Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta Strikes Again
Performance Tech Motorsports was once more hung out to dry by Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta in the season finale.
The No. 38 Rediscover My Life Ligier JSP320 is leaving the Motul Petit Le Mans heartbroken after a mechanical failure ended its race early. The trio of Dan Goldburg, Malthe Jakobsen and Rasmus Lindh set the pace for a record weekend topping the charts in practice and earning second place in qualifying. Unfortunately, a mechanical failure would leave them with no choice but to retire with three hours and 30 minutes remaining.
“This one hurts,” Team Principal Brent O’Neill said. “Every year we show up fast here and every year something outside of our control ends our race. With that being said, I’m incredibly proud of the drivers. Rasmus qualified second and gave us a good start. Dan was phenomenal running a triple stint to help our strategy. Malthe kept it together out there as it got dark and was setting us up for a podium. All we can do is learn from this and come back better next year.”
Goldburg championed beyond belief running a triple stint that was integral to the teams’ strategy. His stint featured an unsurpassable amount of carnage and wild restarts, all of which he navigated with his refined race craft. As the sun began to set Goldburg handed the reins over to the youngsters so they could face their own share of on-track chaos, this time in the dark.
Jakobsen settled into the No. 38 as the sun was setting and lap times were dropping. Amidst the final laps of his first stint, he unexpectedly entered pitlane due to the exhaust breaking loose and causing multiple internal failures, including the radio and throttle cable. The team quickly completed the repairs and sent the car back on track with Lindh at the helm only seven laps down.
Lindh piloted the No. 38 back on track with hopeful reports that the team had remedied the issues. He was running fast laps and making up for lost time when suddenly the No. 38 lost power on track. Once back in the garage for review it became clear that the car had too catastrophic of an internal issue with the electronics leaving the team no choice but to retire.
The team is incredibly grateful for another season with Centinel Spine, its partner since 2018. The team now heads back to Deerfield Beach, Florida, to begin preparations for next season. With just over two months until the Rolex 24 at Daytona you can expect loads of news and announcements in the following weeks.
Dan Goldburg, Driver of the No. 38 Rediscover My Life Ligier JSP320
"Of course, I’m very disappointed,” Goldburg said. “We had the car and the driver line up to win this race. We were running in third about five hours in when the exhaust broke and created a bunch of other issues. Rasmus and Malte had the pace to fight for the win at the end. I kept us in a good position during my two-and-a-half-hour stint. So yeah, very disappointing for this end.”
“Personally, I'm pleased with my ability to crank out two and a half hours straight while maintaining pretty good pace. I have some additional confidence going into the endurance races next year. The silver lining is the Performance Tech team, our engineer Nathan Toney, and our driver lineup is really working well together and we can carry some great momentum into next year! "
Malthe Jakobsen, Driver of the No. 38 Rediscover My Life Ligier JSP320
“It was a really really good weekend and I enjoyed coming to America for the first time,” Jakobsen said. “It’s a little bit different here because there are much more consequences for going off the track. There is just a bit of grass and then you are in the wall, very little run off. In Europe it’s easier to push the limits because of the large run off areas.”
“It was a really good weekend until the mid-way through my stint in the race. I did around two hours with a long safety car period in the middle. The first half of my stint was really good and the second half was actually better. I was the second fastest car on track. Against all the odds it was good until we had the parts failure.”
Rasmus Lindh, Driver of the No. 38 Rediscover My Life Ligier JSP320
“We had a really fast car and lineup, so this is rough for all of us,” Lindh said. “I was in the car trying to make up as much ground as possible when we had a mechanical failure. This is not how we wanted the weekend to end, but I’m really grateful for the opportunity to race here and all of the other endurance races. Thank you, Performance Tech, Centinel Spine and SKF for all of the support in 2021, here’s to a great season.”