Laguna Seca Challenges Met by Luca Mars - Speedway Digest

The WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca 120 event was another solid effort for Luca Mars as he continues to show front running pace in his Rookie IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge season.

Despite early challenges in practice where Mars and teammate Nate Stacy struggled to find pace in their Race for RP Mustang, placing outside the top ten on the speed charts, qualifying proved to be a different story.

The KohR Motorsports team utilized their resources and successful past history at the facility to pull all the pieces together overnight. Mars returned the favor by putting in a stellar qualifying effort, leaping all the way to P5 out of 28 GS Class entries, giving the team a bright outlook on the race.

Dean Martin: “We knew we’d have a bit of a challenge at Laguna Seca. Some tracks play in to our strengths while others force us to work a little harder like this weekend. It was a team effort to pull it all together overnight from the engineers to the drivers and when it counted, Luca delivered in qualifying.”

Luca had a great start in the race settling in to fifth position and running in step with the next two cars. Along the way the team executed a fuel stop under yellow and then the driver change as well under yellow. In both instances, drivers and team operated flawlessly and Luca was able to bring the car back in the same place he qualified – P5.

Luca Mars: “We struggled with setup early but made some changes and I was able to qualify 5th when it counted. My starts and restarts were solid and the crew nailed our two pitstops letting me bring the car back in fifth still at the end of the run. The time we put in at Mid Ohio last week really showed here in working together on the setup as well as the pit stops – things I really wanted to improve on!”

Despite great early pace in the final stint, over the long run to the end of the race the car fell off some and Nate brought the #60 entry home 12th to close out a tricky yet positive weekend.

The duo will return to action in just two weeks at the historic Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course – a track Luca is familiar with having competed previously there in F2000, IMSA-MX5 Cup and WRL events, scoring several podium finishes over the years. The Mid-Ohio 120 for the IMSA Michel in Pilot Challenge will take place May 13-14 with the 2-hour race scheduled for 4:05PM Saturday May 14th.

Luca Mars: “I am really looking forward to this race! It is as close to home as we run in IMSA so I’m hoping to see a lot of friends and family there. I do have a lot of laps around Mid-Ohio in many different cars too. It will be exciting to get a chance to go there with some momentum after these first two races.”

For tickets to Luca’s “home” race please visit: Lexus Grand Prix at Mid-Ohio

For more information about Luca Mars and his motorsports endeavors please visit www.LucaMars.com

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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.