Dallara
   
   

 


Hot News & Press from Doran Racing

Doran-Lista WINS Sahlen's 200 at the Glen Friday Night

WATKINS GLEN, N.Y., Aug. 13 - Team owner Kevin Doran's slick move to have Jan
Magnussen duck into the pits for slick Goodyears late in the race coupled
with some slick driving by both Magnussen and Didier Theys earned the Doran-Lista
team the victory in Friday night's Sahlen's 200 Rolex series race at Watkins
Glen International.

The Doran-Lista DORAN JE4 Lexus #27 was in fifth or sixth place for most of
the race, which was televised on SPEED Friday night. Magnussen had just passed
Cort Wagner for fourth when a full-course yellow waved for an errant Porsche
in the esses with 23 minutes left in the two-hour race.

Magnussen had been dashing through as many puddles as he could find on the
course to cool his rain tires at the time, and Doran used that opportunity to
bring his car into the pits for slicks.

It proved to be the winning move. The timing of the pit stop was such that
Magnussen didn't lose much track position, as he restarted in sixth place when
the green flag waved again with just 12 minutes remaining. He took fifth from
the Red Bull FABCAR Porsche #58 at the top of the hill on lap 64. Everyone on
the team's hearts skipped a beat when another yellow came out an instant
later. It didn't last long, however, and Magnussen passed the Rx.com/G&W DORAN
JE4 BMW #81, the CompUSA Riley Lexus #01 and the Kodak EasyShare DORAN JE4
Pontiac #54 all on the same lap to vault into second place. He took the lead from
Max Angelelli in the SunTrust Riley Pontiac #10 in turn 11 on lap 67 with just
six minutes left, much to the delight of everyone associated with the Lebanon,
Ohio-based team.

Two other teams opted to also pit for slicks late in the race. One of those
cars, another DORAN JE4 Lexus fielded by Michael Shank Racing, went on to
finish second. The SunTrust team rounded out the podium finishers. The Kodak
EasyShare DORAN JE4 Pontiac was fourth. The CompUSA Riley Lexus of Max Papis and
Scott Pruett finished fifth followed by the fourth DORAN JE4 in the field, the
Rx.com/G&W Motorsports entry, in sixth.

Theys drove the first stint of the race, making the team's first pit stop for
rain tires, fuel and Magnussen to get in on lap 34 under a full-course
caution for a multi-car accident in turn 11. The track conditions were like ice at
the time. Theys did a 180-spin at the pit entrance but didn't hit anything,
successfully dodging a bullet for the eventual winning effort.

For more information see www.lista.com, www.listaintl.com,
www.doranracing.com, www.grandamerican.com and www.janmagnussen.com.

Quotes follow:

Didier Theys: "We learned the hard way last year when we stayed a little too
long on the rain tires. We discussed it before the race; we know that this
track gets dry very fast, even with the humidity. That's how we decided on the
last yellow to go with slicks, even if it was hard for Jan on the first few
laps, because the line was still kind of wet. But I think it was the best
strategy of the day.

"Our car had a little bit of understeer when I was driving. It was raining
hard everywhere when I came in. I did a 180 spin at the entrance to the pits.
I put the clutch in but I couldn't hold it. The track was like ice.

"Watkins Glen has a place in my heart. When I came here in 1985, I won my
first race here in the United States in Super Vees. I won the six-hour race
twice.

"Everybody did a perfect job today."

Jan Magnussen: "I wanted slicks, but we knew there was a chance for a
yellow. We talked about it for three seconds, and decided it was probably a good
idea. I won't say it was great driving at the end because it's easier to beat
everybody when you have slicks and they're on wets. But we won the race on the
right decision at the right time.

"We have a good car and a good team. I was confident that we'd be fast in
the rain or the dry. I used up the rain tires pretty bad.

"It was understeering in the wet a little, but the car was good. I played
with the traction control to see if I could make it better."

Kevin Doran: "We out-foxed them on tire strategy. When the yellow waved, I
said 'Jan, pit, pit pit!' We just barely got in on that lap, but that gave us
good track position on the restart.

"Last year we didn't get on slicks quick enough, so we knew we wanted to get
on them quickly today. We figured that as long as it stayed dry, we had it in
the bag. If it would have rained again, our gamble wouldn't have paid off.

"We needed this win. It couldn't come at a better time. DORAN JE4s were
first, second, fourth and sixth."


 
powered by cyberspeed