Abbate Continues to Improve FR-S at Miller Motorsports Park
Abbate on Grid for USTCC Photo: Richard Pochop
This past weekend Michele Abbate returned to the United States Touring Car Championship Series in her Scion Racing FR-S at Miller Motorsports Park for the 5th and 6th rounds of the 2014 season. This was the largest event for the series and was ran in conjunction with the Pirelli World Challenge Championship season ender race, NASCAR K&N West series, and the Pirelli Porsche GT3 Cup cars!
With over 40,000 spectators, it has been named the Utah Grand Prix! Going into these next two rounds, Abbate upgraded the FR-S with some awesome DBA rotors to compliment the WinMaxUSA W4 pads for some great stopping power. In addition, help was provided from the team’s newest partner, GTSpec, who provided some amazing chassis stiffening braces. Lastly, MCC Motorsports out of Las Vegas (www.MCCMotorsports.com), Nevada, reached out to the team and provided financial support and products.
There are numerous track configurations at Miller, but the USTCC series was scheduled to race on the West course on Saturday and the full course on Sunday, two new tracks for Michele Abbate. With just two practices, Abbate qualified 7th on Saturday, and had an awesome battle all race long with the Hyundai Genesis piloted by Ali Arsham - earning the “Swift Springs Move of the Race” Award with a clean pass through turn “indecision” on the west course. Abbate states, “This is definitely a track where you must carry all of your momentum whenever possible. I feel my best advantage is that I can carry so much speed and be flat out for the majority of the track, where other heavier cars are braking”. Michele came across the checkered with a very well earned 6th place finish after the 50 minute race.
Abbate and Arsham Battling at Miller Photo: Richard Pochop
On Sunday, everyone was challenged with the full 4.5 mile course, a combination of the East and West tracks at Miller - a configuration that has not been run in a few years at the facility. The qualifying times were very close, especially for all of the touring car drivers. Abbate found herself only 0.027 seconds off of 5th place, and 1.017 seconds from 3rd place. Everyone was new to the track and it really seemed to act as an equalizer during qualifying.
USTCC Abbate vs. TNI Driver Photo: Richard Pochop
Starting 6th in Sunday’s race, Abbate felt more and more confident behind the wheel. “The brakes on this car are absolutely amazing - I feel like I can out brake everyone, and this where I seem to make up most of my time. Between carrying my momentum, and keeping a strong but short braking period, I am really getting a handle on our set up”. Still developing the car and learning the new chassis, consistency in lap times allowed her to reel in 5th place. After making a successfully tight, but clean pass, Abbate started to gap and gain on 4th place little by little each lap. Suddenly, it seemed as if Mario Lento in the Mitsubishi Evo had picked his pace back up and started to battle with Abbate. As Michele found an opportunity for a pass in the left hander just before the front straight, contact was made. Both cars involved continued on to finish the 50 minute race, and Abbate earned the 6th place finish.
It was a very rewarding weekend for the team and improvements were very noticeable since Leguna Seca. As the season comes to its last event at Thunderhill in November, the team will be working to gain as much as possible from the FR-S chassis and power plant. Abbate took home two additional awards, including the HAWK Brakes Quick Stop Award, as well as the “Clean Car” Award from Mother’s cleaning products! In addition, Abbate was also awarded the “AirAid” certificate for her stellar performance. To conclude the weekend, Michele’s performance has put her in 7th place overall for the TC class, and she has also improved Scion’s Manufacturer points to a solid 6th place. Abbate is also contending in the Rookie of the Year points and is currently 4th.
Abbate wins “Swift Move of the Race” Award Photo: Richard Pochop
Thank you to all of our sponsor who have helped made this season possible. We have exciting news brewing and can’t wait to officially share it! As always, follow Michele Abbate on social media @M1cheleAbbate and her website www.M1cheleAbbate.com.
Abbate puts the power down in her USTCC Scion FR-S Photo: Richard Pochop