Whelen Engineering Racing Set for Third Row Start with Nasr
July 7, 2019
Late Charge To Fourth for Whelen Engineering at CTMP
July 8, 2019
BOWMANVILLE, Ontario (7 July 2019) – After running sixth with 10 minutes remaining in Sunday’s Mobil 1 SportsCar Grand Prix, a late clutch issue sidelined the Mustang Sampling Racing Cadillac in the closing laps of the seventh IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship race of the season.
Filipe Albuquerque and Joao Barbosa were credited with a 10th-place finish in the DPi class aboard the No. 5 Mustang Sampling Racing Cadillac DPi-V.R, after running in the top six for most of the two-hour, 40-minute event.
“We knew coming into this weekend that we were not going to be the fastest car but we still wanted to have a good race,” said Barbosa. “The car’s clutch wasn’t working properly and we ended up not being able to finish the race. It really was a shame because Action Express has not had a mechanical problem end our race in a long time-I can’t remember the last time it happened! It has not been a great year, but we have to go back and learn what caused the problem. We need to turn around our conditions or the next race will be another tough weekend.”
Barbosa drove the middle portion of the race. Albuquerque started sixth and managed to lead a lap before turning the Cadillac over to Barbosa at the 35-minute mark. Albuquerque then returned to the race at the two-hour, 30-minute mark. After running under the green flag for nearly two hours, there were two full-course cautions and a brief red flag late in the race.
“I started to feel some clutch issues during the second stint,” Albuquerque said. “I thought we could hold out until the end, but stopping due to the red flag and then starting again with increased heat on the car, that did not help the issue. The last eight laps were incredibly hard. I tried to do everything in my power to keep the car going. We keep running into bad luck this year and that is killing us in the championship this year.”
Three races remain for the DPi competitors. The next race will be in Elkhart Lake, Wis., at Road America on Sunday, August 4.
