Our weekend at Spring Mountain Motorsports Ranch in Pahrump, NV marked the first event back on track for the COBB Tuning Team in just about 2 months. In our time away from the tarmac I worked on securing new sponsorship for the rest of the season, and by the time we reached Pahrump, MSI and Jongbloed wheels were on board as parts sponsors.

Our weekend started off a little rocky in the Nevada desert; early Saturday we identified an issue with our front wheel studs requiring a tear down of the front hub and knuckle assembly. Luckily, we had a spare hub from Subaru of Ontario that allowed us to get back on track quickly, missing only the first two morning practice sessions.

Having never driven Spring Mountain, there was definitely a bit of a learning curve. Even on my “sighting laps” I could tell that I was going to love the track, and the car was singing praises as well. The car was doing great for its first event back on track, the new LIC radiator setup was keeping water temperatures in check and I was really able to work with the car to learn the track. When it came time for the first time attack sessions, it was apparent that there was going to be some close competition.

Steve Ruiz didn’t disappoint in his performance, he was consistently within several tenths of our times and a new face, Thomas Smith with Zenkai Motorsports, was laying down some incredibly impressive times. At the end of the day, we had secured a solid 2nd place finish just one tenth in front of Ruiz, and around 1-second behind Smith.

I was incredibly pleased with the car’s performance and our results. We went into the weekend anticipating adversity and we really succeeded in finishing where we wanted to secure a larger points lead for the Street Tire Class Overall championship. Looking ahead to Infineon, we are going to continue to work on improving the car’s cooling system and we will be making some subtle chassis changes. I would like to thank OS Giken, Subaru of Ontario, LIC Motorsports, Jongbloed wheels, COBB Tuning, and Velocity Carbon for all of their continued support and making this car what it is today.