Penalty Misfortune Dashes Performance Tech’s Hopes At Road America

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TUDOR United SportsCar Championship rookie David Ostella and teammate James French were confident their Performance Tech Motorsports team could secure a podium finish today at Road America after consecutive fourth-place finishes at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and Watkins Glen International in recent weeks. However, sixty seconds is all it took to dash Performance Tech Motorsports‘ podium hopes at the Continental Tire Road Race Showcase Sunday at Road America. 

French took the green flag first at the historic 14-turn, 4.048-mile circuit and ran a speedy stint, moving the No. 38 Performance Tech Motorsports Prototype Challenge car up to second place in class after starting fifth. Ostella swapped seats with French during a yellow flag pit stop, returning to the course fifth in class. 

Ostella immediately began moving his way up through the field with some very fast laps, including the fastest race lap in class at that point in the race. While advancing to the front, he encountered contact overtaking Colin Braun for third position. Race officials subsequently penalized Ostella for the contact. The penalty, combined with multiple yellow flags, quashed any hopes of a podium. 

The team hoped for a few more green flag laps so that a good pit strategy could get them back in the hunt. But it was not in the cards for Performance Tech and its two young drivers, Ostella and James French. 

Team Principal Brent O’Neill knew his team had a good car and was disappointed with the sequence of events, but also saw the potential he has with his two young stars. 

“It was a little frustrating today,” O’Neill said. “But we had good pace and James and David both did an awesome job in the car. I thought we had Colin Braun going into Canada Corner and David just stayed in there. And unfortunately they determined that we got the penalty. It wasn’t David’s fault, that was just one of those situations. We kept fighting and when we get to VIR I think we’re going to have a good car.” 

“Definitely not the day we were hoping for coming into the weekend,” Ostella said. “The Performance Tech guys gave James and me a phenomenal car and James had an awesome stint before we made the driver change under the yellow.

 “We were definitely fast out there and had the second fastest lap of the race before we got penalized. We could have probably made up the difference as fast as we were, but the yellows were just too long for us to have a chance. The guys have really shown how fast we can be, so we are looking forward to the next race at VIR.”

  

Putting forth a great effort at his home track, French, a Sheboygan-native, demonstrated a glimpse of what he and Ostella can do together. As he grows more comfortable in only his second race with Performance Tech, his performance has continued to improve. 

A well-timed pit stop by the Performance Tech team secured first place in class with a significant gap on the competition, but it was given up while serving a stop-and-go plus 60-seconds penalty. With a fast car in his hands, Ostella’s only hope was a long stint of green flag racing, which never materialized. Ostella managed to pull together a sixth-place finish for the team.

“The cards just didn’t fall in our favor today,” French said. “I was able to pick up a few spots which I was happy with, but we just couldn’t do anything with it today. But everybody did a great job and I am definitely getting a lot more comfortable with the car and the team, which helps too. We are definitely overdue for a good result and it will come.” 

Performance Tech’s next stop on the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship schedule is the Oak Tree Grand Prix on Sunday, Aug. 24 at Virginia International Raceway.

  

 

 

 

 

 
Adam Sinclair
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