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Gold Car Ninth After Contact In Sonoma 2007.08.26: AIM Autosport was quick on track and in pit lane during the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series race at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, Calif. The rookie team struggled to find the right car setup during practice sessions on the 2.52-mile road course, but found the combination on race day. The setup and fast pitstops moved the team to seventh place, but an untimely late-race caution and resulting contact from another competitor dropped them back to ninth. Mark Wilkins of Toronto drove first, starting the No. 61 Lexus-powered Riley Mk XI from eighth on the 17-car grid. He held the position through his double stint, supported by an aerodynamic change to the rear wing during his first pitstop. Brian Frisselle of Lynchburg, Va., took over during a fast stop with about an hour to go in the 2.5-hour race. He moved up to seventh and held a 20-second margin over the next car until a caution period started five minutes before the race finish. Frisselle was knocked off track during the restart, damaging the car's right-front suspension. He lost two positions and finished ninth. AIM had an extra cheering contingent at the Sonoma race – guests of the team's primary sponsor, Exchange Traded Gold. The team is also supported by Barrick Gold Corporation, RBC Financial Group and Telus' Mike Network. Brian Frisselle: "We would have been fine had we not had contact with other drivers. It knocked out the toe of our right front and we were a wounded duck. The car was just evil to drive everywhere at that point, especially any left-hand corner, so we lost positions. Overall, it was a great team effort. We struggled all weekend to find pace in the car and they pulled it out of the bag at the end, as they always do. We had a really racey car. I don't know how they do it, but it seems like no matter what, we have a good car on race day." Mark Wilkins: "We had a very strong race going. Brian drove the wheels off the car his whole stint and the guys did a great job getting the car working really well for us in the race. We made more tweaks in the race and they were good. We were running up there with the front guys, so it was positive. The big thing is that Kevin [O'Reilly, chief mechanic] and the crew did the fastest pitstop of everybody and that is awesome. Kudos to those guys for their hard work."
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Established in 1995 with a mandate to identify, train and manage emerging motorsport talent AIM operates multi-car teams competing in the Formula BMW USA Championship and the Star Mazda Series North American Championship. Among those drivers who have graduated from AIM Autosport are former series and rookie champions james hinchcliffe, Andrew Ranger, Andrew Bordin, J.F.Veilleux, Jonathan Macri, L.P. Dumoulin, Anthony Simone and Dan Burchill. Other notable AIM graduates include, Sam Hornish Jr., Billy Asaro, mark wilkins, Ashley Taws, Paul Dana, Tom Dyer, Josh Schreiber, Dan McMullen and Antoine Bessette. |
