Action Express Optimistic Despite Troubles at ‘The Glen’

WATKINS GLEN, NY: The Sahlen’s Six Hours of the Glen at Watkins Glen International is already one of the most grueling endurance races on the Rolex Sports Car Series schedule, but for Action Express Racing, a series of mechanical issues made the race even more challenging Saturday afternoon.  WATKINS GLEN, NY: The Sahlen’s Six Hours of the Glen at Watkins Glen International is already one of the most grueling endurance races on the Rolex Sports Car Series schedule, but for Action Express Racing, a series of mechanical issues made the race even more challenging Saturday afternoon. In the end, however, another championship effort allowed the team to salvage a solid points day with the No. 5 Porsche/Riley earning its fifth consecutive top 5 and the No. 9 Porsche/Riley a 7^th place finish.

“I am very proud of each member of the Action Express team.  We had a very small part fail inside the clutch mechanism on the No. 9 car.  The team was able to find the problem, then literally split the car in half to repair it, and only lose 18 laps,” said team manager Gary Nelson. “We are not happy the part failed, but very happy with the recovery by the No. 9 crew in repairing the car so quickly.”

“Then a broken exhaust on the No. 5 car would have been enough to sideline most teams, but the No. 5 crew was able to rally back. They were fighting a hard battle in the closing laps for fourth position,” he added. “The team is showing great potential as it continues to improve.  We are proud of our record so far this season.”

Each team’s mechanical issues arose shortly after the opening stint of the race was run in torrential rain conditions. Opening drivers JC France (No. 9) and David Donohue (No. 5) did excellent jobs of keeping their cars in contention despite the torrid conditions, even as the No. 5 prototype had to make an unscheduled pitstop to clear a foggy windshield early on.

“I had a really difficult time seeing early on. The windshield kept fogging up and I couldn’t fix it,” said Donohue, who teamed up with Darren Law and Burt Frisselle in the No. 5. “They gave me a squeegee on one stop and it worked for one wipe, but the second just made it worse. “

“The windshield kept fogging on my first stint, but we got an early caution which allowed me to wipe the windshield off,” added France, who logged additional laps in the No. 9 after the clutch repairs were made. “Once we were twenty or so laps out of the race I decided to go out and collect some points for the Trueman award. It’s a fun track to drive so I figured I’d enjoy myself.”

At the halfway point to the season, France sits second in the Jim Trueman Award standings for top amateur driver, just nine points behind John Pew. With the seventh-place finish the No. 9 Porsche/Riley is third in points, 29 points out. The No. 5 Porsche/Riley currently sits fourth in points, 31 points out of first

Action Express continues to show great progress from this point one year ago. After six races in 2010, the first-year team earned two podiums and one win (Rolex 24 At Daytona). After six races in 2011, the team has earned four podiums, eight top 5s and one win (VIR) between its two cars.

And the resiliency of the team nearly led to another problem Saturday, despite the mechanical issues.

“It wasn’t the best of races, we raced most of the race with the exhaust header broken so we weren’t getting the fuel mileage we wanted out of the car,” said Law. “I still think we could have had a fourth, or even a podium, but we still leave with a decent points day.”

Driver Joao Barbosa – who joins Terry Borcheller and France in the No. 9 – agrees that the team continues to show progress each and every race.

“It was just a shame we had a mechanical failure because I think we would have a good shot at a good result,” said driver Barbosa, who experienced the clutch problem shortly after replacing France. “The car was really good there at the end of the race, so it’s just a shame we lost a lot of laps there at the beginning.”

Action Express returns to the tack at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wis., for the June 25 running of the Road America 250. The Rolex Series last competed on the historic 4.048-mile circuit in 2000 and 2001. For more information on Action Express Racing, go to www.axracing.com