WRPM Race Update

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Willie Phee claims two first place finishes at Round 6 of the South Atlantic Road Racing Championship series at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta in Braselton, Georgia Round six of the SARRC Championship series was held at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta with WRPMotorsports driver Willie Phee finishing first in both races over the weekend. WRPMotorsports is proud to announce a partnership with Acura of Athens for select events for the 2019 race season. Qualifying for both races was held Saturday morning with the best times from either qualifying or the Saturday race setting the gird for the Sunday feature race. Phee would start race one on Saturday from the fourth position. This was the first race on a completely different set up for the WRPMotorsports Acura TSX. The decision was made to prepare the car for Super Touring Under (STU) for the 2019 season. The changes made to the car included a highly modified K20/K24 engine by Nelson Engines in Cumming, Georgia, a Quaife Sequential gearbox and a MOTEC engine management system. “It’s been a long time since we started this project, in fact the car was just finished on the dyno on Friday afternoon which prevented me from running the traditional Friday test day” said Phee. “I would have liked to have the additional time in the car on Friday but it just didn’t work out with all of the changes we were making on the car”. Phee would run the car for the first time in the morning qualifying session and would end up first in class and fourth overall on the grid. “Qualifying wasn’t without some problems as about seven laps in the car just died on the front straight” said Phee. “Luckily I was able to put in a good lap early in the session and start on the second row”. The OPM crew determined that it was a bad throttle body, swapped the part out and had the car ready for the afternoon race. At the start of race one the front two cars had contact in turn 11. The video can be seen here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pC0JptYW4sI&feature=youtu.be “I wasn’t sure if we would get a green flag but we did and I did get a run but there was no place to go and I just slotted into fourth place as we went up the hill to turn two” Said Phee. Phee would slowly start gaining on the third place car and move into third overall on lap four and hold that position to the finish. Race two was set for Sunday just after lunch and Phee was schedule to start third overall based on his Saturday race times, however there was a problem getting the car to start and Phee would be late to the grid and had to start in 20 th position. “I think there must have been a problem with the ECU tune because the car was very difficult to start, once it started it would run fine”, said Phee. “Starting at the back is always a challenge but I knew the car was fast and I just had to be patient with the slower cars and work my way up”. Phee would definitely work his way up as he would move up to eighth position by the end of lap one, fourth by lap three and finally into third by lap six. “By the time I had gotten into third the leaders were long gone but I did manage to run some consistent laps and get a better feel for the car”. Phee would finish the race first in class and third overall after starting dead last on the field. “As usual The OPM crew did a great job getting the car ready for the weekend and even though we had issues on Sunday before the race Ryan did a great job getting the car ready. I also have to thank Sam Nelson from Nelson Engines for prepping the new motor and Phil Koch for tuning the MOTEC ECU”. Special thanks go out to the Acura of Athens associates that came out to the track to see their car run for the first time. The next race is scheduled for September 28-29, 2019 at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach Florida. The WRPMotorsports team is sponsored by Acura of Athens, Optima Batteries, Sparco USA, Total Lubricants, MCS Suspension and OPM Autosports. Photos courtesy of Motorsports Photography by Clark McInnis http://cmcinnis.wordpress.com/

WRPMotorsports Driver Willie Phee Competes in his third SCCA Runoffs Event at Virginia International Raceway in Alton, Virginia WRPMotorsports driver Willie Phee attended his 3 rd SCCA Runoffs Event at Virginia International Raceway and would finish 15 th overall in the 25 car field in the Super Touring Under (STU) class. The SCCA Runoffs is amateur road racings top motorsports event and was held for the first time at Virginia International Raceway. 597 entries in various classes would make up the 10 day event. The qualifying process for the Runoffs consists of three qualifying days and a single race to determine the National Champion in each of the classes. Phee would participate in all three sessions and ended up in 21 st position after session one due to a mechanical problem on lap two of the session. “I was just getting the car up to speed when a full course caution came out after the first lap. A fuel pump relay had become dislodged from the bracket and the car just shut off” said Phee. “The crew figured out the problem once we got the car back to the paddock and had it repaired for the next day’s qualifying session”. In session two Phee would move up to 14 th on the grid with a 2.12.287. “Once we got the fuel pump relay sorted out the car ran great, it just took me a few laps to get up to speed having missed the first session” said Phee. “Unfortunately the car was down on power compared to the top 10 cars in the class. The car had good top end speed but just didn’t have the pull out of the corners”. In session 3 Phee would improve his time to a 2.11.035 but would end up 17 th overall on the grid for the championship race. “I felt like we brought a knife to a gun fight as the top 14 cars were running 2.09’s and under. I knew the car was a little heavy but we just weren’t making the power necessary to run in the top half of the field” said Phee. “I was pleased to get the car down to a 2.11.0 and the cool temperatures on Thursday certainly helped but it helped everyone else as well” Phee would start in 17 th position for the National Championship race. At the start, Phee would get a good jump and move up four positions going into turn one, only to get held up in the lower esses and dropping back to 18 th at the end of lap one. Phee would move up 15 th on lap two but got shuffled back to 18 th again for the next four laps. Phee would make his way back to 15 th by lap eight and would maintain that position until lap 12 when he would get as high as 14 th position until finishing the final lap in 15 th overall. “It was a fairly dull race from the mid-pack where I was at for the majority of the race. I had a couple of good battles but really was just trying to be consistent with my lap times and hope that some of my competitors would have some problems that would allow me to move up.” Phee’s fast lap would occur on lap seven with a 2.11.4. A video of the complete STU race two can be seen here: https://www.scca.com/videos/2037564 “It was fun but long week and while I was short of my goal of a top 10 finish I have to thank the OPM Autosports crew for all of their help with the car over the week. They did a fantastic job as usual. I also have to thank Sam Nelson of Nelson Engines for the engine work and tuning he did on the car in the weeks prior to the race, Jimmy Branton at Acura of Athens for their support during the year, Optima Batteries for supplying a great battery that held up the entire weekend and Scott Williams at Total lubricants for their support during the race season. The WRPMotorsports team is sponsored by Acura of Athens, Optima Batteries, Sparco USA, Total Lubricants, MCS Suspension and OPM Autosports. Photos courtesy of Mike Kelley Photography https://www.facebook.com/mikekelleyphotography/