WRPMotorsports driver Willie Phee Finishes 2 nd in Round 12 and 1 st in Round 13 in the 2024 SARRC Championship series at Virginia International Raceway in Alton, Virginia. Round’s 12 and 13 of the 2024 SARRC Championship series was held at Virginia International Raceway and WRPMotorsports driver Willie Phee would finish second in race one and first in race two. Qualifying for the weekend would start Saturday morning with the quickest time in either qualifying or the race setting the grid for race two. Saturday’s qualifying would be held in wet conditions so the times were considerably slower that the normal dry times. Phee would end up qualifying seventh overall and third in class in the mixed group session. “This was the first race in 2024 and it took me a few laps to get comfortable in the car, plus with it being a wet session it took a few laps to get a decent time in.” said Phee. In the Saturday afternoon race the track would be dry and Phee would start seventh on the grid but would get a great start and would go into turn one in third overall. Phee would move into second overall on lap two of the nine lap race with an inside move going into turn 13. Phee would hold on to 2 nd overall at the flag after a hard-fought battle with Justin Deffenbaugh’s Acura Integra. Sunday mornings qualifying session would be in moderate rain and since the grid would be set on the fastest time in either the qualifying session or the race it was pointless to go out in the rain as the times would be considerably slower than the race. Phee would end up second on the grid based on the race times. The afternoon race seemed to be heading for dry conditions, however about three laps from the end of the prior race it started raining again. The challenge now was what tire to run wet or dry? The pole sitting Miata was on dry tires and went back to his pit to change onto wet tires. As the cars were called to the grid the rain started to let up and the track was wet/damp and would most likely have a dry line midway through the race. Phee waited until the last minute to make the decision to go out on dry tires even though the track was still wet. At the start Phee would get a good jump and get alongside the pole sitting Miata, but the track was still damp and Phee was trying to keep his TSX on track in the mixed conditions. On lap two a full course caution would come out as a car had gone off in turn 17 and damaged the guard rail. It took five laps to get the barrier repaired and the entire time the track was drying. Phee’s gamble on dry tires paid off on the restart when he would drive around the outside of turn one and move into the lead for the next five laps. Phee would continue to pull away while the Miata struggled on wet tires and cross the line in first place at the checkers. Video of the Sunday race can be seen here: 5:15:47 Group 3 Feature Race: IT/ SRX7 / SSM / Sprint Bracket RRS (Click on the “more” link and click on 5:15:47 Link) “The entire rain situation on Sunday was an interesting development as there was a mix of cars on wet tire and dry tires. The full course caution helped the drivers with wet tires as they could cool their tires in the wet spots and not have to run them as hard on the dry line. I knew once the green came back out I would have the advantage. My only concern was how long would the caution stay out and would there be enough laps to get to the front,” said Phee. “Luckily, we had five green flag laps and I was able to get into the lead very quickly and maintain a gap to the second-place car. It was quite satisfying to have the strategy play out in my favor”, said Phee. The next race is scheduled for July 20-21, 2024 at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta in Braselton, Georgia.

Race Results