The Autometrics Colours Inc. team has had its share of ups and downs over the past 3 events in the IMSA GT3 Cup Challenge by Yokohama series.

At Lime Rock Park the team showed good speed, but could not deliver more than one podium finish due to a racing incident during Race 2. On top of that, some very unusual circumstances forced IMSA officials to disqualify the team from Race 2. Later on, and thanks to an outstanding exercise of professionalism by VP, the official fuel supplier for IMSA, the team was granted the points earned in Race 2. Gordon Friedman commented on the weekend; “Lime Rock was bitter sweet, the first race had Fernando on the podium, and then after the second race we were disqualified for a perceived fuel violation.  Fortunately that was straightened out, thanks to VP and IMSA for their diligence in resolving the matter.”  

At Mosport the team continued to show the same top speed during qualifying by clinching second place on the grid, but once again struggled to deliver top results during the races. In Race 1 another race incident forced the #38 car to drop several spots. During Race 2 an unexpected moment of oversteer forced the car into a spin losing a few spots again. Fernando Pena summarized the weekend; “Mosport is the most “fear-for-your-life” track I have ever driven. Once I got over the scary moments we managed to qualify in second place. In Race 1, I had a race incident with Schein which pushed us back quite a bit but we finished 13th. During the second race, while trying to pressure Schein again, I spun by myself. We still managed to finish 6th after an epic battle with Mark Bullit.”

Finally at Road America the Autometrics Colours Inc. team showed further progression in their top speed by qualifying in the top spot of the grid. That performance was followed by a win in both Race 1 and Race 2. Tim Evans, owner and founder of Colours Inc, lived passionately every second of excitement during those races; “The Road America weekend had by far the most exciting races. We had a good group of race fanatics following live the race at the Colours Inc. headquarters in Wilkes-Barre, PA. It was extremely exciting and of course we got the best possible result, two wins.  We knew it was going to happen at some point, but not this early. We are now all fired up for the rest of the season and we can’t wait to see the final point standing after the races at Petit.”

Gordon Friedman added after Road America; “Back on familiar ground at Road America we finally got the results we were looking for.  Fernando qualified on the pole and that paid huge dividends. He led all but one lap in race one and all laps in race two.  Fernando is now firmly second place in drivers points and we're going to do all we can to maintain or improve on that."

Mike Courtney remains calm but excited at the same time. “It is pretty obvious to everybody that we are always going faster. The results speak for themselves. Since the beginning of the season we continue getting closer and closer. Now we have shown to be the fastest car. But still there is plenty of work to do to maximize the car and the driving potential of the car, from a set up point of view, driving skills, and race strategy. We love to win but I am also hoping to show more consistency in winning races”.

The victories at Road America had a dramatic impact on Driver Point Standings.  Pena moved up to a season-high second position, and trails championship leader Cisneros by only 14 points with 4 rounds remaining.

The Autometrics Colours Inc. team will be heading to Laguna Seca on Sept 15^th-18^th for rounds 12 and 13 of the IMSA Challenge series.