Brix,
Jourdain and Servia Finish Eighth
In Rolex Series Season Finale
At Miller Motorsports Park Saturday
In Feeds the Need/Doran Racing DORAN JE4
Ford No. 77
TOOELE, Utah, Sept. 2 - The Feeds the Need/Doran
Racing team recorded a
strong eighth-place finish in the 2006 Rolex
Series season finale Saturday night at
Miller Motorsports Park in the nine-hour
Discount Tire Sunchaser enduro that
had only one full-course caution and ended
in pitch-black darkness.
All three drivers - Harrison Brix of San
Jose, Calif.; Michel Jourdain Jr. of
Mexico City, Mexico and Oriol Servia of Miami
- were making their first start
here. Servia was making his first start of
any kind in a race car with a
roof, but in the afternoon the Champ Car
World Series star set the fastest lap of
the race for the DORAN JE4 Ford No. 77, which
carries the colors of the Kodak
EasyShare System, Amp'd Mobile and SIRIUS.
That lap was even a tad faster than
the one the car ran in quals.
After Brix started 19th, the entry ran in
13th or 14th place from hours two
through five. The car was 11th two-thirds
of the way through the race,
including during the full-course yellow six
hours and 25 minutes into the event for
debris.
Brix was behind the wheel for the restart
when the car cracked the top 10
with two hours and 12 minutes remaining.
He had the difficult job of driving in
the glare of the setting sun, but he was
still in tenth place when he turned
the car over to Jourdain for the last stint.
Jourdain said he never concentrated so hard
as he did driving over the
4.486-mile road course in the pitch-black
darkness, but with 48 minutes remaining he
was able to pass Eddie Cheever Jr. for ninth
place and with 20 minutes to go
he got eighth when the No. 11 Daytona Prototype
had mechanical difficulties
and dropped back.
The race was broadcast live on SPEED. The
Michael Shank Racing No. 60 of Mark
Patterson and Oswaldo Negri won.
For more information see doranracing.com
and grandamerican.com.
Post-race quotes follow:
Harrison Brix: "The key to this one was staying
out of trouble and keeping
the car in one piece and on the blacktop. It
was great for the team to finish
the year with a strong result. Hopefully
this will help us build momentum for
next year.
"I had no incidents in
my stint at the end. Driving into the
setting sun
was very treacherous and I was very happy
to get out and let Michel drive.
"We didn't have any problems.
Randy Ruhlman or somebody in the Derhaag
car broke in front of me, but I missed him.
"We were fighting for
grip, but the car ran really well. The track
was
slippery, dirty and really nasty."
Michel Jourdain Jr.: "I had an incident with
the No. 09 during the afternoon;
he didn't see me and we had contact. It
happened in Turn Five, Black Rock
Hairpin, but our car was OK.
"That last stint in the
dark required the hardest concentration ever
in
my life. I just wanted to be smooth
and finish the race. Only like the
top
four cars passed me. I was driving
blind; there was no one doing my speed to
follow. I am really glad we finished in the
top 10."
Oriol Servia: "Everything went fine in
my double stint. No contact with
anyone, which is what I wanted. The only
problem I had was the hose became
disconnected on my water bottle during the
second half of my stint.
"My weakest point was
my driver change in the pit stop; I had a
little
trouble with that, but that should be something
that should be easy to work on
and improve.
"I had a lot of fun. I
liked the car from the moment I first drove
it.
I want to thank Kevin for the opportunity. I
had a lot of fun in my first
race with a roof.
"I'm really very happy
with how everything went."
Kevin Doran: "Well, the season closer was
better than the season as a whole!
Hopefully it'll give us a little momentum
for '07. All three drivers did a
fantastic job. They brought the car
home unscathed in a long endurance race and
pitch-black darkness at the end, and I'm
really proud of the whole team." |