Talk about some crazy ups and downs to start off a new season. As most of you guys know we were fast all week long. James, Nick and I were always in the top 10 in times in every session. The last practice session had James 4th and me 1st. The cars were amazing every session we went out. The BimmerWorld crew had the cars at the track ready to go with the hot setup on the cars from the start. All we had to do all week was make very small adjustments to the cars. Qualifying rolled around on Thursday. Things started out great as we had come up with a plan and a setup to get us up to the front. Our setup proved to be fast as I qualified on the pole and Nick was 6th, going the fastest he had in the E90 since he has first driven it. James had some bad luck but it was nothing anybody could have seen. His motor started overheating on his flyer and he had to pull into the pits. The crew did all they could to get the temps under control but time expired before they could get everything done to get him back on track. So with James' qualifying woes things only got worse from there. My car was found to be too low during qualifying. We are required to have the cars at a 3" minimum ride height which includes anything that hangs down underneath the car with the exception of approved suspension bits. The problem with my car was the exhaust had suddenly dropped down below this 3" minimum. The reason for this was a broken hanger that happened during the session. The rough track of Sebring had just bitten us.

Now starting at the back of the pack for the race was not what I had in mind but it would prove to be exciting. I knew at the start I would have to be fast and efficient passing other cars as soon as the lights went out. And this James and I did. We passed over half the field on the first lap. In the next few laps I picked off a couple more cars and was within closing distance of the top 5. I was passing a car for the 5th or 6th spot at the entrance to Turn 1. I made the pass with no issues and had a good run coming out. The car behind me had a slightly better run and so he hit me in the left rear. This caused me to go into a huge slide that I tried my best to recover from but I couldn't. The car snapped around on me and I found myself sliding into the path of oncoming traffic. Luckily no one hit me and I got the car pointed in the right direction before losing too many spots. I was back to 12th or so. All the cars I had just passed I had to do it again and I had to really start pushing the car. This is when I put my head down to get back to where I was. It took me the remaining laps of the race to do this and I did. I made it back to 6th while setting the fastest lap of the race.

Sebring was great and I can't wait to go back. It was one of the tracks I always look forward to and I can't wait for next year. I think it will have different results for our BMWs then.

Labels: Sebring - Round 1