News

Alliance Autosport may not have finished on the podium, but they accomplished a lot in their debut race. The team’s Porsche GT3 Cup car ran flawlessly in every session and the drivers, Scott Rettich and Mark Jensen brought it home without a mark on it.

The weekend started out great with Mark and Scott getting faster in every session and running some very competitive consistent lap times prior to qualifying. The team made some significant chassis adjustments going into qualifying and was looking to improve on their practice pace. Unfortunately, qualifying was stopped twice after just 1 lap which gave Mark very little time to get used to the new setup. However, the new set up worked very well in final practice with both Mark and Scott running their fastest laps of the weekend despite running on older tires.

The Canadian Tire 200 started off very well for Alliance Autosport as Mark Jensen put in a stellar drive moving up from 17th to 9th in the first 25 minutes of the race. After 45 minutes the team made a driver change putting Scott Rettich behind the wheel. Unfortunately, during the driver change the helmet blower hose broke which meant that Scott would have to running the remaining 75 minutes with no helmet blower, cool suit, or water. Scott’s stint started out great with Scott running the team’s fastest lap of the weekend on his 3rd lap. Scott pushed hard to make it to the end of the race, but ultimately had to make an emergency stop to change drivers with just 10 minutes remaining.

“The Alliance Autosport Porsche was a blast to drive,” stated Scott. “I was getting more and more comfortable every session as I learned the track and the feel of the car. Working with our engineer, Ray Rivard, we had a very good set up for the race. I feel bad for the team that I wasn’t able to push the car as hard as I needed to in the race and had to come in with 10 minutes to go. I think that final unscheduled driver change cost us a few laps. Looking back, I should have definitely used a cool suit and drink bottle as I was unable to make it to the end with the broken helmet blower hose. I certainly learned a lot and I am very excited to compete in my next Grand-Am event.”

“I am really proud of our entire team,” stated Alliance Autosport Team Manager Suren Tchobanian. “The crew did a great job throughout the weekend. They kept the car running in top condition and gave us some solid pit stops. Our drivers, Scott Rettich and Mark Jensen, also did great. They got faster each session, running very well in the race, and took care of the car. Our final race result really doesn’t reflect our performance. We all learned a lot and will be that much better next race.”

Alliance Autosport competes throughout North America at many major road racing venues. With multiple championships, including a SCCA National Championship and a SCCA Pro Racing Championship, the team has found success at each level it has competed. Currently the team is competing in SCCA National, SCCA Pro Racing, and Grand Am Rolex series events. More information about the team is available at https://www.allianceautosport.com

Original Story Link