{"id":4797,"date":"2022-06-26T15:09:06","date_gmt":"2022-06-26T15:09:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/?p=4797"},"modified":"2022-08-08T15:12:06","modified_gmt":"2022-08-08T15:12:06","slug":"sean-creech-motorsport-preservers-after-early-incident-to-gain-valuable-lmp3-class-points","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/2022\/06\/26\/sean-creech-motorsport-preservers-after-early-incident-to-gain-valuable-lmp3-class-points\/","title":{"rendered":"Sean Creech Motorsport preservers after early incident to gain valuable LMP3 class points"},"content":{"rendered":"

Outstanding effort from the team puts the Ligier back on track quickly at Watkins Glen<\/em><\/p>\n

W<\/strong>ATKINS GLEN, NY. (26 June, 2022)<\/strong> \u2013 Sean Creech Motorsport (SCM) quickly recovered\u00a0from an early incident to return to the track and earn valuable LMP3 championship points in\u00a0Sunday\u2019s Sahlen\u2019s Six Hours of the Glen at Watkins Glen International \u2013 race three of both the Michelin Endurance Cup and the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.<\/p>\n

Drivers Jo\u00e3o Barbosa, Lance Willsey and Malthe Jakobsen showed the No. 33 SCM Exelixis\/Focal One\/Alta Equipment Ligier JS P320\u2019s pace throughout the weekend, but\u00a0contact early in the race sent the team to the garage for repairs. Outstanding work from the\u00a0Sebring 12 Hour-winning team saw the Ligier return to the track and finish sixth, gaining\u00a0valuable positions and points despite a weather-related red flag that halted their progress.<\/p>\n

The team came into the weekend third in LMP3 points. As the winners of the previous\u00a0Michelin Endurance Challenge event, the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring, the team had\u00a0high hopes for the six-hour endurance classic.<\/p>\n

The No. 33 Ligier was immediately quick, setting the fastest LMP3 lap time of the weekend,\u00a0with a lap of 1:39.669 in Saturday morning\u2019s second practice. Starting the race from the\u00a0fifth row of the enlarged LMP3 class, Willsey took the green flag and commenced the LMP3\u00a0class battle from the outset. Running competitive lap times and focusing forward, Willsey\u00a0found himself in the middle of a four-car train just before the one-hour mark, with the lead\u00a0car allowing the leaders to gain ground. Willsey saw the No. 36 ahead go wide and made a\u00a0move on the inside to pass, but the 36 held his line and Willsey\u2019s momentum carried him\u00a0into his competitor\u2019s right rear wheel. Willsey spun and though he was relatively\u00a0undamaged, the car would not restart.<\/p>\n

The team worked feverishly on the Ligier back in the garage, analyzing every inch of the\u00a0car\u2019s electrical system to discover an overheated starter, and within an hour had the car\u00a0back on track with Barbosa behind the wheel.\u00a0The two-time Sahlen\u2019s Six Hour winner\u00a0steadied the ship, putting down solid laps before handing to Jakobsen with just over three\u00a0hours remaining. Jakobsen put in an impressive stint, setting the team\u2019s quick time of the\u00a0race, a lap of 1:41.463 on lap 89 of an eventual 132. The young Dane handed over to\u00a0Barbosa at the two-hour mark.<\/p>\n

But with just under 90 minutes remaining, Mother Nature intervened. Lightning in the area\u00a0brought out a red flag, with teams battening down their pit lane setups as heavy winds and\u00a0rain rolled through the area. The race once again took the green flag with just 21 minutes\u00a0remaining, but it was enough for Barbosa to gain enough laps to secure sixth position \u2013 and\u00a0the valuable points. The team now lies in fourth position in the LMP3 team standings.<\/p>\n

The team would like to thank partners Alta Equipment Company and Focal One for their\u00a0continued support.<\/p>\n

QUOTEBOARD<\/strong><\/p>\n

LANCE WILLSEY<\/strong><\/p>\n

The most frustrating part was that the team gave us a really, really good car. That\u2019s why I\u00a0was so impatient at the end of that four-car train, the leaders were getting away from us. I\u00a0thought I had space behind the 36 car, who I thought was having brake issues, and I don\u2019t\u00a0think he saw me. It was just enough contact to spin me and overheat the starter. All hands on deck in the garage \u2013 it was a heroic effort by the team to get us back out there to move\u00a0up the leaderboard.\u201d<\/p>\n

JO\u00c3O BARBOSA<\/strong><\/p>\n

The team was able to resolve the problem quickly but unfortunately, the incident took us\u00a0out of contention. The team kept digging: every point is important \u2013 we\u2019re further down the\u00a0standings than we\u2019d like but who knows if these points will make the difference. It\u2019s a\u00a0shame, the car was so good all weekend and the team did a great job. The track was fine\u00a0after the red, the car felt great, but I didn\u2019t want to get in the middle of cars fighting for\u00a0position, especially with such a short turnaround \u2013 we\u2019ll dig into exactly what happened with\u00a0the starter but the car is in one piece and we\u2019re looking forward to our return to Canada. We\u00a0have a good baseline setup that should work well at CTMP.\u201d<\/p>\n

MALTHE JAKOBSEN<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cIt was fun but it was hard once we had the incident. The team did a really good job to get\u00a0us back out. It wasn\u2019t too many laps this time, because of the red flag, but that\u2019s how it is\u00a0sometimes!\u201d<\/p>\n

SEAN CREECH<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThe team did a great job. It\u2019s unfortunate that we had the incident, and the resulting\u00a0starter issue. It appears to be a weak link in the Ligier, some teams in ELMS (European Le\u00a0Mans) have had this same issue. The team diagnosed it quickly and got us back out to\u00a0salvage more points. This class is so competitive, you have to get every point you can.\u00a0That\u2019s why you work so hard get back on track \u2013 you never know what\u2019s going to happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

The two hour and 40-minute Chevrolet Grand Prix takes the green flag Sunday at 3:05 p.m.\u00a0The race will be broadcast live in the U.S., in its entirety on network NBC and Peacock TV in the US, and on REV TV in Canada. International viewers can watch via IMSA.tv, with IMSA Radio also available at IMSA.com.<\/p>\n

About SCM<\/strong>
\nTeam leader Sean Creech has competed in a multitude of sports car series from 1990 until\u00a0the present day, including Group C, IMSA GTP,\u00a0WSC, Grand-Am,\u00a0SRO World Challenge, and\u00a0IMSA. SCM will contest the full WeatherTech SportsCar Championship in 2022 with Jo\u00e3o\u00a0Barbosa and Lance Willsey.\u00a0http:\/\/seancreechmotorsport.com\/<\/p>\n

About Alta Equipment<\/strong>
\nAn industry-leading material handling and construction equipment company, Alta Equipment\u00a0is an innovator of solutions, delivering diverse products and unrivaled support centered on\u00a0building lasting customer relationships. Alta Equipment began in 1984 with a single location\u00a0in Detroit and has grown to 57 locations\u00a0throughout the Midwest, Northeast, and Florida.\u00a0https:\/\/www.altaequipment.com\/<\/p>\n

About Focal One<\/strong>
\nOne in eight men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer during their lifetime in the United\u00a0States.\u00a0The Focal One\u00ae HIFU Prostate treatment offers patients a non-invasive outpatient\u00a0procedure to target prostate tissue while avoiding the common side effects such as loss of\u00a0urinary continence and sexual function. The Focal One treatment uses high performance,\u00a0high intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) to precisely target and ablate the\u00a0prostate,\u00a0allowing patients to quickly return to normal activities.\u00a0http:\/\/www.focalone.com\/<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Outstanding effort from the team puts the Ligier back on track quickly at Watkins Glen WATKINS GLEN, NY. (26 June, 2022) \u2013 Sean Creech Motorsport (SCM) [\u2026]<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":4798,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[54],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4797","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sean-creech-motorsports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4797","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4797"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4797\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4800,"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4797\/revisions\/4800"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4798"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4797"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4797"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4797"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}