Series rookie de Quesada brings the Invisible Glass car home in wet conditions in Wisconsin
ELKHART LAKE, Wis. (7 August 2021) – For team engineers, it’s never a good feeling to spend the bulk of a race with one eye on the data and the other eye on the radar, but that was the case for the Stoner Car Care Racing fielded by Automatic Racing team in Saturday’s Road America 120, the seventh race of the 2021 Michelin Pilot Challenge season.
On a rapidly changing 4.048-mile Road America layout, drivers Ramin Abdolvahabi and Michael de Quesada brought the No. 99 Invisible Glass Aston Martin home undamaged, settling for a 20th-place finish at the end of a wild two-hour race.
For the 21-year-old de Quesada, the race marked both his series and team debut, and his first race in the Aston Martin. With a steep learning curve and only two practice sessions to complete his personal database, the young Floridian – the 2016 Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge USA Gold champion – took to the task with aplomb.
Cool temperatures and cloudy skies greeted the team on Friday, with two practice sessions on the day. Abdolvahabi opened the first session, to ensure that the Aston Martin’s setup was ready to go, with de Quesada using the latter stages of the session to get oriented to the car’s handling characteristics. In the second practice later that day, de Quesada came out of the gate flying, setting times within a second of the leaders before the pair finished the session P13.
Abdolvahabi took the wheel for qualifying, knowing that severe weather was on the horizon. Encountering traffic on his two flying laps, Abdolvahabi put the Aston Martin into Row 11 for Saturday’s race.
With damp conditions on track and the skies darkening to the west, the team knew that weather would be a factor. Abdolvahabi took the green flag on Michelin rain tires with temperatures in the low 70s and light rain falling. Abdolvahabi was just settling in, up to 20th, when an early full-course caution slowed the field and halted his forward progress.
On the restart, Abdolvahabi continued his charge, taking advantage of other driver’s mistakes and making careful passes in the drying-but-still-damp conditions to move up to 18th. With just over 40 minutes elapsed, he ducked into pit lane for fuel and a change to de Quesada. But a radio issue delayed de Quesada’s exit from pit lane, dropping him to 21st as the rain began to increase.
As track conditions continued to deteriorate, de Quesada focused on hitting his marks and keeping the Aston Martin out of trouble. Pitting for left side tires helped the performance, but despite his best efforts he was not able to push forward, bringing the car home in 20th position, but thankfully undamaged.
“I was comfortable with the car right away, but it was just tough conditions today,” said de Quesada. “There were so many variables that were out of our control, like how quickly the rain tires wore early in the race, as the track was drying. We had some radio issues, some tire issues, and all of those combined to make for a difficult day. The team did a great job and put together a great car, I really enjoyed running with the team and in the series.”
“This was one of those weekends where you just have to take what the track and the conditions give you,” said Abdolvahabi. “I took it easy at the start and passed a few cars. It was difficult, with a lot of cars going off, but it was the problem in the pits that really hurt us. But that’s racing sometimes.”
NBCSN will broadcast a two-hour race recap on Wednesday, August 18 at 1:00 p.m. Eastern (check local listings). Next up for the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge will be the Hyundai Monterey Sports Car Championship at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, September 10 through 12.
ABOUT US
About Stoner Car Care
Stoner Car Care produces high-performance car washes, waxes, polishes, and dressings for auto enthusiasts and car care professionals. The Stoner 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 car care proudly formulates all of our product since 1942. www.stonercarcare.com
About Invisible Glass
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 https://www.invisibleglass.com/
About Automatic Racing
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. https://automaticracing.com
