Victory Lap for Abbate in her FR-S at SCCA Majors Tour
March 22nd 2015 marked a huge accomplishment for Michele Abbate and the GRR Racing team at the SCCA Majors Tour. It did not come without loads of preparation as well as last minute diagnostics and solutions from the team and sponsors. After the team went testing the Sunday before the event, Abbate noticed that something didn’t feel exactly right when shifting through the gears of the FR-S’ six speed transmission.
It wasn’t until Thursday afternoon with further testing that the team decided to pull the transmission out of the car after making a few phone calls with their partners at Advanced Clutch Technology. Without being able to pin point the exact issue and time running out, several parts were overnighted to the team as they got to work with the pull.
Unfortunately, this wasn’t the end of the issues that were going to be faced before the successes of the weekend. With one shortened practice session at Chuckwalla Raceway, it was time for qualifying. Knowing there was plenty of time to shave off Michele was confident she could lay down some competitive laps. Although, as soon as she brought the car up to speed on the outing lap, Abbate radioed into Crew Chief Anthony Philleo, that through the high speed left hand turns all brake lights would light up on the dash and the car would go into something like a limp mode. Abbate pulled into the pits with hopes of finding the issue quickly, but this was not the case. The team was unable to put down a competitive lap time and resulted with having to start dead last of the 15-car field.
Thankfully, after several phone calls of support, our partners at Delicious Tuning were able to send over a flash that would disable all of the working ABS modules in the FR-S. As the EcuTek loaded the tune into the ECU time was nearing to hit grid. Without being able to rush the download Michele suited up and strapped in. As she headed to an empty grid, she was sent out just as the full field took the green flag to start the race. “I have never been thrown onto a track without a warm up lap and as I completed my first lap to take turn 1 off the straight, it was too late when I remembered I still had cold tires… BOOM there I went flying off the track”. All the ground that was just made up was lost entirely. Abbate said, “I knew I had my work cut out for me, and I wasn’t entirely sure that we had the solution to our past issues, but as soon as I was up to speed after my off I hit those left handers with no ABS feedback I put my head down and did what I could to stay consistent”.
Slowly Abbate worked her way through the field, turning competitive lap times which secured her second place podium finish for Saturday’s race. Crew Chief Anthony Philleo stated, “Michele’s performance during the race proved how talented of a driver she is under pressure, and as long as we can conserve what little tire we have left Sunday should be just as exciting”.
Michele Abbate leads the STU field at Chuckwalla Raceway
Starting 6th overall and 2nd in STU class, there was still an uphill battle for the team to fight. “I knew I didn’t have the fastest car out there, but this hasn’t been a problem for us before… the FR-S is a chassis that handles amazing in turns and you can see it at our races and in our in-car videos. This is where I knew my advantages were”, Abbate shares.
Michele had a great start off the green flag, but reserved the aggression and maintained composure. As the field leveled out, about halfway through the race, the leader of STU was being pressured heavily by another classed car, causing him to lose control in the bowl at Chuckwalla. Abbate took the lead and never looked back. This is the first race win for the GRR Racing Scion FR-S and the 4th podium finish (out of 4) for the year! The team is off to a phenomenal start for the 2015 season and plans to keep the momentum. Currently sitting in 2nd place for the Majors Tour (trailing 1st by 4 points), these strong finishes are solidifying Abbate’s chances to qualify for the SCCA National Run Offs – the team eagerly anticipates the remaining races of the Western Conference SCCA Majors Tour.
The next event will be at Thunderhill Raceway in Willows, California on April 11th and 12th. The team would also like to announce a warm welcome to our newest partners for 2015 including: Nameless Performance, Driveway Labs, and Pole Position Raceway! Special thanks to all those who helped make our Dark Horse Pros campaign a success, you are the reason we are competing in the SCCA series and helped us take our very first win! To this and many more!
