2009-2010 Gulf Coast Race Series - Race #1 Complete!

The 2009-2010 race series started out on the wet side and, for the first time in 8 years, was called a "rain-out" with the feature races being postponed from October 4th to October 17th. Returning two weeks later, the weather was great and there were even more drivers than the previous outing. As an added incentive, any driver who was attended the October 4th rain-out and returned on October 17th was awarded 2 additional bonus points. That was a big help to some drivers who didn't finish well in the feature races.

This year the classes of GT1, GT2, and GT3 are grouped together and Mike Poupart Motorsports had 2 cars running in this group. Christian Francois' yellow #77 Corvette ran in GT1 and Mike Poupart took the orange #28 Panoz GTLS out for its maiden feature race in GT2. Twelve drivers took the green flag for the GT race and boy, was it exciting!

Mike started P2 next to Bob Beasley's Mazda RX-7 "hybrid" and had plenty of room to get around turn 10 and take the race lead. From my viewpoint at the end of the front straightaway wall where I was crouched down shooting photos of the race start, the cars barrelled towards me and then made the jog for turn 1. On lap 2, the motor let go in Gary Small's Porsche 944 and his back wheels caught the oil causing him to skid sideways past the turn, past me, and on through the grass stopping at the edge of the track about halfway to turn 2. The fire/rescue guys that were spotting me grabbed hold of me to make sure I could get back to safety if necessary and, in the excitement of jumping backwards, I failed to get the close-up shot as he went by. It was exciting nonetheless! Another car (Paul Burch - BMW) following a little behind Gary went skidding off the left side of the track just a little further down from where Gary was stopped. A couple more took the runoff at the end of the front straight and around the oak tree. Yellow flags went out and I got behind the wall in a safer position in case someone else got into the oil. It wasn't long before the race was black flagged.

The Panoz had a mechanical issue (left steering arm broke) and was out for the remainder of the race after completing only 1 lap. About 15 minutes of racing was left at the restart. The GT2 race and overall GT win went to Harold Petit (BMW) with Beasley coming in 2nd in both respects. Christian Francois stayed clean all race and brought home the win in GT1 finishing 5th overall in the GT group.

In 2 weeks the group reconvenes for Round 2. Don't miss it!