Our GTIs were grouped in Race Group "C" along with the Legends Cars, Thunder Roadsters, Baby Grands, Mazda Pro7s and various Pro Sedans.  For the weekend Group C had a showing of up to 50 cars.   Weather for the weekend was warm ....low to mid 90s for both Saturday and Sunday with Sunday a bit cooler with a nice sea breeze off the San Francisco Bay.    Unlike our previous recent races,  Race Group C was the first scheduled race for both days with the race start at 1:20 PM.   Lap times for all the Nor Cal NASA races can be access at MyLaps.com by clicking here.

Saturday Sprint Race:  Saturday's qualifying saw Don Bailey grabbing pole with a qualifying time of 2:04.10 followed by Carlos Suarez with a time of 2:04.21.  Scott Neville qualified a close third with a 2:04.27.   Dan Pina qualified forth with a 2:05.93 and Ron Swett fifth with a 2:08.48.  Unlike the previous two races at Thunderhill we would be starting with a flying start as opposed to a standing start.   The GTIs were grided next to one another at the rear of the the third starting wave which consisted of all the sedan race cars.  The open wheel cars were placed in the first two waves with the Baby Grands in front followed by the Thunder Roadsters and then the Legends cars.  The GTIs got off to a clean start with Carlos grabbing the lead followed closely by Don, Dan, Scott and Ron.  This order held for the first 3 laps until Daniel and Scott got mixed up with a Datsun 510 ProSedan that Carlos and Don had just passed in Turn 10.  As Daniel and Scott were trying to pass the 510,  Carlos and Don slowly increased their lead.  On Lap 4, Dan got by the 510 in an outbraking pass in Turn 11 but just past Turn 2 his car died due to an electrical failure giving Scott 3rd place.  Carlos led the race from flag to flag with Don on his tail the entire race.  Don finished only two seconds behind Carlos,  Scott finished 15 seconds behind first place to take third.   Ron finished forth and Dan fifth.   Individual fastest race laps were as follows:  Carlos 2:03.96,  Don  2:03.74, Scott 2:04.80, Ron 2:06.19 and Dan 2:05.19.

Sunday Qualifying Race: The grid for Sunday's 20-minute qualifying race was determined by Saturday's sprint race finish but NASA threw in a twist as the grid would be inverted from Saturday's finish.  Therefore Dan Pina was pole, followed by Tom Aiken then Scott, Don and Carlos last.  The GTIs would start again in the back of the third wave of cars with a flying start. On the start Dan grabbed the early lead followed by Carlos, Tom, Don and Scott but bad luck with electrical gremlins knocked Dan out by Turn 4 on the first lap.  By Turn 4 Carlos was in the lead, followed by Tom, Don and Scott.  Don made an inside pass on Tom in Turn 4 and Scott took advantage of Tom's loss of momentum to pass him in Turn 5.  Scott was able to pass Don at the bottom of Turn 6 for second place behind Carlos.  Lap 2 saw Carlos first, Scott second, Don third and Tom in forth position.   Scott was able to close the gap with Carlos in Turn 7 with some slower traffic and on Lap 3 was hounding Carlos for the battle for first.  He got by Carlos in a drafting pass on the inside of Turn 7.  Scott held the lead with Carlos close behind until the last lap...Carlos got confused when the starter held out a white and was holding as well a checkered flag...the checkered was meant for the Thunder Roadsters and the white was for the GTIs....Carlos mistakenly pulled off with one remaining lap and ended up in forth place.  Scott finished in first place, Don second, Tom third, Carlos forth and Dan fifth.  Individual fast race laps were as follows:  Scott 2:04.07,  Don 2:04.00,  Tom 2:11.04, Carlos 2:04.91, and Dan (DNF...no lap completed).

Sunday Final Sprint Race:  The grid for this final points race was set by the finish of the qualifying race... Scott on pole followed by Don, Tom,  Carlos and Dan.

The race started without any problems...and the GTIs all made through Turn 2  without incident (see photo below).  Scott led the first four laps but got passed in Turn 11 by Carlos at the beginning of Lap 5.  Lap 5 running order was Carlos, Scott, Dan, Don and Tom.  On Lap 8 Dan was able to use Turn 11 to get by Scott to take second place but his electrical gremlins returned this same lap just as Scott was trying to draft pass Dan on the exit to Turn 10.  This put Scott back in second, Carlos was first, Don third and Tom forth.  This running order held and the checkered flag saw Carlos first, Scott second,  Don third,  Tom forth and Dan a bad luck fifth.  This was a closely finished race with 4.7 seconds separating 1st and 2nd and 0.5 seconds separating 2nd and 3rd place   Individual fast race laps were as follows:  Carlos 2:04.54, Scott 2:04.52,  Don 2:04.24,  Tom 2:06.99 and Dan 2:05.11.  For an in-car video clip of the second race lap from the Shed Racing GTI click here (56K warning 12 MB video clip).

AS ALWAYS.....thanks NASA for another great weekend of racing!