{"id":4820,"date":"2022-08-06T15:46:35","date_gmt":"2022-08-06T19:46:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/?p=4820"},"modified":"2023-05-03T16:31:59","modified_gmt":"2023-05-03T20:31:59","slug":"stoner-car-care-racing-finishes-second-in-bronze-cup-at-road-america","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/2022\/08\/06\/stoner-car-care-racing-finishes-second-in-bronze-cup-at-road-america\/","title":{"rendered":"Stoner Car Care Racing Finishes Second in Bronze Cup at Road America"},"content":{"rendered":"

Staying out of trouble was key in a wild IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge race<\/em><\/p>\n

ELKHART LAKE, Wis. (6 August 2022)<\/strong> \u2013 Survival was the name of the game Saturday at Road America, as the Stoner<\/span> Car Care Racing fielded by Automatic Racing team avoided the trouble that caused five caution periods\u00a0 to bring its Aston Martin Vantage GT4 home in second in the Bronze Cup and 14th overall in the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge\u2019s Road America 240.<\/p>\n

With ambient temperatures near 90 and track temps over 100, drivers Rob Ecklin, Jr. and Ramin Abdolvahabi knew they had a challenge ahead in the No. 09 Invisible Glass Aston Martin Vantage GT4 \u2013 with their usual Stoner<\/span> Car Care Aston Martin sidelined with a differential issue, the team recalled the iconic colors back into action on Friday afternoon.<\/p>\n

With past IMPC races as a benchmark, the team knew a four-hour race at the vaunted Wisconsin road course would hold nonstop action \u2013 and more than a few incidents. The game plan as always was to play it smart, making judicious passes and taking advantage where they could as they sought their first Bronze Cup victory (for Bronze FIA-rated drivers).<\/p>\n

The action commenced from the drop of the green, as 39 cars diced for position. Abdolvahabi, starting 23rd, got the worst of it on lap one \u2013 hit from behind and from the side in turn three. Assessing the damage, he and the team determined that the car was not badly\u00a0damaged, so Abdolvahabi continued. The first caution came only 20 minutes into the race, and the team made a strategy call to save time, calling Abdolvahabi into pit lane for left-side Michelin tires and fuel.<\/p>\n

“On that first lap, one car shut the door on me and we made contact, which sent me into another car,” said Abdolvahabi. “Then he hit me from behind. I’m just glad I was able to keep it on the road and keep it going, we’re lucky we didn’t get spun around. But that’s the sort of thing that happens in such close racing! The car just wasn’t the same after that – the steering was fine, but the toe seemed a bit off. We just didn’t have the pace.”<\/p>\n

The race went green, yellow, green, yellow in rapid succession over the next hour, but Abdolvahabi made smart moves and took advantage of a round of late pit stops to move up to P14. He held steady throughout the final minutes of his stint, handing off to Ecklin with just over two hours remaining.<\/p>\n

But shortly thereafter, it was Ecklin\u2019s turn to get tagged from behind in what was rapidly becoming a game of bumper cars. He fought the ill-handling car but still laid down steady laps, climbing from P22 up to P16 with 40 minutes remaining. When the checkered flag flew, Ecklin was second in the Bronze Cup standings and P14 overall.<\/p>\n

“Staying out of trouble was key today – those were some hard hits out there today,\u201d said Ecklin. \u201cI couldn’t feel anything technically wrong with the car, but it was just off pace. I couldn’t gain time anywhere. So it was a matter of managing fuel and keeping the car on track. This is a very physical track to race on for four hours, so while we’re disappointed not to get the Bronze Cup win, we’re happy to have brought the car home.”<\/p>\n

“Rob and I really wanted P1 in Bronze Cup,” said Abdolvahabi. “The strategy was spot-on, but all those hits just took us out of contention.”<\/p>\n

\u201cFinishing on the lead lap after four hours, with a wounded car from lap one on, with some good strategy along the way, I\u2019m pretty happy with that,\u201d said Automatic Racing team manager David Russell. \u201cDriver changes were good, crew work was excellent, and we survived it with a whole car \u2013 and in this race, that\u2019s a positive outcome.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Stoner<\/span> Car Care team continues to support End Alzheimer\u2019s Racing, carrying decals on the car to help their efforts to raise funds and awareness.<\/p>\n

Next up for the Stoner<\/span> Car Care team will be the VIRginia is for Racing Lovers Grand Prix from VIRginia International Raceway. The race will be live streamed in the U.S. on Peacock TV, while international viewers can watch via IMSA.tv<\/a>. IMSA Radio will also be available at IMSA.com<\/a>. A race replay will air on USA Network Sunday, September 4 at 2:00 p.m. Eastern.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

About Stoner<\/span> Car Care\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Stoner<\/span> Car Care produces high-performance car washes, waxes, polishes, and dressings for auto enthusiasts and car care professionals. The Stoner<\/span> Car Care line-up includes Invisible Glass, America’s #1 Automotive Glass Cleaner, along with many other appearance products. Whether driving, washing or waxing, Performance Matters! Stoner<\/span> car care proudly formulates all of our product since 1942. www.stonercarcare.com<\/a><\/p>\n

About Invisible Glass<\/strong><\/p>\n

Automatic Racing sees their way to victory with Invisible Glass, the top-selling automotive glass cleaner in the United States. The Invisible Glass product line includes aerosol and spray bottle cleaner, Invisible Glass with rain repellent for windshields and wiper blades. Find more online at\u00a0https:\/\/www.invisibleglass.com\/<\/a><\/p>\n

About Automatic Racing<\/strong><\/p>\n

Based in Orlando, Automatic Racing is one of the longest-running teams in the paddock, forming in 2001 and competing in all but one of the 11 MICHELIN Pilot Challenge races at Daytona. The team has been developing, preparing and racing the prestigious Aston Martin Vantage GT4 since 2012. Automatic Racing won the 2017 MICHELIN Pilot Challenge title.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/automaticracing.com<\/a><\/p>\n

About End Alzheimer\u2019s Racing<\/strong><\/p>\n

End Alzheimer\u2019s Racing began in 2019, as father and son duo Bill and Alex Slupski \u2013 both experienced kart racers who also work in sports car racing \u2013 chose racing as the \u201cvehicle\u201d for their program to promote awareness and raise funds for the Alzheimer\u2019s Association. Through End Alzheimer\u2019s Racing, they want to be an integral part of the support network for families dealing with Alzheimer\u2019s and other dementias and be part of the cure that ends Alzheimer\u2019s disease.<\/p>\n

http:\/\/act.alz.org\/goto\/endalzheimersracing<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Staying out of trouble was key in a wild IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge race ELKHART LAKE, Wis. (6 August 2022) \u2013 Survival was the name of [\u2026]<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":4821,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4820","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4820","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=4820"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4820\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4822,"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4820\/revisions\/4822"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4821"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4820"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4820"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4820"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}