VIR what a weekend to remember!

Synapse Racing had high hopes entering into round 10-11 at Virginia International raceway, the high speed track suits the top-end power of the Acura TSX, and with the help of OS Giken the team now had a differential that allowed their Acura TSX to pound the curbing.

The fun started on Thursday in the 1st session of testing. The 28 car got shaken down and started getting up to speed. At the end of the session the team noticed fluid around the inside of the wheel, all the shock oil had come out. After further inspection, the top sealing portion of the strut had come loose and pumped all the shock oil out. Luckily with a quick call to Moton and the help from Daskalos Racing the team was able to put the shock back together and bleed the system. The rest of the day was smooth sailing, finding Brett in the top 5 quickest of the day.

Friday was practice time, after analyzing video and data all Thursday night the crew made big changes to the car and was able to find a lot of speed. Sandberg was happy with his Acura and by the end of the day saw himself in P4.

Saturday, finally qualifying and race day! After a great few days of practice the crew was sure the car and Brett had potential to be in P3 or better. On the 1st flying lap Brett went faster through the esses than ever before, but unfortunately carried to much speed into south bend and looped it. He came into pit lane complaining of a vibration and the 2 front tires were flat spotted so bad the cords were coming through. We decided to send him out to get some kind of time and still ended the session in the 6th possession. After a tough qualifying session, crew chief Morgan Spurgas had to make an even tougher decision, replace the two damaged tires and start from the back of the field. “We had to think of the championship, a DNF is something we couldn’t afford. With the speed Brett has shown, I think we can work our way up.”

Round 10 of Championship saw Synapse Racing starting in 17th place after changing tires and a very gloomy sky overhead. Onto the start, the lights go out and the Synapse Racing Acura TSX plunges past 4 cars going into turn 1, 2nd lap Brett takes another 2 cars, and the same the 3rd lap, he was a man on a mission. Later in the race we found ourselves in p5 and couldn’t be happier. Accomplished driver Rob Holland was in front and that’s where Brett would stay for the next 4 laps. Brett got a great run off of oak tree and was able to get along side rob and pass him for p4. The next few laps Brett put down a few fliers and suddenly had Greg Shaffer in the DG Spec Scion in his sites. Laps are clicking down and then the skies opened up and began to rain. Everyone’s times dropped off by more than 10 sec. a lap, but Brett was slowly gaining on Shaffer. With a few laps left, Greg and Brett traded the p3 spot back and forth until the track began to dry again, then Brett found his speed again, got around Shaffer and pulled away to finish on the podium! What a race, from the back of grid to finish in P3, this was by far the best race of this young driver’s career.

Round 11, Brett had a solid qualifying and started 5th. The team ran in that position for a lot of the race until Brett got around Michael Pettiford in the Go For It Racing VW Jetta. P4 would be where we spent most of race until the Acura came around lap traffic and got pushed off the track going into the final turn, luckily he got back on without any damage and finished a solid 7th place, securing 3rd in the drivers’ championship.

VIR proved to be a break-out weekend for young Brett Sandberg and he exhibited the poise and competiveness of a driver with much more experience. “The Synapse Racing Team gave me a bullet proof car all season, finishing every race is what made 3rd in the championship possible” Sandberg said.

Synapse Racing has high hopes going into the final race of the season at Miller Motorsports Park in Utah; stay tuned for more exciting racing at world-challenge.com

 

Congrats on the podium finish, definetly some great racing going on last weekend. I think I saw the off after the esses from one of the Scion vids already on youtube.
Good luck at Miller.

 

I was out there spectating on Sunday. Awesome day. The TSX looked good and it was nice to see so many Hondas. Cunningham seemed to be getting everything possible out of his own TSX and it sounded like the K-PAX Volvos were sucking in all the atmosphere around them. Beautiful race cars.