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Local Driver, Foust finishes in 2nd Place!
A.Pinker finishes in 4th place and keeps his lead in the standings.
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The 8th round of RANC 2007 (Rally America National Championship) "Rally Colorado" was held on September 22nd- 23rd in Steamboat Springs, 150miles west of the state capital, Denver.
Known as "Ski Town", the very mountainous area holds all 18SS, 100miles worth of stages. This round is centered around fast corner gravel sections and TEIN entries were from SYMS Racing, #5 A.Pinker (Subaru Impreza GDB-F) and #34 T.Foust (Subaru Impreza GDB-F).
Leg 1, on 22nd was blessed with fine weather but the team had unexpected trouble with Foust's car suffering transmission and inter-cooler problems and Pinker's car suffering turbine problems. The following day, Leg 2, was very tough and saw a downpour in the morning creating unpredictable muddy road conditions, the cancellation of SS16, SS17, and SS18, but Foust, who is from Colorado, was able to finish in 2nd place. Pinker came in 4th place to keep his top position in the standings. |
The high speed "Rally Colorado" was held in the high altitude mountains where the weather conditions change very easily, from dry to dusty, wet to muddy and slippery road conditions. The conditions playing a vital role in the cars set up for round 1, both TEIN supported cars undertook private testing in rally week, on the 18th and 19th. On the first test day, the 18th, Pinker's car suffered transmission trouble, while in the shake down on the 21st, Foust's car suffered engine trouble. Though both drivers felt good with the car's suspension set up, they started the event suffering from other problems.
Foust, who is from Colorado and has plenty of experience in Leg 1 of this rally, was able to mark the best time in SS2. Pinker was able to mark the second best time even though it was his first appearance on this course. Unfortunately the good run was only for a brief moment as Foust's car suffered transmission trouble as well as inter-cooler trouble in the afternoon loop session. Pinker's car had turbine trouble also in the afternoon loop session and was off pace. Even though trouble developed for both cars, Foust marked the best time for SS10 and with consistent driving finished in 2nd place after Leg 1. Pinker came home in 4th place for day 1, and for his first finish on this course.
There was a downpour of heavy rain in the morning of 23rd, Leg 2, and the conditions were very muddy. Foust starting in 2nd place marked the best times for SS12-SS15 with his intense driving efforts but with the weather conditions becoming worse, SS16, SS17, SS18 were cancelled and Foust was awarded 2nd place. Pinker was suffering from a loss of grip in his rear tires but managed to finish in 4th place. Even though he couldn't finish on the podium, he was able keep his top position in the standings.
Comments from TEIN engineer (TEIN USA/Mr. Katsuma Nakai)
Using the high-speed corner settings from last round's Minnesota rally as the base specifications for this round, Pinker suffered loss of traction and Foust claimed there was over steer in high-speed corners. We made minor adjustments to support the drivers. Because of the heavy rain in Leg 2, we softened the front stabilizers, but Pinker and Foust both seemed to have lost some traction in the rear, and we should have also made adjustments for that. But even with problems with the cars, they were able to finish in 2nd and 4th places and the suspension set-ups seemed to be fine. We heard the final stage consists of rough gravel conditions so we want to make sure we can get the correct settings ready for the cars. |
| Pos. |
No. |
Driver |
Machine |
Time |
Diff |
| 1 |
43 |
Ken Block |
SUBARU Impreza WRX STI |
1:12:29.0 |
|
| 2 |
34 |
Tanner Foust |
SUBARU Impreza WRX STI |
1:12:52.8 |
+0'23"8 |
| 3 |
199 |
Travis Pastrana |
SUBARU Impreza WRX STI |
1:13:13.3 |
+0'44"3 |
| 4 |
5 |
Andrew Pinker |
SUBARU Impreza WRX STI |
1:13:29.5 |
+1'00"5 |
|
