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While it may not seem like it on paper, those hours flew by quickly and the start of the race was on! The MPTCC Tuner Under cars lined up behind the pace car for their rolling start. |
As the green flag fell, the racing was hot right away! Edo was able to get a great start while Michele used the torque of her turbo Scion to pull past Rockwood and Taylor. |
By NASCAR 1 and 2, Michele cleared Taylor and was gunning for Edo, who pulled away just a bit. The APM FR-S lagged far behind. |
Michele held a great line against Edo and really looked to be stronger than last year. Taking the lessons she learned in her rookie season and using them in Race One of Round One. |
Eddie Kim and the Dynamic Autosport team were really feeling positive until Lap 4, when Michele called over the radio that the car had developed a problem. Coincidently right as Michele's problems started slowing her down, the field was given a standing yellow as they passed the start/finish. Taylor and Rockwood slowed down accordingly not wanting to pass Michele under yellow, as they were unaware that she was slowing down due to mechanical issues and not the yellow flag. This caused some confusion, but as soon as they made it to the next corner worker station at turn 3 they saw no yellow flag and Taylor and Rockwood flew by Michele. The G20 had more exit speed coming out of 3 and was able to pass the S2000 coming out of turn 4. With Michele's tC down on power and not getting any better, she limped it through Lap 6. |
Behind the wall, Race One was done after 6 laps for Michele Abbate. A mis-shift had caused an internal engine issue. 2013 was not starting off as well as they had hoped. |