A blog about Christian Maloof's adventures in race car driving, from NASA to Grand-Am.

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This is my first season racing in the Grand-Am KONI ST Sports Car Challenge with Team Freedom Autosport and co-driver Mark White.

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Two Class and One Overall Victories at MidOhio

(photo: Christian takes a victory lap after winning at MidOhio, (c) Chris Clark)

I just returned from the National Auto Sport Association (NASA)’s GTS (Thunder) Division races on August 15-16 at MidOhio, where I competed in a field of 47 (Thunder) cars in the GTS field. This is my second year racing with NASA, and as many of you know I have been competing in the 2009 Grand-Am KONI Challenge (with Freedom Autosport).

On Saturday, I had a strong practice and qualied in P3. We hit all our target times in practice and were still making small improvements even in qualifying, so I felt very confident about the race. I had a really great start, moving from third to second in class in the first corner, and I was able to lock onto the lead car in the first few laps. I knew at that point I could pick my moment to take the lead. It was a great feeling!

Once I earned the class lead, my focus shifted to an overall victory. There were a few very fast cars in the field, but one spun and another had a small incident while I was leading in class. After that, I knew if I maintained a good pace and took care of the tires I would take the overall win. It was great to earn first-place finishes both in class and overall!

For Sunday’s race, I aimed for a repeat win, but there was an additional challenge: temperatures in Lexington, OH were up to 92 degrees, putting additional stress on the car and tires. I had hoped I could be gentle on the car, but with the heat, I knew I could easily overheat the car, tires or even me. I managed to quali in P2 (in class and P3 overall) in a field of 52 entrants, posting a 1:35 lap time.

The Sunday race proved to be more eventful, including both contact and a dramatic on-track incident. On the first lap, three turns into the race, I lost a position with a little side to side contact at the bottom of madness, but we were both able to continue the race. I regained the position one lap later, but was initially concerned the toe or camber on my car could have been affected. Luckily it wasn't.

The race was extremely challenging, with a great deal of out-of-class racing going on. I was forced to go toe to toe with a GTS5 car that was really fast in the straights, but defensive in the corners. I thought this would cost me the race, but I was able to reel in the lead car with four laps to go. As I caught him in the keyhole, he lost a wheel, rendering him airborne. Luckily he was ok, and I was able to avoid the incident and finish in first place, and P4 overall.

It was nothing short of a great weekend at MidOhio. The car was great and the competition was strong. I'd long dreamt about winning a race there, and when the moment came it was not at all like what I expected. I look forward to going back and winning again!

I’d like to thank my sponsors, specifically Rennstatt Racing and David Yudowin, who provided on-site support for this weekend’s races. Also PorschePurist.com, Community Auto Wash, Kolossos Printing, Stony Creek Collision, OG Racing and Jim Maloof Realtors. Without their support in 2009, this weekend wouldn’t have been possible!

Next up for me are endurance and GTS races at Gingerman Raceway on September 4-5, 2009. See you there!

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