Long Day at Lime Rock Park for Strategic Wealth Racing
Dicken, Lewis persevere for 15th place
Lakeville, Conn. (23 July 2016) – Saturday brought hot and humid conditions to Northwest Connecticut. With vast sunshine on hand for the IMSA Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge race, it made for a brutal day at Lime Rock Park in Round 6 of the 2016 championship. The 2.5-hour race ran at a furious pace for drivers Matt Dicken and Corey Lewis as the event went flag-to-flag without a single full course caution period.Despite having the No. 36 Strategic Wealth Designers Porsche handling well around the tight confines of the 1.5-mile bull ring circuit, the lack of caution periods made for an uphill battle for track position.
Dicken opened the race from the 12th row after setting his fastest laps at Lime Rock Park during Friday’s 15 minute qualifying session. With nearly 40 cars competing, Dicken was busy behind the wheel as he cleanly navigated through the combined GS and ST class traffic.
Despite the very quick lap times on offer at the shortest track on the IMSA calendar, the lack of yellows saw the No. 36 fall two laps down after Dicken fought to stay on the lead lap ahead of the lighter weight leading Mazda machines.
“It was pretty tough,” said Dicken. “The car started out great. Goldcrest Motorsports did a great job giving us a good car to race with. It’s just not my track-we knew we were going to struggle a little here. Our strategy was hoping for a yellow to get Corey (Lewis) back on the lead lap and it just never came through. This is my 15th Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge race and this is the first one that’s run green all the way to the end. It’s a testament to the drivers and the teams that we can go racing for 2.5 hours and not have a yellow. We ended up 15th which is a little further back than we thought we’d be. The next four tracks are good Cayman tracks though, so we should be pretty strong there.”
After moving up to 18th in the order through the first hour of the race, Dicken pitted the No. 36 Strategic Wealth Designers Porsche and handed the car over to Lewis who took it to the finish. Unfortunately the lack of yellows left Lewis simply playing catch up as he chased down the pack of cars remaining on his same race lap.
Lewis managed to pass nearly every car on his lap and move up seven positions through the last hour of racing to take 15th at the checkered flag.
“It was very tough, the whole way through you’re just hoping for a yellow so you can stack back up and get some more positions and get a lap back,” said Lewis. “I was super surprised that we didn’t get that yellow. The biggest thing was to just manage the tires the best we could and pick them off as best we could without making any mistakes.”
With six races now complete, the Strategic Wealth Racing team has continued to see progress throughout the year. The squad looks to build on that as the IMSA Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge season enters its second half of the year.
“The whole crew, Matt (Dicken), everybody on this team has stepped their game up more than we could have imagined and more than I expected throughout the season,” added Lewis. “I’m super proud of everybody. I’m proud of Matt. His pace is getting quicker and quicker every race we go to. It’s something to be proud of. We’re going to keep pushing and keep getting better and fight for top-10 finishes the rest of the year.”
The next IMSA Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge event for Strategic Wealth Racing takes place at Road America in two weeks.
