Fighting back for the full 1000K, Tomy Drissi and co-drivers Rusty Mitchell and James French pushed the No. 7 The Maze Runner, PetroComm sponsored Prototype Challenge car to pick up third place in points at the American Le Mans Series presented by Tequila Patrón finale, Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta in Braselton, Georgia.
The changing weather and track conditions demanded tenacious driving and gutsy pit calls. The No. 7 BAR1 Motorsports team did both. Everyone, both crew and drivers, put out 100% all day long… it made a difference.
Always excited to be at Road Atlanta and participating in the Petit Le Mans, Tomy was pleased with the effort and the outcome.
“We had a good car all week. The practice sessions threw both dry and wet conditions our way, but still really didn’t prepare us for what we saw race day. The nearly 10 hour race seemed to contain every variable you could image.
“There were times that a tire change…. going from slicks to rain tires… might have been a nice option. But if you could find a dry line or places you could get heat into your tires, it paid to stay out. Unfortunately, Rusty got caught out and spun early on. So we were playing catch up all day.
“Everyone hung in there though. The crew were spot on for every stop. No one was quitting, that’s for sure. In the end it paid off. Our on track position was fourth, but the non season entry of Star8 wound up placing us in third. It was a hard earn finish.”
For the race, the No. 7 car featured the upcoming movie The Maze Runner as it’s livery for the weekend. The Maze Runner is a story of Thomas (O’Brien) who wakes up trapped in a massive maze with a group of other boys, he has no memory of the outside world other than strange dreams about a mysterious organization known as W.C.K.D. Only by piecing together fragments of his past with clues he discovers in the maze can Thomas hope to uncover his true purpose and a way to escape. Based on the best-selling novel by James Dashner.
“I just want to thank all of our movie sponsors this year,” added Tomy. “We had some great looking cars and I think the fans had a lot of fun seeing the cars out there. We’ve been getting good feedback everywhere we go.”