American Le Mans Series

J3 Racing Sixth at Laguna Seca in GT2

J3 Racing finished sixth today in the final round of the American Le Mans Series run at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca.

Tim Sugden qualified the number 79 Porsche 911 RSR in seventh on Friday with a time of 1:26.132 and an average speed of 94 mph. “I had a pretty good lap,” said Sugden. “We are still coming to grips with the new Yokohama tires, but they have been confidence inspiring so far this weekend.”

Sugden started the J3 Porsche from the fourth row in GT2 for the beginning of the four-hour race. The driver from Leeds, England was able to get the car up into fourth position during his first stint. Toward the end of his first run, Sugden was pushing to get by the Rockenfeller Porsche when he made a miscalculation and spun at the top of the famed Cork Screw turn.

“I had a good first stint and was locked in a battle around lap 53, when I got over anxious up in the Cork Screw and spun,” said Sugden. “The tires have great initial bite and then seem to send us into snap oversteer. On my last stint I basically had the same thing happen going into turn one. We got unlucky with a few of the caution periods and the pace car, but all in all it was one of our more competitive weekends.”

Justin Jackson was able to run consistent lap times to keep the J3 entry in contention all evening. The Buford, Georgia resident had no incidents on the day. “The car is more consistent handling than it has been all season. The tires come in nicely and they were working better and better as it got cooler. The track was pretty slick with all of the gravel and sand from people going off and returning to the racing line.”