Performance Tech Motorsports faces glitches at Watkins Glen in the Cooper Tires Prototype Lites Powered by Mazda series

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Performance Tech Motorsports survived a hectic Race 1 at Watkins Glen International for Round 5 of the Cooper Tires Prototype Lites Powered by Mazda series. Each of the drivers finished the race with a unique story.
 
Robert Alon landed his first podium of the season with a second-place finish in the L1 category.
 
“The team just put a great car under me,” Alon said. “We didn’t have the best qualifying. We got caught in some traffic, and some stuff went down. But the car held up, we stuck to it and had an amazing outcome. I’m excited to land on my first podium of the season.” 
 
Hayden Duerson and Jon Brownson battled for positions after dealing with consequences of driver error.
 

“We had a good start,” Duerson said. “Went into Turn 1 and unfortunately the first-lap incident was right in front of us. I had to actually go up over the exit curbing and off to the side to avoid it. I got very lucky that I wasn’t involved in that. After the restart, we were running ninth, and we were making progress. Unfortunately I turned the car off on my own while making an adjustment to the handling. I accidentally hit the ignition switch and from there, once we got the car fired back up, we were in the back, and it became a game of how many cars I could pass before the end. While that’s unfortunate, we know we have a good car for tomorrow.” 

 “Race one lived up to the excitement that is Prototype Lites racing,” Brownson said. “I thought that I was getting off to a good start. I guess I got off to a little too good of a start, according to the officials. Such is life sometimes. Sometimes you’re the windshield; sometimes you’re the bug! But it’s a beautiful racetrack, a great place to be racing and a great series to be racing in. It’s great to be out there, and I look forward to a better performance tomorrow.”

Craig Duerson found himself caught in an on-track incident after dealing with knockback, a brake issue when excessive gases separate the brake pads from the rotor, creating a soft brake pedal.
 
“It was a good race,” Craig Duerson said. “The car was good, but the track conditions were a little slippery. But overall, the car was handling well. First session, I pulled away, and then there was a four-lap caution. Honestly, third and fourth jumped the restart. And that kind put me back down. I passed one car and was going to pass the other and had no brakes. I went over and apologized. It was my fault. It hurts me in the points. I realize that. I’m not out there to crash. I am out there to race clean and have everybody’s respect and have everyone else race clean. And I’m looking for rules to be enforced when things happen that shouldn’t.” 
 
Joel Janco ran a clean race and was able to keep his car out of the drama on track. 
 
“The race went well,” Janco said. “We didn’t have any incidents, really. I didn’t damage the car, and I wasn’t last! I think we did pretty well.”

Team Principal Brent O’Neill is looking past the difficulties to Race 2 Saturday, when he is confident in his drivers and his Prototype Lites cars ability to land on podium.

 “Race one was tough,” O’Neill said. “I think Craig turned the fastest lap of the race, so we should be starting on the pole. I don’t know what happened. He must have gotten some knockback in the brakes or something. But (Andrew) Novich had blocked him twice in the Bus Stop, so at the end of the day, something was going to happen. Mikhail (Goikhberg) had us all covered today, but we’ll work on the cars and be ready for tomorrow.”

The fighting five completed their Watkins Glen weekend with Performance Tech at 8:10 a.m. (ET) Saturday, June 28 for Race 2 of Cooper Tires Prototype Lites Powered by Mazda. Follow the race on live timing and scoring onscoring.imsa.com/series/prototype-lites. 

Adam Sinclair
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