Sandell Wins Detroit’s Sunday Feature for BHR’s first GRC win - Speedway Digest

After dominating almost every heat and semi-feature since Daytona, Patrik Sandell and the Bryan Herta Rallysport Kobalt Tools Ford Fiesta team finally changed their luck in the feature events and stood upon the top step of the podium. It is Sandell’s first win of 2015 and the first for Bryan Herta Rallysport.

“Today, Bryan Herta, the guys, and Kobalt Tools put everything together for me, and I’m so happy for them,” stated Sandell. “This victory goes to them. I’ve been the victim of the red flags a few times, but now it was on my side ~that’s a part of the sport, I’m just happy everyone was okay and we could do a complete restart. The field was very close in speed this weekend, we were just a bit faster and it paid off today.”

The Kobalt Tools team began the weekend in dominating fashion. After starting the Saturday heat races on points, Sandell moved to the lead and won. In the Semi-Final, Herta made a brilliant strategic call to move Sandell from 5^th to 1^st with a late Kobalt Tools Joker Lap for the win. Sandell rocketed into the lead of the feature, and appeared headed for victory until the driveshaft broke with a lap and a half to go.

After a late Saturday night using their Kobalt Tools, the BHR team had the #18 ready for battle. Sandell qualified third, but took the lead of the heat race and won over the #43. Starting on the pole for the Semi-Feature, Sandell repeated and won that for the second day in a row.

Starting on pole for the final, Sandell jumped into the lead but was speared from behind by the #43; a third car was involved and stopped on the track bringing out the red flag and a complete restart. On the restart, Sandell jumped into the lead immediately took the Kobalt Tools Joker Lap and won easily by over two-seconds.

“This means a lot to our team,” added owner Bryan Herta. ” I’m so happy for Patrik, the team, and Kobalt Tools, and to give Ford a win in Detroit. Everyone on the team has worked so hard this year, we’ve had our share of bad luck, and now it’s all come together. I’m also so proud of Austin as he has moved into a solid 3^rd place in the Championship Standings, and Collete has earned her best result to date, so overall it has been a great weekend for the entire team”

Austin Dyne and the Bryan Herta Castrol MAGNATEC Ford Fiesta struggled to find a consistent pace and setup early in the weekend. Dyne and the #14 team never gave up as they continually worked on the chassis and engine in the search for the illusive perfect setup to challenge for the win and podiums. As a championship contender, Dyne knew the importance of finishing both features as Saturday and Sunday saw the #14 Castrol machine be the model of consistency. Dyne finished both sixth in both features. The sophomore Supercar driver maintained his third place standing in the championship at the halfway point of the Red Bull Global Rallycross season.

“We struggled all weekend with the setup of the car,” added Dyne. “We basically had the same setup on we’ve been using the past couple of weekends, but something needs to change so we can be more competitive and seriously contend for wins and this championship. I know the Castrol guys are working real hard to figure it out, and I’m confident we’ll be running up front soon.”

The River Racing GRC Lites entry for Collete Davis consistently improved over a tough weekend with limited track time. On Friday, most of Lites practice was cancelled due to emergency repairs of the jump. Davis was one of the fortunate few Lites drivers to even get two laps…

This lack of track time definitely affected the pace of the rookie Davis and the River Racing team Lites. However, she made the best of it to qualify for both features of the weekend.

“When Friday’s practice was cancelled, it really set our weekend back,” stated Davis. “We need laps, we get stronger with every lap and having only two on Friday hurt. But Steve and the River Racing team worked hard on the car and got it pretty good in both features. The River Racing car has been awesome on launches! We can gain a position or two on every start.”

On Saturday, Davis recorded an eighth place finish. She followed up on Sunday with a career sixth place finish in the Lites feature race.

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Adam Sinclair

NHRA, IHRA, Motocross and other forms of motorsports Staff writer
About Me: Adam has been a race fan since the first time he went through the tunnel under the Daytona International Speedway almost 30 years ago. He has had the privilege of travelling to races all across the state of Florida (as well as one race in Ohio), watching nearly everything with a motor compete for fame and glory, as well as participating in various racing schools to get the feel of what racecar drivers go through every week. Adam has spent the last three years covering motorsports for Examiner.com., where he had the opportunity to see the racing world from behind the scenes as well as the grandstands. He invites everyone to follow him on Twitter, Facebook, and Google Plus, and looks forward to sharing his enthusiasm for all things racing with the readers of SpeedwayDigest.com.Be sure to tune in for his weekly sports talk program, Thursday Night Thunder, where he discusses the latest in motorsports news with drivers, crew members, and fans. The show takes place every Thursday at 8:00 pm EST on the Speedway Digest Radio Network.