Race day morning started positive with the team having put in a new alternator and having worked on suspension set up. The pay off was the second overall fastest laptime in the next track session.
“The car felt great, mechanical issues were gone and the laptimes were proof positive of the gains we were making!” said Geoff Sykes.
However, as the day heated up, alternator and fuse problems returned, causing reduced power and speed. Sykes qualified 5th out of the 11 drivers, then fought his way to a 2nd and a 3rd place finish in both heat races, as the battery would fail by the end of the race, causing engine misfiring.
Though Sykes was able to record the fastest overall laptime out of all drivers in the second heats, the inconsistency of the car’s performance kept pushing him back on the grid for the start of the next race.
“In the final, we started on the outside of row 2, which prevented me from taking the Joker on lap one”, said Geoff. “That put me behind slower cars and in the mid pack where there’s typically more contact and damage.” After being hit in the front and back several times, Geoff limped the car home in 7th place.
The upside of the doubleheader race weekend was that Geoff had pulled off four top 3 laptimes and very close to the fastest laptime by anyone over the 3 days of racing, commenting “it’s a fantastic feeling when we can really show our performance out there!”
ABOUT RALLYCROSS AND GEOFF SYKES
Rallycross combines circuit racing, off-road racing and rally competition with intense, crowd-pleasing action in a fan-friendly track environment, featuring a challenging course that includes jumps, unbanked turns and changing track and surface conditions that can include dirt, gravel and wet asphalt.
Geoff Sykes is driving his third season in Global Rallycross, having come from an autocross and road racing background with multiple records and championships in the BMW CCA racing series, and is the 2013 GT champion in the US Touring Car Championship.
Sykes’ rallycross racing includes support from SONY Team Action Cam, RallyPro at The Firm, BendPak and Midnight Oil.
Photos: DTVS (1), RBGRC (2/3)
