WATKINS GLEN, NY - It has been a hectic week for the AIM Autosport crew with just four days between races as they moved from Lime Rock Park in Connecticut to Watkins Glen, New York for this weekend's Sahlen's Six Hours of The Glen. The entire team had a lot of work to do in preparing the car after what started as a rough outing at Lime Rock. The race had ended alright but not after the crew had to rebuild the car after an accident in qualifying and while Burt Frisselle and Mark Wilkins ran a fantastic race in the Pacific Mobile No. 61 Ford Riley, job one was to tear the car down and make sure it was fit to run a six hour enduro at the very fast Watkins Glen International.
The team took some extra time at Lime Rock to work on the car before loading for the trip to Watkins Glen and they were at the track early this morning going over every detail while the engineers started working out their plan for the race. Practice begins on Friday morning with qualifying that afternoon followed by an early-evening practice so that teams can get used to the changing conditions that could occur during the race into the sunset.
But the team goes into this race with some marked optimism after showing they could come back from adversity to run at the front at Lime Rock. Burt had the Pacific Mobile No. 61 Ford Riley near the front of the field through most of his stint and handed the car over to Mark from the second position. Mark would lead twenty laps and also never be far from the front.
"Burt and Mark both put in a terrific drive", commented Team Principal Ian Willis. "The crew did a great job getting us onto the starting grid after the accident and we had the car to run at the front. The only hiccup was when we missed the call on the last pit stop an not making it in before the caution. That cost us track position but Mark still fought back to finish in the top five."
He continued, "The result of all that hard work is that now we can come back this weekend at The Glen and make a run for the podium. We have a history here, taking the win on the short track in 2008, so now we'd like to add a win in the Six Hour to complete the package. The No 61 started from the front row in 2008. No reason we can't do that again and go on for the win."
In their first three appearances in the Sahlen's Six Hours of The Glen, AIM had three drivers in the car. This year, the team will do it with just Burt and Mark.
"The boys are fit and ready for this", said Willis. "Both have already done the Rolex 24 this year and the 6-hour race at Laguna a few weeks ago. Mark also competed in the 12 Hours of Sebring earlier this season. They have been training very hard."
To determine the benefits of that training, this weekend, founder and Chief Technologist of AIM's new technical partners, Biosign, will be on hand to demonstrate their UFIT® health monitoring system and determine how it can be used to enhance Mark and Burt's training regimen.
The GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series presented by Crown Royal Cask No. 16 presentation of the Sahlen's Six Hours of The Glen takes place on Saturday, June 5th. The race will be broadcast live in two, two-hour segments on SPEED TV starting at 2:00 p.m and 6:00 p.m. ET. The entire race will be carried live on MRN (Motor Racing Network) affiliates on the Sirius Satellite Network.
Photo Credit: Kevin Hinton // From Chris Jameson - Level Ten Communications
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