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This weekend went really well. The Vette ran great and I was able to start moving back up the rankings in Formula D. It was interesting how FD shared the track with the IRL, made the schedule spread out over 3 days.
Thursday we had practice and qualifying. I havent driven at sonoma for 4 years so the first few laps of practice I was all over the place. Luckily we had 2 hours of practice that day and by the end we where looking good. In qualifying, we scored pretty well and was able to get 5th with the highest entry speed.
That set us up to run against Cody Parkhouse in his S13 on friday for top 32. First lap I was leading and I just ran it clean. Second lap and following Cody, I just initiated right behind him. Noticed he was starting to go wide, to the point he was going off line a bit and starting to get into the soft stuff on the track. Then when it was clear that he was going too wide I started to go back on the regular line and passed him by and got the win.
We where excited going into Sat and got paired up to go against Tanner Foust in the scion TC for top 16. It was a good match up since we both had really fast entry speeds. I was leading the first lap and Tanner was able to stick to me threw the whole coarse. Jake Tanaka (the owners son and my spotter) comes over the radio and says "good run, he was on you though." My responce was "wait till you see this." Its my turn now to follow Tanner. I get right on him on the initiation and stick to everything he does keeping a tight distance. He starts left foot brakeing by the apex as I notice some smoke coming off his front tire. I slow down just a touch and he lets the brake go, now he got a little momentum getting off the apex. I lay into the throttle, maybe a little too much. Tires start smoking and I'm just not gaining enough speed. He was able to pull away a couple car lengths by the end of the run and take the win.
Yeah, I was disapointed that we lost that round but I wasnt unhappy at all. We did great and showed everyone that Team Tanaka is moving up. I've only been driving the car a few events and the improvements to both my driving and the car have been significant.
Thursday we had practice and qualifying. I havent driven at sonoma for 4 years so the first few laps of practice I was all over the place. Luckily we had 2 hours of practice that day and by the end we where looking good. In qualifying, we scored pretty well and was able to get 5th with the highest entry speed.
That set us up to run against Cody Parkhouse in his S13 on friday for top 32. First lap I was leading and I just ran it clean. Second lap and following Cody, I just initiated right behind him. Noticed he was starting to go wide, to the point he was going off line a bit and starting to get into the soft stuff on the track. Then when it was clear that he was going too wide I started to go back on the regular line and passed him by and got the win.
We where excited going into Sat and got paired up to go against Tanner Foust in the scion TC for top 16. It was a good match up since we both had really fast entry speeds. I was leading the first lap and Tanner was able to stick to me threw the whole coarse. Jake Tanaka (the owners son and my spotter) comes over the radio and says "good run, he was on you though." My responce was "wait till you see this." Its my turn now to follow Tanner. I get right on him on the initiation and stick to everything he does keeping a tight distance. He starts left foot brakeing by the apex as I notice some smoke coming off his front tire. I slow down just a touch and he lets the brake go, now he got a little momentum getting off the apex. I lay into the throttle, maybe a little too much. Tires start smoking and I'm just not gaining enough speed. He was able to pull away a couple car lengths by the end of the run and take the win.
Yeah, I was disapointed that we lost that round but I wasnt unhappy at all. We did great and showed everyone that Team Tanaka is moving up. I've only been driving the car a few events and the improvements to both my driving and the car have been significant.
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