Finished P2 in Today’s Race at SPR!
Apr 10, 2011
Hello Friends, Family and Fans!
It’s the end of a very successful day at Summit Point Raceway! It has been an absolute blast to hop back behind the wheel of a racecar this year.
The day’s schedule included a practice, qualifying and race session. After the mandatory driver’s meeting, our group was one of the first on track at 8:55 this morning. I was hoping to get a chance to get comfortable behind the wheel of Drive-Gear’s Spec E30 race car. Unfortunately, we ran into some issues early in the session with a slipping clutch that forced me to come in after only a couple laps. After resolving the minor hydraulic issue, the race car was ready to qualify.
At 11:40 AM, our qualifying session started. I put in a couple laps to get the car and tires up to proper operating temperature. After finding some clean and empty space in the field, I put in some hot laps in our 15 minute session. In the end, I qualified P2 with a 1:28.3 lap time. The undefeated driver in the series, Robert Grace, clinched the pole with a 1:27.8, big congrats to him!
For the race, we were going to have a standing start on the front straight. I was under the impression, along with other drivers in our class, that each of the three classes in our group were going to have there own standing start procedure. After the entire group completed its warm-up lap, we lined up on the front straight. The class starting in front of us, I presumed, was going to take off when their green flag waved, then our group would wait for our own start. But some of the field, including pole sitter Robert Grace, took off when the initial green flag waved. I wasn’t ready for this and before I knew it, I almost fell back to P5 before we entered turn 1!
I tried to play catch-up and charged back through the field up to P2. Unfortunately, Robert had an incredible start and I was not putting a dent into his lead. In the end, after the 20 minute sprint race, Robert clinched the win and I took the runner-up spot.
Overall, the race was extremely clean and had so much fun driving this car. It’s rear wheel drive, has plenty of torque, can be driven extremely loose and also sounds great on track!
I’m very eager to redeem myself tomorrow against Robert Grace. I think we could put on a great show for the crowd. Lap times are pretty similar between us and I’ll make sure I’m not asleep when we take the green flag in the morning!
Again, this weekend wouldn’t have become a reality if it weren’t for Andrew Zimmerman and Jonny Allen at Drive-Gear.com and Chris Cobetto from NASA-MA. These guys are legit! If you’re looking to race some top-notch and fun to drive BMW’s in an awesome racing environment, look no further than Drive-Gear.com’s BMW SpecE30’s at a NASA-MA racing event!
Hopefully you were able to catch all of the action at AJ Nealey Racing Live! If not, make sure you tune into it at 8:30 AM ET and 1:40 PM ET for qualifying and the 40 minute sprint race respectively!
All the best and talk soon,
AJ Nealey
About Drive-Gear, LLC
Formed in 2008 by brothers in speed, Jonny Allen and Andrew Zimmerman, Drive-gear maintains a four-car team of professionally prepared Spec E30 BMW racecars. www.drive-gear.com
About NASA-MA
NASA-MA is dedicated to providing motorsports fans with a safe, fun, educational and competitive outlet for performance driving and competitive racing. They provide on track Autocrossing, High Performance Drivers Experience, Time Trials and Road Racing. www.nasaracing.net
About Spec E30
Spec E30 is a racing series devoted to non-M E30 models with the goal of creating high level competition among similarly prepared E30s at a reasonable cost. www.spece30.com
About AJ Nealey
Nealey started his racing career in 2002 when he began competing in autocross events and progressed through karting and sports car club racing events accumulating over 40 wins, setting track records and clinching championships. Nealey competed in the 2009 and 2010 VW Jetta TDI Cup Series where he finished 12th and 11th respectively in the Championship on the strength of three podium appearances and ten top-ten finishes. Nealey was also the recipient of the Driver’s Coach award in 2010. Nealey’s racing career goal is to compete in the American Le Mans Series. For sponsorship inquiries and opportunities, please contact AJ Nealey Racing at 443-220-4019 or aj@ajnealeyracing.com and visit www.ajnealeyracing.com
443-220-4019
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