Driver Blog: Tyler McQuarrie
By Tyler McQuarrie
People say “winning isn't everything”, but in racing it is everything and the reason we are all out there. To win! Going into the Barber race, I feel like I have a very good shot at taking the top spot of the podium in the Insight Racing BMW for round 2 in the Continental Sportscar Challenge. We had a great test there a month before and we had our 128i dialed in!
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| We wanted to be as prepared as possible for the race at Barber Motorsports Park, so the Insight Racing team took part in a test at the track a few weeks before the race. |
With 79 cars entered in the GS and ST class, we knew it was going to be an interesting weekend even with practice. It was impossible to get a time with all the traffic out there but it was clear in practice that the track had changed a lot since our test. We worked very hard on getting the balance of the car back and in qualifying trim the car was very fast, and in race trim it was very consistent. My co-driver, Ryan Ellis, and I were finally happy with the car and ready to take on all the other 45 cars in the ST class.
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| Home for the weekend, where our ST-class 128i was parked next to Insight Racing's GS-class BMW M3. It's not a chick car, I swear! |
Ryan would qualify and start the car for this race. At the Barber track, you basically have 1-2 laps to get your time in before the tires fall off just a little bit. With 45 cars in our class, the key to qualifying would be to get a clear track and Ryan did a good job at that. He got held up a bit but still managed a 1:42.300 which put us 8th. The team was pleased with this because it put us at the sharp end of the field for the start.
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| There were 79 cars entered for the CTSCC race at Barber, a track that is notoriously hard to pass on. So we really wanted a good qualifying position, and Ryan put our car 8th on the grid. |
With 79 cars, the start of the race was no surprise… The first 35 minutes of the race were spent under caution. This was also our pit window to make it to the end. It was unfortunate for Ryan since he didn't get any racing in but it was a great opportunity for us to get a great result. It was time for me to get in and race to the end.
