Dempsey Racing Mazda RX-8 GT Teams on Friday Practice Pace in New Jersey
MILLVILLE, N.J. (July 22, 2011) – Dempsey Racing’s pair of Mazda RX-8 GT teams picked up the pace as quickly as the temperature was rising Friday at New Jersey Motorsports Park (NJMP) where Joe Foster clocked in a season-high third fastest in the No. 40 VISIT FLORIDA/ModSpace/Construct Corps/Trina Solar Mazda RX-8 GT and Dane Cameron was sixth quickest in the No. 41 Team Seattle/Global Diving & Salvage Mazda RX-8 GT in a hot and humid afternoon practice that saw temperatures hit 98 degrees. Sunday’s featured American Red Cross 250 timed 2-3/4-hour race on NJMP’s Thunderbolt Raceway can be seen live on SPEED at 1 p.m. ET/10 a.m. PT.
The encouraging runs came in the second of the day’s two practice sessions, which was held at the same mid-afternoon time of day in which Sunday’s race will be run. Although weather predictions call for slightly cooler race-day conditions, teams will certainly be racing in the midst of similar humidity and temperatures in the 90s.
“We were P3, and the quickest Mazda, but we didn’t see the 70 car out there that much, and also we ran on new tires,” Foster said. “The tires make a lot of the difference around here, it would appear. It was a good session but what I am excited about is the guys have built virtually a new car in two weeks and it has run flawlessly in the first two sessions.”
Foster was at the wheel of the No. 40 when he was taken out in a heavy accident in last month’s race at Road America. While the Mazda was heavily damaged, Foster was lucky to escape with just a nagging neck strain. He has been cleared to race, and is more than able to drive, but his regular work out schedule has taken a back seat.
“I feel fine,” Foster said. “I am clear in the head but I am definitely behind on training. Physically, I feel that, especially now that it is so hot here, but I am just going to keep working on that, and it is all that I can do.”
Dempsey was impressed with his co-drivers effort Friday and the overall cooperation and communication between both the No. 40 and No. 41 teams.
“Joe did a great job and I thought, across the board, both the 40 and 41 cars, the communication was great today,” Dempsey said. “Really a change in the energy, for the better I think, a nice communication and sharing of the data. We were struggling a little bit early but we made great strides in the second session and everybody has come out of here very optimistic for tomorrow.”
Dempsey flew overnight from Los Angeles and arrived in New Jersey just this morning at 7:30 a.m. He immediately noticed a difference between the milder California weather and the extremely hot and humid conditions that have plagued the Eastern part of the U.S. for nearly a week.
“I think it was like 101 in the shade,” Dempsey said. “That’s definitely going to hinder everybody’s performance all weekend. Certainly on a long run, stamina is going to be a big thing, and just no grip on the track. You are going to have to be very careful.”
The heat has apparently made for a slick track and “soft” pit lane asphalt.
“Everyone is struggling with how slick it is, how hot it is, and it’s taken its toll on the track even,” Cameron said. “Air jacks are melting into the pit lane, so that’s fun! The car is just very loose right now, we are working on improving it, and we are running our car kind of a different way than what we did at Mazda Raceway one race ago. We have got a really good car, and we are not really paying too much attention to how fast we can go over one lap. It is going to come down to who can hang on to the thing for two hours and 45 when it’s 115 degrees out. It is plenty, plenty warm inside, I will tell you that much.”
Gué co-drove the No. 41 Mazda to a fourth-place finish last year at NJMP and believes the team has a comparably competitive car this weekend.
“I am actually very, very happy with our car,” Gué said. “On this type of track, you don’t really pay much attention to the time sheets. All we are really concentrating on is looking to see if after a three or four lap run the car actually settles down. Ultimately that is what we are looking for. Every time we have got past lap four or five we have been the quickest car on the track. So I am very happy and optimistic. We have a little more room to improve, but we have certainly found a really good direction, and we are making very good progress with the car.”
The American Red Cross 250 is a full three-day weekend event and the only Sunday feature race on the 2011 calendar. Saturday’s schedule includes final practice and qualifying with race-day Sunday beginning with a 30-minute final practice at 9:30 a.m. before that afternoon’s American Red Cross 250 at 1 p.m.
About Dempsey Racing
A fulltime and year-round enterprise, Dempsey Racing (www.dempseyracing.net) is a professional sports car auto racing team based in the greater Atlanta area in Norcross, Georgia. Owned by actor/driver Patrick Dempsey, the team races in support of the Team Seattle Guild (www.teamseattle.com) to benefit the Seattle Children’s Hospital Heart Center (www.seattlechildrens.org) and the Patrick Dempsey Center for Cancer Hope & Healing (www.dempseycenter.org) in Dempsey’s hometown of Lewiston, Maine.
Dempsey Racing Partners
Dempsey Racing is an official Mazda (www.mazdausa.com) racing team and has competed exclusively in Mazda RX-8 GTs since 2007. Additional team partners include Global Diving & Salvage (www.gdiving.com), the largest diving contractor on the West Coast, VISIT FLORIDA (www.VISITFLORIDA.com), the official tourism marketing corporation for the State of Florida, ModSpace (www.modspace.com), a North American leader in temporary and permanent modular buildings and portable storage, Construct Corps (www.constructcorps.com), a leading provider of temporary skilled workers for the construction industry, and Specialized Bicycle Components (www.specialized.com), a manufacturer and worldwide supplier of technically advanced bicycles and related components.