Performance Tech Qualifies Fifth at Historic Road America - Speedway Digest

Performance Tech Motorsports will start fifth in the Continental Tire Road Race Showcase tomorrow at Road America after a gritty qualifying effort from David Ostella. In what is becoming a trademark for Ostella, the 22-year old Canadian driver pulled last-lap heroics to get his fast lap in the No. 38 Performance Tech Motorsports Prototype Challenge car under the checkered flag.

Ostella’s qualifying time of 2 minutes, .144 seconds was more than two seconds faster than his previous practice laps and less than six-tenths behind the pole sitter. The team struggled throughout the practice sessions to find a good baseline setup for both Ostella and his co-driver James French.

The long track combined with complex corners makes for exciting racing, but also makes it difficult to find the perfect setup. Performance Tech Lead Engineer Ty Sayman said the team has been looking for a balance that could work for both drivers.

“Just like any track you have to find a good balance,” Sayman said. “There are three different spots that we’re reaching speeds above 165 mph and there are some fast corners. So you want to try and trim the car as much as you can, but we also have to be prepared for the slow corners, it really is just all a balance.”

Team Principal Brent O’Neill was pleased with Ostella’s qualifying effort. He has seen the growth of both drivers and feels like they have found that balance for the two.

“It was a great effort by David,” O’Neill said. “We made a couple of little mistakes on setup today and took some confidence away from him and James and it took him until the last couple of laps to get going. But it’s okay, we’re sixth-tenths from the pole and we have a good car for the race. The confidence is back 100 percent.”

Ostella, while pleased with the qualifying results, wants to see continued improvement for the race tomorrow.

“We really focus on race setup and so qualifying isn’t always our strongest session,” Ostella said. The guys set the car up pretty good and it was consistent. One thing this weekend we didn’t get a lot of time on is new tires so we struggled a little bit to get up to speed. And it being such a long track, you don’t get many laps out there and that was a little unfortunate.

“But fifth is great for us. Now we’re just going to put our heads together and see what we can put together for the race. After that qualifying run and James having a good practice session before that, I think we can do really well tomorrow.”

Ostella and French will take to the track for the two-hour, 45-minute race, at 1:15 p.m. (CT) Sunday, Aug. 10. Live streaming and timing will be available at imsa.com, and the race will be broadcast at 6:30 p.m. (ET) Sunday, Aug. 10 on FOX Sports 1.

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Adam Sinclair

NHRA, IHRA, Motocross and other forms of motorsports Staff writer
About Me: Adam has been a race fan since the first time he went through the tunnel under the Daytona International Speedway almost 30 years ago. He has had the privilege of travelling to races all across the state of Florida (as well as one race in Ohio), watching nearly everything with a motor compete for fame and glory, as well as participating in various racing schools to get the feel of what racecar drivers go through every week. Adam has spent the last three years covering motorsports for Examiner.com., where he had the opportunity to see the racing world from behind the scenes as well as the grandstands. He invites everyone to follow him on Twitter, Facebook, and Google Plus, and looks forward to sharing his enthusiasm for all things racing with the readers of SpeedwayDigest.com.Be sure to tune in for his weekly sports talk program, Thursday Night Thunder, where he discusses the latest in motorsports news with drivers, crew members, and fans. The show takes place every Thursday at 8:00 pm EST on the Speedway Digest Radio Network.