Motorsports with David Heinemeir Hansson and Ryan Dalziel.
Both Dalziel and Gonzales attributed the hot Texas weather to stunted engine performance. “I think the two worst times to come to Texas are during the winter and summer,” said Dalziel. “It’s hot! The cars are affected a lot from the heat. We’re trying to figure out our strategy – do we target for the first three hours of the last three hours? It can be kind of a stab in the
dark.”
Gonzales had similar complaints, explaining that “We’re hurting with the temperature in our engine. Electrically, it’s limited to control the speed to avoid cooking the engine, so we’re hurting a little on that side. There’s a lot of work going on tonight to fix it.”
In theLMGTE Pro class: The bright blue #99 Aston Martin Vantage, piloted by Fernando
Rees and Richie Stanaway, took pole despite some concerns by Rees earlier in the day regarding the Balance of Performance adjustments.
“The BoP changes our perspective going in to the race. If we’re conservative in the strategy, theres no chance for us to win, so we’re forced to risk more.” The risks paid off as they took an average lap time of 2:05.872 seconds, more than a quarter of a second ahead of the #91 Porsche Team
Manthey 911 driven by Richard Lietz and Michael Christensen.
Unfortunately for the #51 AF Corse Ferrari 458 Italia, the Texas summer weather caused engine trouble and they’ll start from sixth.
LMGTE Am saw Patrick Dempsey and Patrick Long’s Dempsey-Proton Racing Porsche 911 take a last-second pole position over Stuart Hall and Benny Simonsen’s #96 Aston Martin Vantage – with only .197 seconds separating the teams.
Image: Nick Dungan & John ROurke / Adrenal Media