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| Tim Completes Two-Day Test at Synergy Racing's Home Track | |
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Tim Completes Two-Day Test at Synergy Racing's Home Track
December, 26 2005
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| There is much to be said for having a home field advantage in any sporting event, but it's an even bigger advantage when it is your home racetrack; it's a mammoth-sized advantage when said racetrack is in your backyard. That's exactly what Synergy Racing had in mind when they built their shop facility on the grounds of Virginia International Raceway in 2000. To them, it's more than just a home track advantage when the Rolex Sports Car Series competes there at VIR. All year round, it's virtually their private test track. VIR has also just become Tim Stephens' home track, now living in Cornelius, NC, a mere 140 miles south of the track, and he recently took advantage of that. On October 22 & 23, Tim took control of one of Synergy's Rolex Series prepped Porsche GT3 Cup cars for 50 laps around the 3.27 mile VIR course during a private Synergy test. Tim is no stranger to the track, having competed there in several types of cars over the past five years. This, however, was his first time behind the wheel of a Porsche GT3 Cup. |
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| "I was excited about the opportunity to drive the Porsche. Just about every respected name in sports car racing has spent time behind the wheel of some version of these cars. Porsche puts a lot of development into the program, and it was a lot of fun to get to experience the result of their engineering." |
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| The test, for Tim, had a dual purpose. One was to get acquainted with the characteristics of the Porsche, the other was to work one-on-one with the Synergy team who was using the weekend for testing their Rolex Championship contending Porsche GT3 Cup, Daytona Prototype, and Grand-Am Cup prepped Porsche 997. |
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| "I successfully fulfilled my objectives. I quickly got up to speed in the car and turned some quick consistent laps. The car fit my driving style beautifully, only taking about 20 laps to break into a race pace having never been in the car before. I also got to work closely with the crew and team principals. We walked away from the test eager to continue working together. I would like to predict that this success will translate into something bigger, possibly in 2006." |
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| Tim indeed got up to speed quickly. He ended the test with a best lap time of 2:03.3, which would have been good enough to qualify in sixth place at last year's VIR race. |
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| The 2005 Rolex Series comes to a close this upcoming weekend with a 2 ¾ hour / 250 mile race at Autodromo Hermanos Rodrquez in Mexico City on November 5th. Synergy Racing is in a heated battle for the Rolex GT Championship sitting in second place just a single point out of the lead. It will be a classic 'whoever finishes better' dual for the Championship between Synergy's lead driver pair of Craig Stanton and David Murry and TRG's Pontiac GTO driven by Marc Bunting and Andy Lally. The race will be aired live on SPEED Channel, Saturday at 4:00pm ET. |
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