Category Archives: Extreme Speed Motorsports

Extreme Speed Motorsports–Watkins Glen Post Race

After a promising warmup session this morning for Extreme Speed Motorsports (ESM) with the fastest times posted, the Sahlen’s Six Hours of the Glen race was filled with heartbreak and disappointment.  Despite a competitive effort by the Nos. 1 and 2 Tequila Patrón Honda Performance Development teams, any hopes of solid finishes today at Watkins Glen International were dashed by a combination of contact from an overzealous competitor, electrical and mechanical issues.

After six hours of hard TUDOR United SportsCar Championship racing, the ESM team finished in 10th and 11th places.

ESM team co-owner Scott Sharp started the race for the No. 1 Tequila Patrón HPD team from the fifth position in the Prototype class. He dropped to seventh in the opening lap shuffle and found a solid and consistent pace for his opening stint. Bad luck hit within the first hour, when Sharp pitted for fuel on Lap 26, he was charged with a pit lane speeding penalty. He served a drive-through penalty on Lap 29 and found himself in the midst of traffic in the form of the GT Daytona (GTD) class, the slowest class among the four competing today.

Shortly after returning to the field, Sharp was hit by an overly aggressive GTD car in the left rear. Sharp was forced to pit on Lap 34 for the team to inspect the prototype and find a broken brake duct. The team removed the damaged piece, assessed the rest of the damage and repaired what they could before sending Sharp back on track. While in the pits, he went a lap down on the field and dropped to 10th place.

Sharp improved his position and reached the sixth place by Lap 60, just in time for the first caution flag of the race. On Lap 62, Sharp pitted and Ryan Dalziel took over for his first stint.

Dalziel fought traffic but was able to move into the fifth position by Lap 75. He continued on his fifth-place run, worked to catch the leaders, hoped to catch a yellow flag and ultimately regain a spot on the lead lap. Without a yellow, Dalziel then pitted for a scheduled stop and driver change.

Sharp returned to the No. 1 machine at Lap 93 for his second stint. As a result of the hit earlier, the No. 1 machine was forced to change tires on each pit stop because of the left rear and possible domino-effect damage. Normally a tire change would be beneficial, but the longer they could run on the tire, the quicker the lap times. Sharp pitted for tires and fuel on Lap 121 and maintained his sixth-place run before the final driver change to Dalziel on Lap 148.

After serving a second drive through penalty for pit lane speeding charged to the No. 1 team, Dalziel kept a sixth-place run. Dalziel pitted again on Lap 156 after experiencing some mechanical issues. The team disassembled and inspected the rear end on pit road since the race car wasn’t shifting or performing as expected. The team diagnosed the problem as a gear selection issue. The gearbox was replaced and Dalziel returned to the field on Lap 177, losing nearly 38 minutes during the repair.

Dalziel completed his stint and race in the 10th position.

Ed Brown, co-driver of the No. 2 Tequila Patrón Honda Performance Development ARX-03b (HPD) started from the seventh position and dropped to 13th in the opening race shuffle. He improved him position to 10th place by Lap 25.

Brown pitted on Lap 27 for the scheduled stop and driver change to Johannes van Overbeek. While entering the pit, Brown was charged with speeding and van Overbeek would serve the drive through penalty on Lap 30.

Van Overbeek began his charge to the front and reached eighth position by Lap 35, then sixth place by Lap 62. On Lap 67, the No. 2 machine stopped in Turn 9 with no power and Van Overbeek had to patiently wait for a tow back to pit lane.  While in the pit, the car was not reacting to any command as the team diagnosed the issue and the engine control unit (ECU) was replaced. IMSA officials sent the No. 2 car and crew back to the ESM paddock to complete the repair at Lap 76.

The No. 2 machine was repaired and van Overbeek drove it from the paddock to the pits at Lap 94, nearly 30 laps behind the leaders and 11th in class. Once back in the pits, the team called for a driver change to Anthony Lazzaro.

Lazzaro ran a clean stint from the 11th position until the driver change back to Brown on Lap 152. Brown completed the race for the No. 2 team for the last 40 laps. The No. 2 Tequila Patrón HPD team finished in 11th position.

The Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen was the third round of the four-race Tequila Patrón North American Endurance Cup. The Tequila Patrón-sponsored championship within a championship includes the Rolex 24 At Daytona, Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring, Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen and the season finale Petit Le Mans.  Watch as Ed Brown and Scott Sharp talk about the Tequila Patrón North American Endurance here.

Next up for Extreme Speed Motorsports is the Mobil 1 SportsCar Grand Prix Presented by Hawk Performance at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park in Bowmanville, Ontario, Canada, on July 11-13.

Extreme Speed Motorsports– ESM Patrón Qualifies Fifth and Seventh at Watkins Glen

Extreme Speed Motorsports (ESM) approached Watkins Glen International with a new confidence following its mid-May test. The confidence continued this week as ESM qualified fifth and seventh for Sunday’s race: the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen, the sixth race of the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship.

Both Tequila Patrón-sponsored Honda Performance Development ARX-03b (HPD) machines spent time at the top of the timing sheets during the three practice sessions. Scott Sharp and Ryan Dalziel left Watkins Glen International following Friday’s lone session with the No. 1 machine atop the charts.  Dalziel, Sharp and Johannes van Overbeek led the field at separate times on Saturday during the two practice sessions.

The No. 1 Tequila Patrón Honda Performance Development ARX-03b (HPD) team of Sharp and Dalziel qualified fifth with a best lap of 1:39.005 (123.630 mph), which places the team on the inside of the third row. Sharp, the qualifying driver, is slated to drive the opening stint of the six-hour event.

The sister No. 2 Tequila Patrón Honda Performance Development ARX-03b (HPD) is starting in the seventh position. Van Overbeek lapped the 11-turn, 3.37-mile road course in 1:39.143 (123.458 mph) and will start Sunday on the inside of the fourth row, directly behind the No. 1 machine. Ed Brown is scheduled to drive the opening stint, followed by Anthony Lazzaro and then van Overbeek.

Extreme Speed Motorsports–Challenging Day for ESM Patrón at Detroit

DETROIT, Mich., –  May 31, 2014 – The Extreme Speed Motorsports (ESM) team had high – yet realistic – expectations heading into this weekend’s Chevrolet Sports Car Classic presented by the Metro Detroit Chevy Dealers, the fifth race of the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship race. Those expectations were confirmed Saturday afternoon when both Tequila Patrón-sponsored machines earned top-10 finishes.
 
Scott Sharp and Ryan Dalziel finished fifth in the No. 1 Tequila Patrón Honda Performance Development ARX-03b (HPD) while Ed Brown and Johannes van Overbeek finished seventh in the No. 2 Tequila Patrón Honda Performance Development ARX-03b (HPD).
 
Due to the tight nature of the track, ESM battled its competition and tires throughout the 100-minute sprint race. During the two practice sessions and qualifying on Friday, the team struggled in generating enough heat in the Continental Tires in comparison to the Daytona Prototypes (DP). Since the DPs are 200 pounds heavier than the ESM prototypes, the DPs are able to reach ideal tire temperature faster and are able to run quicker times.
 
Knowing the variable in the tire capabilities, ESM sought to have a clean race and gain as many points as possible. That task was completed since both cars finished the race and earned valuable points in the driver and team championship points standings.
 
Sharp started the race for the No. 1 team and dropped from the outside pole to fifth place. He kept his top-five run while battling the prototype and GT Daytona race traffic. Sharp turned the race car over to Dalziel after a 39-minute stint.

Dalziel ran the balance of the race trying to chase down the competition and battled tire temperatures similar to Sharp. In the end, Dalziel crossed the finish line in fifth position.
 
Brown started the race for the No. 2 Tequila Patrón HPD team and attempted a different pit stop and fuel strategy. Brown went a lap down and remained on track during the first caution period of the race at the 32-minute mark.  Brown then pitted with 47 minutes complete and van Overbeek started his stint.
 
Van Overbeek challenged the competition but struggled with the tires in a similar fashion to Sharp and Dalziel. At the end of the 100-minute race, van Overbeek finished in seventh position.

Extreme Motorsports–ESM Patrón Brings Monterey Momentum to the Motor City

Fresh off its first overall win in the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship, Extreme Speed Motorsports (ESM) is hungry for a second victory and has its sights set on this weekend’s Chevrolet Sports Car Classic on Belle Isle – the fifth round of the inaugural TUDOR Championship.
 
ESM is making its Detroit prototype debut. Belle Isle may be new to the ESM Tequila Patrón-sponsored Honda Performance Development (HPD) ARX-03b race cars, but the team was quickest in GT qualifying back in 2012, en route to the team’s first pole at Belle Isle as part of the GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series.
 
The Belle Isle circuit was reconfigured in 2013 to the current 13-turn, 2.35-mile temporary street layout. Despite the circuit changes, the team must adapt quickly to the new configuration and manage the tight turns and bumpy surface that temporary street circuits often present.
 
Scott Sharp and Ryan Dalziel, co-drivers of the No. 1 Tequila Patrón HPD, are looking to return to the podium for the first time since the 12 Hours of Sebring in March. The duo has showed its speed and performance in the last two rounds of competition but bad luck reared its ugly head both times. Despite running some of the quickest laps at Long Beach, the No. 1 machine ran out of fuel on the white flag lap. Then earlier this month after running strong at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, the team was forced to the sidelines mid-race with a broken gearbox. Sharp was part of that pole-winning team in 2012 at Belle Isle and he also competed there in the IndyCar Series. Dalziel finished on the Belle Isle podium in 2013 and looks to make a return visit.
 
Still riding the wave of their first overall win at the Grand Prix of Monterey earlier this month are Ed Brown and Johannes van Overbeek, co-drivers of the No. 2 Tequila Patrón HPD. The duo started from the pole and resumed the lead with 15 minutes remaining in the race to capture the team’s first win of the season.  Van Overbeek has raced at Belle Isle before but teammate Brown is new to the island circuit. With four races complete this season, Brown and van Overbeek are third in the driver’s championship standings.
 
This weekend’s race is the only TUDOR Championship event that takes place on a state park and island. On Feb. 10, Belle Isle Park was recognized as a State of Michigan park. The 982-acre island is situated on the Detroit River just off the mainland with a view of Windsor, Ontario, Canada.
 
The TUDOR United SportsCar Championship Chevrolet Sports Car Classic presented by the Metro Detroit Chevy Dealers Continental on May 30-31 is the fifth race of 2014 TUDOR United SportsCar Championship. Qualifying for prototype cars takes place at 5:45pm ET on Friday, May 30. Green flag is 12:15 p.m. ET on Saturday, May 31. 
 

Extreme Speed Motorsports–ESM Patrón Wins at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca

MONTEREY, Calif., May 4, 2014 – Extreme Speed Motorsports (ESM) won today’s Grand Prix of Monterey at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca and set a number of historical marks in the process. The No. 2 Tequila Patrón Honda Performance Development ARX-03b (HPD) of Ed Brown and pole-winner Johannes van Overbeek claimed the first overall victory for ESM in the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship.

It was the first win for the duo of Brown and van Overbeek. On Saturday, van Overbeek, from Oakland, Calif., won his first overall pole position and brought home the win on Sunday afternoon in a caution-free event. He made the winning pass with 15 minutes to go.

Brown was the starting driver for the No. 2 machine. In a career-best run, Brown was competitive and kept a top-10 position throughout his 22-minute stint before turning the car over to van Overbeek. The team pitted under green and was shuffled back in the field.
 
At the start of his stint, van Overbeek was scored 12th and improved his position with each lap. In 13 laps, he was running fifth. Then 16 laps later, van Overbeek was the race leader.
 
Looking to out-strategize the competition, the team called van Overbeek to pit for fuel at Lap 50, shortly after the race’s mid-point. Following the pit stop, the No. 2 machine fell to third with 50 minutes remaining on the race clock. That’s when van Overbeek began his second charge to the front.
 
In a battle with a DP car, van Overbeek planned his move. By Lap 76, he was back in the lead with less than 15 minutes to go. Once in the lead, van Overbeek never looked back and went on to win the two-hour event.
 
Scott Sharp started the day for the No. 1 Tequila Patrón HPD. At Lap 25, Sharp moved into third and was the race leader by Lap 28. He pitted for a scheduled driver change on Lap 30 and turned the car over to Ryan Dalziel.
 
Dalziel posted some of the quickest times of the race and reached the second position. On Lap 45, he was experience mechanical issues. By the time he reached Turn 7, Dalziel identified the problem was in the gearbox. He stopped and was unable to complete the race.  Despite not finishing the event, the No. 1 team was scored in 11th place.