Tuesday, June 15, 2021 – Highlands, NJ – Vasser Sullivan drivers, Frankie Montecalvo and Townsend Bell, finished P5 at the Detroit Grand Prix on Saturday. Montecalvo qualified the No. 12 Lexus RC F GT3 second in class for the start of the 100 – minutes race.
When the green flag dropped, Montecalvo had a clean start and remained second in class just behind the Audi. An early yellow bunched the field together, and a few corners after the restart, the third place Lamborghini hit Montecalvo, spinning him out of second and into last place. The Lamborghini would ultimately receive a penalty for avoidable contact, but Montecalvo and Bell had their work cut out for them.
From there, Montecalvo put his head down and was determined to make up as many positions as possible before handing the car over to Bell. Montecalvo worked his way up to eighth position, and then Bell started his run to the front.
“It was great to get back to street course racing this past weekend at Detroit. Although these weekends are short and can be difficult, it’s still a lot of fun to drive the street circuits, and our Lexus RC F performs well there,” said Montecalvo.
“I qualified second in class for starting position, and Townsend qualified third in points, so we knew we definitely had a car that was capable of taking us to the podium. I had a clean start and was able to tuck in behind the Audi and get into a good rhythm before the first yellow flag came out.”
“The restart was hectic. We were racing hard through the first couple of corners, and then I was hit from the Lamborghini and spun. Unfortunately, I had to wait for the entire field to pass before I could get turned around and back on my way. I was able to gain a few positions back and then handed the car over to Townsend for the remainder of the race.”
“As always, Townsend did a phenomenal job and made up a few more positions. When the checkered flag flew, we crossed the line P6. After the post-race technical inspection, the first-place car was disqualified for a fueling issue which promoted us to P5.”
“It’s a shame we were spun early in the race. I think we really had the car to finish on the podium, but sometimes that’s how it goes. I’m happy to come away with fifth place points towards the Sprint Cup Championship, and our sister car finished P4. So, it was great to have two top five finishes for the team.”
“I cannot thank the Vasser Sullivan team enough for all of their hard work this weekend. I’m looking forward to a week back at home and then a couple of busy back-to-back weekends at Watkins Glen coming up next.”
The next race for Montecalvo will be The Sahlen’s 6 Hours of The Glen. On track action begins Friday, June 25 and continues through the weekend. Be sure to follow Frankie on Facebookand Twitter to keep up with current broadcast time and all of Frankie’s racing news.