Tuesday, July 11, 2023 – Highlands, NJ – After an unplanned engine change hours before the start of the race, Vasser Sullivan drivers Frankie Montecalvo and Aaron Telitz finished sixth in class at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park.
Montecalvo and Telitz led the first practice session and felt confident in their No. 12 Lexus RC F GT3 moving into the final practice and qualifying. Montecalvo qualified the car second in class on Saturday, but during the morning warm-up on Sunday, the team noticed an issue that needed to be addressed immediately.
With only a few hours until the green flag was scheduled to fly, the Vasser Sullivan team began an engine change for the No. 12. With all hands-on deck, the crew performed the change in just over two hours. As a result of the unscheduled work, the team missed the reconnaissance lap which forced the No. 12 to serve a drive through penalty, and because the work was performed on the car after qualifying, they were moved them to the back of the field. Montecalvo and Telitz had their work cut out for them, but they proved to be up to the challenge.
“It’s always great to be back in Canada. I love Canadian Tire Motorsports Park, but unfortunately, luck just hasn’t been on our side there in the last couple of years,” said Montecalvo.
“The car rolled off the truck fast, and Aaron and I felt good heading into qualifying. I qualified the car on the front row just behind the Aston. During the morning warm-up, the team discovered an issue. They couldn’t fully diagnosis it, so with only a few hours until the start of the race, they dove in and changed the engine.”
“The team did a phenomenal job. The engine in the car in very hard to change, but they were able to knock it out in just over two hours and had us ready to go even before the green flag.”
“The race went fairly smooth for us. Once we served our penalty, I was able to put my head down and start picking off cars. When I handed the car over to Aaron, he did the same. Unfortunately, Aaron was spun from behind by one of the competitors which set us back a bit more, but then he did an awesome job fighting back in the last hour to get back to P6.”
“The team functioned perfectly in the pits, performed an incredible feat with the engine changed, and we had a great strategy. Had the last couple of cautions not come out, I think Aaron would have been able to get us into the top five. With everything that happened on race day, we’re happy to come away with sixth place points, especially with how tight the championship is. All and all, it was a difficult weekend, but I couldn’t have asked for more with how hard the team worked to get us out there in the fight, and we’ll be back stronger than ever for Lime Rock next weekend.”
The next race for Montecalvo is the Northeast Grand Prix at Lime Rock Park on July 22. Be sure to follow Frankie on Facebook and Twitter to stay up to date with all of his racing news.
