10-7-2007

10-7-2007 - Colin 4th in Roush Mustang in VIR 6 hour

ALTON, Va.- The No. 59 Rehagen Racing Ford Mustang of Colin Braun, Jack Roush Jr. and Dean Martin that finished a strong fourth in the season-ending Grand-Am KONI Challenge GS Six Hour at Virginia International Raceway Sunday after Braun led three different times for a total of six laps. The race was won by Bill Auberlen and Chris Gleason in the No. 96 Turner Motorsport BMW M3.

Starting 18yh, Colin got bumped off track in turn one and slipped back to 27th place. At the end of his 1 hour sting he had made it back to 15th, when he turned the Mustang over to Jack Roush Jr. Roush drove well and advanced to 13th place when a yellow flag gave the team a chance to pit and switch back to Colin. In the next 1 hour Colin mover to 5th place and then ran down the lead pack, cutting a almost 15 second advantage to zero and moving to 3rd, before pit stops started as the cars needed fuel.

On the restart Colin passed into first place using the great Ford power. He was not able to hang on over the twisty VIR track and settled into 3rd place for the next hour. With 1.5 hours to go Dean Martin took over. A off track excursion put him back to 7th, but a nice drive over the last 45 min brought him back to 4th at the end.

Colin was very happy to help the team achieve their best result of the year and lead the first laps of the year. In addition they were the highest finishing Ford Mustang in the race.

Colin said:

"It was a blast to drive with Jack and Dean, and to work with the team. When Jack Sr asked me to drive with the team I was excited to try a racing Mustang for the first time. It has been a while for me to drive a H pattern car on a road course, and because I was in Talladega for the ARCA race I only got 30 min practice before the start. The car had great power and after I gut used to the shifting and the ABS brakes we started moving forward. I was happy to make the pass for the lead and run solid in the top 5. Jack Jr. and Dean did a great job during their stints. I want to thank Ford racing, Jack Roush Jr. and all the guys at Rehagen Racing for the opportunity."

Pre race Colin quotes:

ON HIS FIRST DAY RACING IN A MUSTANG IN THE GRAND-AM KONI CHALLENGE SERIES GS CLASS. "I certainly had fun driving that ARCA car yesterday. Everybody did a really good job and the Roush guys did a good job. We had really good power from Jack and all his guys. Wish we could have done a little better than what we did. We certainly had a shot at it but Frank didn't end up going with us there at the end. Coming here, this car is a blast to drive. I've never driven a Mustang and I haven't driven an H-patterned gear box car in about a year-and-a-half, so getting in there and figuring that out was fun. Obviously the last time that I was here was in a Daytona Prototype car and I think we were something like 25 seconds faster than what these GS cars run, so it's quite a bit different to drive. Coming and driving this Mustang though is a lot of fun. I just went out there and took it easy. I think we've got a good comfortable race car and I think we'll be pretty quick in the race. I'm sure there are guys that know how to get a lot more out of the car in one lap than I do with all the experience, but I think throughout a stint, we can be pretty consistent and be smart and patient out there. I know Jack [Roush Jr.] and Dean [Martin] have done a great job this year driving their car so I'm definitely looking forward to going out there and driving with those guys and getting a good result."

WERE YOU ABLE TO FIGURE OUT THE SPOTS ON THE TRACK WHERE THE CAR IS THE STRONGEST AND WOULD HAVE THE ABILITY TO MAKE UP TIME IF NEEDED? "Well certainly for me driving this car, I'm not really used to a series where there is such a disparity in the car. We can all run similar lap times between the manufacturers, obviously the Mustang and Roush power is really strong on the straightaways and not so good on the corners. It takes a little bit of getting used to, to be able to drive by a Porsche or a BMW and then having them drive back by under the brakes. You've really got to watch what's going on and I think being a six hour race, we've got to pay attention to not getting stuck in a battle with a Porsche where we're going by him in the straightaways and then back by in the corners or having either one of use make a mistake. I think we've just got to keep the Roush Mustang up in the front."

AS FAR AS THE CAR OR YOUR STRATEGY, WHAT ARE THEY TELLING YOU TO KEEP AN EYE ON? WILL BRAKES OR FUEL BE AN ISSUE? "I think those are things the team has really worked hard on here. I think we've got a really good brakes package that should last for the entire race. I don't think we're really too worried about the brakes, we obviously want to be aware of the fact that if you can be easy on them, then be easy on them but if we've got to get on them in the race I don't think it's going to be a problem. I know we've got some brake guys in the pits calling strategy and really good guys doing the pit stops, so the part of the race on the pits should be good. Haven't done a road race with a jack before, so that should be fun."