Abbate Stays Consistent in the PNW

June 1st, 2016 (Gig Harbor, WA) - With only 4 races remaining in the SCCA US Majors Tour Western Conference the GRR Racing team packed up and headed North for the 9th and 10th Rounds of the season which would be held at Pacific Raceways in Kent, WA. Similiar to last year, the races took place over Memorial Day weekend and once again the weather was a bit unpredictable.

Saturday consisted of one practice session, and one qualifying session, followed by Sunday’s second chance qualifier, and Monday’s final race. Michele and the team worked hard to prep the car for the weekend and managed to qualify P2 in the STU feild with a 1:33.6.

Sunday afternoon brought a downpour of rain, but thankfully the clouds passed by as it neared time for the first race of the weekend for the STU class. With a fantastic start on the front row Abbate pulled to the lead overall for the race group. Battling hard for the lead, Michele was able to finish the race in the P2 position. “We really gave it our best, and I am happy with the results. Looking to tomorrow for a chance at that #1 spot is really what we want to accomplish this weekend”, Abbate shared with excitement.

Crew Cheif Anthony Philleo stated, “The weather continued to change throughout the day, which kept us on our feet about what set up decisions we should make before sending the car out. Thankfully our predictions were accurate, and we were able to set everything exactly how we wanted it. We’re looking forward to some more sunshine for tomorrow’s race”.

Monday morning showed promising signs for perfect racing conditions. The sun was shining, the air was clear, and the green flag was set to drop at 11:30am. As the team prepared to head out on track, a few last minute hang ups kept the GRR Racing team in the pits. As Abbate approached pit road, she could see the cars already being released from grid.

Abbate made an attempt to get to her grid position but when the green flag wasn’t given, she made her best judgement to head to the back of the pack. “There’s nothing more frustrating than being late to grid, but thankfully our E-Force Supercharger powered us through the entire pack at the drop of the green, and I just split the entire field up the middle”, Abbate recalls. Passing 9 cars off the start, Abbate settled into 2nd place overall as she did her best to hunt down the lead.

Unfortunately, only a few laps into the race, Michele radio’d to Anthony that 4th gear had let go significantly. She wasn’t able to get the car into gear at the rpm’s needed to keep consistently fast lap times. As she sacrificed her speed in several corners of the track, Abbate was able to pull through with another 2nd place finish in the STU field.

Anthony shares, “It is definitely a disappointment to go through another tranmission issue so soon, but we have some plans in the works to eliminate these problems in the future. We ran the best race we could and I am more than proud of our results”.

The final two rounds of the SCCA US Majors Tour Western Conference Division will be held in Portland, Oregon at Portland International Raceway on July 2nd and 3rd. Stay tuned to hear what’s next for the team as they continue to defend their championship title.