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AIM Autosport Thrilled as Pegram Wins Star Mazda Expert Class
AIM’s driver coach, John Edwards, worked with all three drivers over the weekend, tailoring his focus to the specific needs of each driver. With Larry and Walt, his guidance focused on helping them increase their pace through high-speed corners—cyclist, Larry, still coming to terms with aerodynamic downforce and Walt needing to increase his minimum speed. John helped karting graduate, Zack, with his footwork, continuing the work from the St, Petersburg event by developing rhythm. The team had an unusual schedule at this event, with practice and qualifying on Thursday, then a two-day break before racing on Sunday. Having qualified 13th and 16th respectively, Larry and Walt started on new tires, incurring penalties that were virtually negated as they were down the order and not the only drivers to take new tires. Larry (#72, Foremost Insurance Group/Tampa Bay Jaw Surgery) was able to make use of his new tires to maintain excellent pace during the race, getting faster as others wore through their tires. By the middle of the 45-minute timed race, Larry was lapping as fast as the leaders. Getting more in tune with the downforce of a race car, he was able to carry good cornering speed and make his first in-race, competitive passing maneuvers. While he placed first in the Expert Class, Larry is measuring himself against the Championship Class and was happy that he was able to climb into and finish in the midst of that group. Zack (#66) continues to show improvement, but with his limited experience is not yet used to extracting maximum performance from fresh tires and was disappointed with his 11th-place qualifying result. Pushing hard early in the race, led to a mistake and a spin, resulting in the loss of several places. Rejoining well down the order, Zack drove to finish and learned to drive on deteriorating tires. Determined to make no mistakes, Walt (#23, Tampa Bay Jaw Surgery) concentrated on his driving technique during the race. Unfortunately, with the team on the radio urging him to push harder, Walt fell off the track at turn one. With the leaders coming down the front straight, he waited for them to pass and rolled back on to the track behind them. This proved a beneficial move, as Walt maintained pace with some of the cars running in the top six and was able to gain some valuable experience. Next on the schedule for the Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear is round three at Lucas Oil Raceway in Indianapolis, Indiana, May 27–28.
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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. |
Woodbridge, Ont. (April 13, 2011) — AIM Autosport’s Star Mazda team was thrilled to have Larry Pegram win the Expert Class (and finish eighth overall) at Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, Ala. on Sunday. Larry led his teammates, Walt Bowlin and Zack Meyer to the checkered flag as they finished second in the Expert Class (14th overall) and 12th, respectively.