For Immediate Release-
March 18/19th was the 24H Series second round, the 12Hr at Mugello in Tuscan Italy. This would be the inaugural race for the exclusive SCG003c at a track outside of it’s intended Nurburgring home. SCG brought both of its cars, with 6 drivers to compete in the 12HR event.
Jeff Westphal, the team’s lone American Driver representing the American car manufacturer run by an Italian Team was making his first appearance at Mugello. “My anticipation coming in was that I would like the course, my favorites are always natural terrain road courses with elevation changes, and Mugello is just that. 5.2 miles of winding Italian countryside, with some really fast corners, a blast to drive.” exclaimed Jeff
Jeff Qualified the #702 SCG003 10th of 70+ cars, ahead of his sister team car in 12th. At the drop of the green flag, the American began slicing through the field and picked up 10 positions to pit the car 1:40Hr into the race in the lead. “We lacked a little bit of outright speed on newer rubber, but as the tires began to fall off it hurt the others more than us, so I was able to lap consistently 1 second quicker than the competition for the last 45 minutes of my stint, which allowed me to pick them off one by one.” Said Jeff.
The first 4HRs of this 12Hr race were to be run on Friday, ending at 6pm with a checkered flag and freezing the field, and the remaining 8Hrs to be run Saturday morning. The SCG driven by Jeff’s two teammates would sty at the front and start P2 for the 8HR finish Saturday.
Saturday, Jeff was second in the car, leaving the pits in second, running down the leader and passing him to continue leading the event. “At the beginning of my stint I was told we were having a problem with the waste gates that control boost, it’s an issue we are trying to refine for the 24HR race at Nurburgring later this year, so I was making the best of what I had.” Explained Jeff. Shortly after Jeff pit his teammate had to return to the garage from the lead with what would lead to a terminal problem that had already stopped the #701 sister car, and at 8hrs into the event both SCG’s were officially stopped. “It’s a real bummer, yet it’s what we came here for. The team have worked really hard this winter changing and preparing the drivetrain details, and we have made some positive steps but not without some teething. It just hurts worse because we had a real shot to win the race.” Described the Californian.
Scuderia Cameron Glickenhaus will rebuild both cars and be racing at the first race of the VLN championship that houses the 24HR of Nurburgring, the first weekend of April, denoted VLN 1. Westphal and his teammates will reunite in Germany in two weeks time.
Special thanks to:
Lightspeed Racing
Hammer Nutrition
Sparco USA
TNVC Inc.
GoPro
