Bill Sweedler and Townsend Bell are looking forward to running the Team West/Alex Job Racing Boardwalk Ferrari at this weekend’s American Le Mans Series event at the new Circuit of the America’s (COTA) in Austin, Texas, Sept. 19-21.
Sweedler (Westport, Conn.) and Bell (San Luis Obispo, Calif.) will be making their first visit to the newly constructed 3.4-mile, 20-turn undulating road course located 20 minutes from downtown Austin. The Ferrari 458 GT was developed for the billiard smooth race tracks of Europe. The red and white Team West/AJR Ferrari should feel right at home at COTA.
“Getting the chance to run a brand new natural terrain road course, especially like COTA, may happen once or twice in a racers career,” Bell said. “The first thing you see when studying the track is that ski hill that starts at the middle of the front straight and goes up to the clouds. We will probably see the entire GT field go 12 wide through that turn. The next section that sticks out is the esses. It looks like a great rhythm section that will certainly reward a well-balanced car.”
Sweedler is looking forward to getting to know the new COTA circuit.
“This is a special event for us this weekend at Team West/AJR,” Sweedeler said. “Our sponsor and partners Boardwalk Ferrari as well as team co-owner Eduardo Espindola are from Texas. COTA looks like a great facility. I have heard nothing but great things about the track and all of the amenities. Yokohama has been making great progress on the tires this season and we will need every bit of grip to motor through those fast esses.”
Eduardo Espindola, team co-owner, is anxious for a home event.
“I have had COTA highlighted on my schedule all season,” Espindola said. “Our partners at Boardwalk Ferrari are located in Plano and we are looking forward to their involvement this weekend.”
Alex Job, team co-owner, has the team looking at all available data.
“There isn’t a lot of data on COTA yet,” Job said. “Ferrari has run there already with Grand-Am, but not much of that data can translate to the ALMS GT spec car. The track is new and really smooth, so that will require a lot of shock and spring work by the crew.”