After HART crossed the finish line first in the 2013 Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge event at Kansas Speedway, the celebration was short-lived, as the Race Director handed the team a 10-spot penalty for “manipulating the restart” on the final lap. The team appealed the penalty, but ultimately had to go home in 11th position after fighting so hard throughout the race. For 2014, the team still had high hopes but cautiously approached the event, as it would be battling against the new Porsche Cayman and anything could happen.
The Kansas schedule would be unlike any other schedule this
year. There would be two, one-hour
practice sessions running into the evening on Friday and qualifying would not
take place until 9:15pm. With a busy day
and a late night ahead, the team prepared for the worst (and it’s a good thing
they did).
Both cars headed on track for the first practice with
strong hopes of running up front.
Michael Valiante was able to place the #93 car at the top of the list
before pitting, while the #92 was getting up to pace since Steve Eich and Kevin
Boehm had little time on the Kansas circuit.
As Chad Gilsinger started his first stint behind the wheel in the #93, he
managed to run only two laps before the clutch disk broke. At almost the exact same time, the #92 had a
drive shaft failure. Both cars were able
to make it back to the paddock and the team went to work.
With only a few hours in between sessions, the crew had
its work cut out to perform the necessary repairs. Luckily, the HART crew is one of the best in
the paddock and did not panic. They simply got the job done. Both cars would be ready for the second
practice and the team still needed to gather valuable data on both setups and
the new brake package which had been provided by HPD. As both cars hit the track, the #93 quickly
had a problem. The transmission would
permit gear changes, but the gates were very “notchy,” making it difficult to
change gears quickly. Gilsinger brought
the car in immediately so the crew could diagnose the problem, as qualifying
was only a couple hours away. Meanwhile,
the #92 car was providing valuable data for the team and its drivers were
gaining needed experience on track. Crew
chief Andrew Salzano was also running calculations on fuel mileage to use for
race strategy. With the session winding
down, the #92 once again started having drive shaft problems and the 4th
gear of the transmission was starting to feel weak.
As qualifying approached, the team was working diligently
trying to get both cars prepared. The #93 was found to have the wrong pressure
plate/clutch disk pairing, so the team had to pull the transmission one more
time for repairs. For #92, the team
worked to build new drive shafts, but decided to wait to change the
transmission until after qualifying. In
order to better understand the drive shaft concerns, the team installed a GoPro
camera on the subframe and pointed it towards the drive shaft to see what was
happening. This would give the team a
“real time” visual on the car and would hopefully indicate the cause of the
failure.
At Kansas, the draft is worth up to two seconds in lap
time so it is crucial to pair up with someone in qualifying. Luckily, HART runs a multi-car team and the
plan for #92 and #93 was to work together to provide each other a draft. With all the repairs that were needed, the
#92 car was not quite finished when the cars went to grid. This left #93 without a “wingman” and would
make things more challenging. As the
cars rolled onto the track, the #93 tried to pair up with one of the Porsches
that had demonstrated good pace earlier.
Unfortunately, the Porsche overshot Turn One starting its first hot lap
and cost #93 valuable time. The #92 was
able to make it on track and was searching for a drafting partner. With both cars having radio communication,
Eich and Gilsinger planned a method to get both cars a good lap. As time was winding down, Eich was able to
get a good draft off of the CRG Civic Si and #93 and posted a lap time that put
it in the top five. Gilsinger was still
struggling trying to find a draft, so Eich put himself in a position to
help. On the last lap, Gilsinger was
able to get a small draft off #92 and bettered his time to take the sixth
position. As qualifying came to an end, Gilsinger
managed to hold onto sixth, while Eich was bumped back to seventh. All in all, it was a great ending to a disastrous
day.
After a wild Friday, the team had some time to rest on
Saturday, since the race would not start until 6:15 p.m. and would end under
the lights. Steve Eich would start the #92
car and Chad Gilsinger started the #93. Even
though the race was late, the team had plenty to prepare for. The #92 still needed a transmission and the
drive shaft failure was still a concern.
The team analyzed the GoPro video and it seemed that the failure was occurring
when the car was loaded up on the banking.
To reduce some of this compression and angle on the drive shafts, the
team decided to stiffen up the front of the car by adding higher-rated H&R
springs. Once again, the team did an
amazing job and had both cars cleaned and ready for the Fan Walk before the
race.
This would be the first time the cars could start near
each other. The goal of the drivers was
to work together and work their way into the top five. The team knew it had a tough battle, as four
of the top five cars we new Porsche Caymans.
As the green flag flew, Gilsinger had a great run going into Turn One
and was able to move into fourth place. Meanwhile, Eich lost a couple spots because
the car in front of him was “sleeping” at the start and he was not allowed to
pass until crossing the start/finish line.
With this race taking place on a smaller road course inside an oval,
there were not many corners, so the anticipation of yellows was low. Eich was able to battle back up to fifth position
and Gilsinger was able to stay in fourth after the first hour of the
event.
Seeing that a yellow flag condition was unlikely, Andrew
Salzano formulated a strategy to pit both cars under green as their pit windows
opened. Both were able to open up a bit
of a gap to the cars behind them and this would give them an advantage. Once again, the team did an amazing job in
the pits and both cars were serviced and out without losing any time. As the first round of pit stops came to a
close HART found itself sitting in second place for #93 and seventh place for
#92, with Valiante and Boehm, respectively, now at the wheel.
With about an hour left, the final caution period of the
race was ending and Valiante was ready to move to the front. As the track went green, Valiante took his
Honda into the lead, passing Charles Espenlaub in the Porsche Cayman, which had
started from the ST pole. At the same
time, another Cayman was moving through
the field and putting major pressure on Valiante. The two battled back and forth and even made
periodic contact. It was a true nail-biter,
but in the end Valiante and Gilsinger came out ahead in a tough battle with the
Porsche Cayman of Will and Wayne Nonnamaker. The Honda edged the Nonnamaker
Porsche by just 79 one-hundredths of a second at the checkers. Unfortunately, the #92 once again had a drive
shaft failure which forced Boehm to retire the car.
"This was one of the toughest wins I've had, with
that much pressure and knowing that second and third [places] were coming,"
said Valiante. "I knew I couldn't make any mistakes, particularly when
they were on my bumper. I kept telling myself, 'Hit your marks … hit your
marks' and get good exit shots, and I was able to pull it off. That's one of
the toughest wins I've had.
"The team finally got the “monkey off its back” and hopes
to see the season turn around as it heads to Watkins Glen at the end of the
month, a track where the team has seen victory before.
The Kansas race will not be televised, but watch for
upcoming events on Fox Sports 1.
The next Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge event will
be at Watkins Glen, June 27-28.
To keep up with HART’s progress and to see pictures and
video of the cars and team, ‘Like’ us on Facebook ( www.facebook.com/HARTracingteam )
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