2nd Place at Buttonwillow for Abbate in the SCCA Majors Tour

May 3^rd, 2015 – Rounds 7 and 8 of the SCCA US Majors Tour Western Conference Division were held at Buttonwillow Raceway over this past weekend. Michele and the team went into the weekend sitting in 2^nd place for the STU class, trailing the leader by just 12 points. Knowing this would be a benchmark event for the season, much preparation went into the prior weeks.

Friday offered one practice and qualifying session for the STU class. Unfortunately, the SCCA schedule left the class to be the lasts ones on track in the highest heat of the day. With temperatures reaching over 90 degrees, it was the first time the team had faced the summer heat. With oil and water temps on the rise, Abbate looked to save the car to lay a fast lap down on Saturday’s mid-morning qualifying session after only reaching a fast time of 2:10 during the afternoon.

Saturday’s qualifying offered much better track temperatures and Michele put down a very competitive 2:07.9 placing her in 2^nd on the STU grid! This was very good for the team, as there were two new competitors that entered the STU category. “I was actually surprised at how much time I was able to shave off during Saturday’s qualifying. I didn’t think I could get much faster than my 2:10, but the car felt really good and the temps were spot on, it was an awesome combination!” Abbate stated. “I just need to be on close watch with my Innovate Motorsports gauges to be sure we can maintain the car during our 30 minute sprint race”.

Photo by: Richard Pochop

The team was able to do exactly that – Abbate lost a position off the start of the race, but was able to overtake her competitor as she made a quick clean pass as she entered Phil Hill. “I knew I had to get around him quick and our FR-S is very strong in the corners and that is where I made my pass”. Crew Chief Anthony Philleo admitted, “we had to cool the car off every other lap because of the hot temperatures at the track, but Michele’s lead on 3^rd place was far enough to make it possible”. Her 2^nd place finish landed the team on the podium for Saturday and secured her 2^nd place starting spot for Sunday’s race.

Thankfully the weather let up a little and temperatures dropped for the main race on Sunday. Starting 2^nd on grid with a fantastic start, Michele was able to hold her position consistently the entire race. Still chasing warm oil and water temperatures, she maintained a fast pace during the race and pulled another 2^nd place finish for Sunday. These two finishes have earned Michele the #1 spot in both the regional Western Conference series as well as the National leader of STU points. There are two more Western Conference races left to pursue the overall win!

Two 2nd Place finishes earns Abbate the lead in overall STU points!

With a huge thank you to the guys at Racer Connect, the entire weekend was livestreamed from Abbate’s passenger seat! Pulling in over 5,000 views total! The team looks forward to continuing their partnership and bringing the action from future races. In addition, the team would also like to announce their most recent sponsors, Ultra Chiller! Ultra Chiller offers several different cool suit systems, be sure to check them out!

Michele’s next event will be May 16^th at Irwindale Speedway racing the Performance P1 Motorsports NASCAR late model on Saturday night! As always, thank you to all of our sponsors who have helped keep us on the podium at the SCCA US Majors Tour, and also thank you to all those who promoted and watched the livestream feed throughout the weekend!