Dean Leads Playboy MX-5 Practice Two, Combined Practice In Canada
Jul. 20, 2012 - BOWMANVILLE, Canada - With most of the SCCA Pro Racing Playboy MX-5 Cup running the second Friday practice without fresh BFGoodrich Tires, times were generally slower than the morning, but John Dean, of Sebring, Fla., bucked that trend and posted the fastest time of the day.
 |
| John Dean was quickest in P2 and overall on Friday (Shaun Lumley photo) |
|
It was an eventful 30-minute session at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park for the Sick Sideways team. Dean’s No. 16 Projections Research/Sick Sideways MX-5 experienced the highs with a fast lap of 1:35.812 (92.393 mph), but his teammate, Christian Szymczak, experienced the lows when his No. 34 Projections Research/Sick Sideways MX-5 went into the wall at Turn Five.
“For the past few events, we’ve been getting closer and closer with our baseline set-ups,” Dean said. “Coming into Mosport, we’ve been very hopeful and optimistic of what we have. We were fast right off the bat testing. I think the CJ Wilson cars were a little bit faster in practice one, but we were out on old tires.
“For us, if we get it to work on old tires, we throw new tires on it and they’re usually fantastic. So we’re in a spot where we’re really happy. Unfortunately, Christian had an issue and hit the wall and we’re all hoping he’s ok.”
Szymczak was awake and alert after the accident, but transported to Lakeridge Health Hospital in Bowmanville, Ontario, for precautionary x-rays to his ribs.
Second in the session was championship leader Stevan McAleer, who was quickest in the morning session in the No. 28 Blue Mercury Capital/Numerix/CJ Wilson Children’s Charities MX-5. McAleer’s lap of 1:36.456 (91.776 mph) was slower than his morning lap of 1:35.815 (92.390 mph), which was just 0.003-second from Dean’s pace.
Ara Malkhassian, the most recent race winner, was third in the session with a 1:36.691 (91.553 mph) in the No. 11 ALARA Racing MX-5.
Two of McAleer’s CJ Wilson Racing teammates completed the top five in the session. Elliott Skeer’s No. 17 MAZDASPEED/Sparco MX-5 was fourth in 1:36.784 (91.465 mph), followed by Marc Miller’s No. 27 ModSpace MX-5 in 1:36.887 (91.368 mph).
Newcomer Sebastian Landy, a 16-year-old driving the No. 07 Excitations.com MX-5, was sixth in the session with a 1:38.648 (89.737 mph) in his first day with the series.
With the Skip Barber Racing School MAZDASPEED Pro Series class running concurrently with the Playboy MX-5 Cup, Bryan Hixon posted the quickest time in class with a 1:39.302 (89.146 mph) in the No. 63 Ducati San Antonio/TequilaMe MX-5.
The SCCA Pro Racing Playboy Mazda MX-5 Cup Round 7 weekend continues with qualifying at 11:30 a.m. (EDT) on Saturday to set the grid for Sunday afternoon’s Round Seven race.
More information on the SCCA Pro Racing Playboy MX-5 Cup is available at www.mx-5cup.com.
Follow the MX-5 Cup on Twitter @MazdaMX5Cup.
|
