanks to a section that runs through the parking lot of the Pepsi Centre allowing for some non-90-degree corners. Due to the thin air at Denver's high altitude, the cars run with slightly more wing than usual to provide grip in the corners without a heavy penalty on straight line speed.

Driver Daniel Morad continued to show his solid pace on street courses and posted the sixth fastest time in practice. After frustrating weekends at Indy and San Jose, Doug used his experience from last year - when he finished fifth - and posted the ninth quickest practice time.

Qualifying
The timed session for race one (round eleven) took place on Friday afternoon in warm, dry conditions. Unfortunately, a long red-flag period ate up nearly a third of the session, causing everyone to adapt their strategies. When the session was over, Daniel was the top rookie, taking sixth on the grid with a time of 1:17.423. Doug, a little over four-tenths slower at 1:17.877 would start four rows back in thirteenth.

Qualifying for race two took place on Saturday morning in cooler temperatures and, as expected, the cars were much faster. Daniel and Doug were setting much faster times, but so was everyone else. Midway through the session, Doug got AIM Autosport's attention by exiting turn four completely sideways. With hearts stopped, the crew watched as Doug slid toward a big smack with the wall, then suddenly saved it and drove on as though nothing had happened. The session ended with Matt Lee setting a new qualifying lap record with a sizzling 1:14.952. Daniel, once again, took sixth with a 1:15.500 and Doug placed fifteenth with a 1:16.405.

Race One
Round eleven was held on Saturday afternoon under overcast skies. The race started without incident and, benefiting from Robert Wickens’s malfunctioning clutch, Daniel was fifth by the time the field had zoomed through the first few corners. For the next nine laps, he found himself in close quarters with fellow rookie Jordan Dick as the two fought for position.

The team was confident Doug would score a good finish as his pace was close to that of the leaders. Unfortunately, turn four caught him out again and this time it bit. Contact with the wall resulted in a broken rear upright and bent suspension, ending his race with twelve of 23 laps completed.

Wickens, recovering from his troubled start, had clawed his way back to the top five while Daniel had dropped back to seventh. Then, on lap eighteen, an incident between Dick and Simona de Silvestro allowed Daniel to vault back up to fifth where he remained for the rest of the race.

Race Two
Round twelve was held on Sunday morning and, to everyone’s great relief, every car in the field made it through the first turn unharmed once again. Over the first few laps, four cars broke away from the field while Daniel, in fifth, led the rest. On lap five, Lee made contact with the wall whilst in the lead. He kept running, but the mistake cost him three places. Six laps later, Daniel caught and passed Lee to move into fourth.

Doug spent the first half of the race in a midfield stalemate, but things came alive a little in the second half as he battled with Yannick Hofman over fourteenth place.

When they crossed the line, Daniel was fourth, top rookie once again, while Doug won the fight with Hofman to take fourteenth. Doug's finish was elevated to twelfth when penalties were handed out to Race Johnson and Maxime Pelletier.

Afterthoughts
By taking two excellent results and being top rookie in both races, Daniel has taken the lead of the Rookie Championship. The top three rookies are separated by just five points so the final event on Daniel's home turf at Mosport is very important.

Doug has shown skill on many occasions this year, but hasn't scored the results he's sometimes deserved. Although he's fourteenth in the standings, the midfield points are tight and a good weekend at Mosport could net him a couple of championship positions.

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