Performance Tech Motorsports Strong Showing Moments Short at Laguna Seca
Performance Tech Motorsports takes home a second-place finish at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca after out-pacing the competition through the majority of the Monterey SportsCar Championship powered by McLaren race.
The IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship LMP2 battle has been tight all season long. WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca provided an opportunity to make it a 10-hour drag race at Road Atlanta. Performance Tech Motorsports drivers Cameron Cassels and Kyle Masson showcased speed throughout the competition and weekend proven by Masson earning Performance Tech Motorsports’ third Motul Pole Award. They pushed the No. 38 Centinel Spine ORECA LMP2 to its limits, but a penalty collected in pit lane due to confusion would keep the No. 38 firmly in second as the clock wound down.
While the No. 38 was lifted onto its jacks a call was made to go clear debris picked up from rubber on the track. The team mistook the call to go as a call to exit pit late the wheels on the No. 38 spun while lifted, thus earning the penalty as no acceleration can take place while on jacks for safety reasons. Performance Tech served the penalty in the final hour of the race. The time taken away due to the penalty halted progression.
Performance Tech Team Principal Brent O’Neill was frustrated to walk away second after dominating the weekend.
“These things happen, but you hate when they do,” O’Neill. “I think we’re going into the last race prepared for a fight. We’re still going to go for that win. Endurance racing is what we do best. Today showed that we are fast, our drivers were fast all weekend and we were better in traffic. We will go home and regroup. I think we’re all going to be ready for Petit Le Mans.”
The team changes its focus to endurance racing after multiple sprint races. Performance Tech Motorsports leads the LMP2 Class in the Michelin Endurance Cup. The team is firmly eight points ahead in the endurance championships as the only LMP2 team to podium at every endurance event. Petit Le Mans will be no different, but a win will be all the sweeter.
The 2019 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season comes to a close at the newly renamed Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta. Performance Tech Motorsports caps the year off with a combination of IMSA Prototype Challenge and LMP2 competition Oct. 9-12. The 10-hour race will be broadcast on NBC, NBC Sports and NBCSN with the additional coverage provided by IMSA Radio. For a full weekend, schedule, visit imsa.com.
Kyle Masson, Driver No. 38 Centinel Spine LMP2
“Overall it’s not the result we wanted,” Masson said. “The team worked so hard to give us a strong and fast car. We started the race and Cameron had great pace which is what we needed to go and win. Ultimately a couple of things happened including a penalty. I got in the car and the pace just wasn’t there right off the bat. I’m confident headed into Road Atlanta that we’ll have a quick car. I think we can go in and finish off the season with an Endurance Championship. I really want to thank Performance Tech for giving us such a great car, I wish we could have gone out and got them the win they deserved.”
Cameron Cassels, Driver No. 38 Centinel Spine LMP2
“This weekend overall was a positive weekend,” Cassels said. “It took me a bit longer than I wanted to get up to speed during the race. I got muscled around by the GTLM guys and really had to push to make up time and get back through traffic. By that point I had to do something in the car I had never had to do before; save fuel. I went into fuel saving mode while still trying to keep up with the car in front of me which worked really well. Unfortunately that strategy went out the window when we caught up with lapped traffic. We were able to do that but then sadly later on a few things happened that took us out of the fight for the lead.”