Rock Hill sports car team completes “drive for five”

CORE autosports’ goal of a fifth straight team title and a second straight driver’s title for team owner/driver Jon Bennett almost came to an end Saturday in the fifth turn of the Road Atlanta sports car course.

The Rock Hill-based CORE and Bennett had a conservative strategy for the race. He needed two hours and five minutes of drive time to repeat as co-driver of the year in the prototype challenge division of the Tudor United Sportscar Championship series. To be safe, Bennett’s was scheduled to drive the first two hours and 30 minutes of the scheduled 10-hour Petit Le Mans race in CORE’s No. 54 ORECA FLM09 car.

About the two-hour mark Bennett hit turn five, a fast uphill turn, a little to fast, spinning out of control. Fortunately he didn’t hit any other racers. But, he then faced the challenge of merging back onto the race course from a dead stop as accelerating cars passed by.

“It was stressful,” Bennett said Monday.

Stressful, however, barely describes the Petit Le Mans race which started under a steady rain that got worse during the day and into the night. The hazardous conditions brought out 11 cautions flag and there was a 65-minute delay at one point. Eventually the race was stopped two hours early.

While the rain made for treacherous driving for all four different types of cars on the track it was a little harder for the prototype challenge drivers who lack the computer assistance that the other classes have.

Adding to the prototype challenge class difficulties are the cars’ low ground clearances, 1 1/2 inches.

In dry conditions the low clearance and the cars’ aerodynamics create a downdraft that “glues” the car to the track. The cars even make a “woosh” sound because of the downdraft effect.

But on wet track the woosh turned to a stream of water that exits the car. The effect at Road Atlanta is worse, Bennett said, because of the tracks changes in elevation. There are places where the ponding water is deeper than the car’s ground clearance.

The result is the car hits the water like a rock, Bennett said. Because the prototype challenge cars have a large flat belly, the water lifts the wheels off the track and “you are skipping like a rock, you are just a passenger,” he said. “Everything is beyond your control.”

The challenge Saturday, Bennett said, was to balance “exploring for speed” with the track conditions. Every lap was a “new look at the track,” he said.

Bennett’s co-driver, Colin Braun, also earned enough points to repeat as class co-driver champion. After a red-flag stoppage because of heavy rains, Braun turned the car over to veteran driver Anthony Lazzaro who was racing with CORE for the first time. After hitting standing water on track he spun and hit the wall – close to where Bennett had his problems.

The car was towed off the track. In about 20 minutes, the CORE pit crew had the car repaired and Bennett was back in the cockpit. When officials stopped the race Bennett was in fourth place in the prototype challenge class – the team’s fourth fourth-place finish in 10 races. CORE best finishes were first places at the Canadian and Texas grand prix races.

The steady season earned CORE autosport its fifth straight prototype challenge title.

CORE autosports crew also shared in the history making Saturday at Road Atlanta. CORE autosports prepares and provides race-day services for the Porsche North American team.

Porsche factory driver Patrick Pilet, not only won the GT LeMans category on Saturday, but the overall race as well. Pilet was won the GT driver’s championship and Porsche won the team and manufacturer’s titles.

This story was originally published October 5, 2015 at 4:45 PM with the headline "Rock Hill sports car team completes “drive for five”."