WRPM 2009 Race Update

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WRPMotorsports Driver Willie Phee Finishes the Season with a 4th and a 6th at the American Road racing Championship at Road Atlanta Raceway. Sports Car Club of America’s American Road Racing Championship (ARRC) was held at Road Atlanta Raceway in Braselton, GA on November 6 th and 7 th , 2009. WRPMotorsports driver Willie Phee finished in 4 th place in the Pro-IT event and 6th place in the National event. The qualifying procedure for the ARRC would be a morning and an afternoon session, with a single qualifying session for the Pro-IT race in between. “The weather was very cool in the morning session, so I knew that I needed to try and get a good time” said Phee. “It was tough to get a clear lap because everybody was thinking the same thing. I turned a 1:44:9 and that would put me 11 th on the grid. Pro-It qualifying would be even more difficult with 50 cars on the track. “I was trying to get a gap so I could try to get at least a couple of hot laps but it was really difficult. I managed to put in one flying lap and ran a 1:45:5”. That would put Phee 2 nd in class but 25 th overall 6 cars behind the lead ITA car. The Pro-IT race was the last session of the day and with the sun getting low in the sky it was going to be very difficult negotiating turns 4 and 5 with the glare as those turns were heading directly into the setting sun. “I had a good start and caught up to the first place ITA car by the time we got to the back straight, but a couple of cars got together in the turn 10A/B complex and that caused a full course caution right off the bat”. “The restart was not so good as several out of class cars dive bombed me into turn one and I lost several positions to my competition” said Phee. “Another full course caution late in the race allowed us to bunch up again, but since this was a timed event, when we went back to green there was only a two lap dash to the finish”. “I ended up taking 4 th after being as far back as 5 th at one point. There were just so many cars out there it was hard to get a clear enough lap to try and move up”. The ARRC race started at 11:00 in the morning and the temperatures were in the upper 60’s. “The start went well until we got to turn 6 when a couple of the front running cars got together”. That bunched up the field and allowed the leaders to get away. “We had 8 cars in a pack running nose to tail at the end of lap one and unfortunately I was running at the back of the 8 car pack in 12 th . I moved up to 9 th over the next few laps and was having a great battle with Jeremy Lucas in the other Integra”. “He and I went back and fourth for a few laps until I knew we had to work together to catch the 6 th place car and on lap 15 of the 20 lap race I knew it was time to try and get around Jeremy and close up to the 6 th place Miata”. “I passed Jeremy going into turn 10A and once I got around him the 6 th place car was about 2 seconds in front of me”. “The crew radioed me and I knew there was only 5 laps to go so I put my head down and started reeling him in”. “I ended up turning my fastest lap of the race on lap 19 and ended up passing him on the last lap just two turns from the finish”. “After starting 11 th and to be able to get in the top six at the ARRC was a good run for me” said Phee.

November 6-7, 2009 Road Atlanta Raceway, Braselton, Georgia

2008 Race Results

August 8, 2009 – Daytona International Speedway, Daytona Beach, Florida

WRPMotorsports Driver Willie Phee Finishes Just Off the Podium at Round 4 of the SARRC Championship Held at Daytona International Raceway. Willie Phee started the WRPMotorsports Acura Integra at the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) event at Daytona International Speedway in 3 rd position and finished 4 th in class at round 4 of the Central Florida Region SARRC event. In only his second time at the famed Daytona International Speedway Willie Phee finished just off the podium in 4 th place. “I surprised myself this weekend said Phee. The last time I was here was 4 years ago in a Spec Miata, so to qualify in the top 3 and finish 4 th was a good weekend”. “I asked Tommy Byrne to help me with some coaching this weekend and he really helped me get up to speed”, said Phee. (Tommy Byrne is an ex-Formula 1 driver and driving instructor at the Honda sponsored Mid Ohio School). Phee would qualify 3 rd in class in a field of 23 ITA cars and 22 nd out of 70 cars in the race group. “I was very happy to qualify in the top three, especially in such a large ITA field. This place is all about the draft and if you don’t have any help it’s difficult to get a fast lap”. “At the start I got held up going into turn one and 4 cars got by me which allowed the 4 th and 5 th place ITA cars to get a run on me in the banking”. “The third place car got a run going into the bus stop chicane and I got held up again by a slower car. He checked out after that and I was in a battle with the fifth place car for the rest of the race”. “We went back and forth for several laps, I had a better run in the infield and he was better on the banking. I knew if I could get the draft out of the bus stop and could make a pass into turn one I could hold him off at the finish. Tommy let me know when I had one lap to go and I managed to make the pass and hold on for fourth in class and 18 th overall”. The next race is scheduled for September 5/6 at Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, AL.

September 5-6, 2009 Barber Motorsports Park, Birmingham, Alabama

Another Double Podium for WRPMotorsports Driver Willie Phee at Barber Motorsports Park. Willie Phee started the WRPMotorsports Acura Integra at the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) event at Barber Motorsports Park and finished 1 st in class in round 6 of the Pro-IT event and finished 3 rd in class in rounds 5 and 6 of the Atlanta Region SARRC event. This is the second time this year that WRPMotorsports driver Willie Phee ended up on the podium in all three events he entered. “The start of the weekend was pretty sketchy with rain for both qualifying sessions and the first SARRC race of the weekend” said Phee. “But obviously it turned out great since I was able to get on the podium in every race I ran”. “The OPM crew did a great job as always making sure the car was right for all of the sessions, and that helped build my confidence throughout the weekend”. Race one would be round 5 of the SARRC Championship and Phee would qualify 4 th in class and 11 th overall. “Starting 11 th put me on the inside going into turn one and I knew the faster rear wheel drive cars would be struggling in the wet so I tried to get a jump on the start, but with the spray from the wet track all I could do was maintain my place for the first couple of laps”. “I did manage to get by the third place car fairly quickly but some of the faster rear wheel drive cars were really having traction issues and started to fall back to me”. “That allowed the top two cars to get away while I dealt with cars that were slow in the turns fighting for traction and then would blast down the straights”. “I didn’t quite have enough speed to get by before we would get to the next straight and they would take off”. “In spite of the difference in power it was fun and clean racing with the faster ITS and ITR cars” said Phee. Race two would be the final round of the Pro-IT Championship where Phee would qualify 2 nd in class in 14 th overall. “Starting on the outside for turn one was a little tricky, but the Sunday races were dry so I was set up well for turns two and three as I would be on the inside. I got a good jump and got inside the first place car in turn two but going into the turn 5 horseshoe several cars got together and nearly blocked the track. I got by on the outside but made contact with another car. The bad news was I now had a vibration on the right front wheel and I wasn’t sure if I had suspension or tire damage, the good news was I moved up to third overall because of the carnage in turn 5”. “We were pretty spread out after a couple of laps because of the turn 5 incident, but another car went off in an impact zone and we ran 3 laps under a double yellow, which allowed the pack to bunch up. On the restart I just kept a steady pace and tried to stay with the faster front running cars and ended up 1 st in class and 4 th overall at the finish” said Phee. Race three would be round 6 of the SARRC Championship and Phee would again qualify 14 th overall and 4 th in class. “The third race was fairly uneventful, I managed to get by the third place car on lap one and held him off at the finish. It was interesting being in a battle with 3 of the faster ITS cars for the entire race, they were fast down the straights but were slower in the turns. I did get by a couple of times and ran as high as 10 th overall, but ended up with 3 rd in class and 12 th overall at the finish” said Phee. The next race is the American Road Race of Champions at Road Atlanta Raceway on November 5-7

July 18-19, 2009 – Road Atlanta, Braselton, Georgia

A Triple Podium For WRPMotorsports Drive Willie Phee at the SARRC Championship and Pro-IT Championship at Road Atlanta Raceway Willie Phee started the WRPMotorsports Acura Integra at the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) event at Road Atlanta Raceway and finished 1 st in class in round 4 of the Pro-IT event and finished 2 nd in class in rounds 2 and 3 of the Atlanta Region SARRC event. In only the second race back in the primary car Willie Phee finished on the podium in all three of the races he entered this weekend. “It was great to have such a good weekend” said Phee. “The car was very good all weekend, and the minor adjustments that the OPM crew made during the event made the car very easy to drive”. Race one would be round 2 of the Atlanta Region SARRC Championship and Phee would qualify 1 st in class and 8 th overall. “I was a little surprised to qualify 1 st in class because I knew that there was an extremely fast BMW in the class, but I guess he just didn’t get a clear lap in qualifying” said Phee. “I started on the outside in row 4 and got a little held up on the start and that allowed the BMW to get buy me in turn 3. Once we got to the back straight he was just gone. On lap 4 I dropped back to 3 rd when a Miata got inside me in turn 1. I managed to stay close for the rest of the race and when we got into lapped traffic the Miata got held up in turn 7 and I was able to make the pass for 2 nd into turn 10 and hold on to 2 nd at the finish”. Race two would be round 4 of the Pro-IT Championship and again Willie would qualify 1 st in class and 7 th overall. “I had a decent start but the second place car got by me in turn 3, I knew based on qualifying times I had a faster car and decided to be patient” said Phee. “A couple of laps later, once traffic spread out a bit I got back into the lead and maintained a good pace and finished 1 st in class and 8 th overall”. Race three would be round 3 of the Atlanta Region SARRC Championship and Phee would qualify 3 rd in class and 14 th overall. “We had a very short (only 10 minutes) qualifying session and unfortunately the one good lap I was on I missed a shift going into turn 5 and blew the lap and got held up on my next fast lap” said Phee. “At the start I knew the first place car was out of reach, but the second place car was only a couple of rows ahead of me so I knew I needed a good start. However starting on the outside is not the best place to be, but luckily a gap opened up on the inside going into turn one and I was able to close up on the second place car on lap one”. “I was about 8 seconds behind the second place car on lap two with 5 cars between us, but at least I could see him. I got around two of the cars on the next lap and tried the get in some consistent laps and slowly closed in on the second place car. I ran 4 laps in the 47’s and 6 laps in the 46’s and got by with 4 laps to go”. “Even though I finished 2 nd it was a great race and was glad I could run him down at the finish” Said Phee. The next race is scheduled for August 8/9 at Daytona International Speedway.