Round 9 - Spa GP

Rosinski's 7th Place Finish Heads Mixed Day for TDR

Carla Rosinski made the most of the opportunities presented to her today as she came home with a solid 7th place finish in the Spa GP, propelling her up to 6th in the championship. The former Dash Cup champion showed why she re-signed with Tom Delgado Racing for the 2017 Dash Cup season.

Meanwhile, it was not a happy return to Dash Cup competition for Tom Delgado. The legendary 4-division race winner and former ASCC champion was as high as 7th in the early going, but suffered damage and fell off the pace, and subsequently out of the top 20 in a disappointing collapse that will certainly not impress any potential 2017 Indianapolis 500 suitors. The disappointment was clear in Delgado's voice as he spoke to reporters after the event.

"It's always something. Bad luck, mechanical failures, getting picked up in someone else's garbage. You name it, it's happened to TDR this year. We had a top 5 car, and instead we don't get the result we deserve. That's racing, but it absolutely sucks. I couldn't be more disappointed if I tried. We were way too good to finish this low in the order." A disappointed Delgado said as he exited his car. "We did ALMOST everything right today. The only thing we did wrong was get involved in someone else's nonsense. If any of our teams could someday put together a full weekend where we get everything right, something we're fully capable of, we might actually win for once." Delgado added, further lamenting his team's general bad luck this season.

Fochesato Scored Fourteenth After Eventful Spa GP
4 June 2016


The 2016 edition of the Spa GP is in the books. Living up to its title as the premier race in Dash Cup, the event saw plenty of close racing and several instances of potential race winners being eliminated from mechanical failures and crashes. By the time that the checkered flag was thrown, Kellan Rogers-Ashby had assumed the lead from the mechanically-troubled car of Cassandra Collins, and the Canadian would win the race for the first time in her career.

The high attrition rate seen throughout the race assisted in helping FIAM Engineering racer Vincenzo Fochesato to achieve a 14th-place result. After failing to qualify through time trials, Fochesato earned the 31st starting position by taking the victory in his qualifying race. Despite starting so far down the order and inflicting damage upon his car in the early stages after contact with the tire barrier in the hairpin, he was able to improve 17 positions by the end of the race.

The Italian was visibly happy after climbing out of his Delta DC.

"First of all, I need to give credit to the crew for keeping me in the race and as far towards the front as they did. Everybody on this team did a fantastic job all week long and I couldn't be more grateful for them. It was a great race overall! I made the mistake of hitting the tires early on and that slowed the car down from then on, but considering where we started, 14th place is fantastic. As I said the team never missed a beat and they put both me and Mireille [Allain] in the top 15 even though we started so far behind."

The other representative of FIAM Engineering in the race, Mireille Allain, managed to work her way from a 29th-place starting position to finish 15th, accomplishing a similar feat to Fochesato.

Fochesato's only previous start in the Spa GP came last year when he finished in 44th after crashing on lap 4. In 2014, he failed to qualify for the event in what was his first attempt at starting a Dash Cup race.

"Getting to partake in this race, it's really an honor in its own right. I know that 14th-place isn't too glamorous but it's something of which I'm very proud. We've got five more race weekends to look forward to and this team will achieve great things if enough luck goes our way. I've had a wonderful time in Belgium and I'm truly thankful that I have the opportunity to race!"

The next race for the Dash Cup Pirelli Super Stocks Series will be in Japan, at the fast and treacherous Saitama Ken Race Track.

Durbin Unhappy with Matthews, Early Race Ending

After what looked to be a promising start to his first Spa GP, Ike Durbin's race went south early on after an accident triggered by Ryan Matthews.  

Durbin's weekend started off promising, qualifying nineteenth--the highest of any of the five Kwik Fit cars.  After the drop of the green flag, Durbin quickly worked his way to the top ten.  However, in a battle with Caitlin Richler and Ryan Matthews, Matthews turned the slow Thomas Prochazka into the wall, before coming back onto the track into Durbin's and Tom Delgado's paths.

Durbin who was taken out in the incident, was none too happy, "We had a great Kwik Fit car all weekend.  Qualifying wasn't the best, but we were working our way forward, and I think we had a shot at the top five if everything played out how it was looking to, so to be taken out the way we were is very disappointing."

"I get that [Matthews] was probably frustrated with [Prochazka], but that's no reason to take him out in the straight.  I have the upmost respect for the guy and everything he's done, but the drivers over there need to figure something out because it seems like they're causing dumb incidents every week.  I don't know, we'll move on to the next round and hopefully regain some momentum."

With his DNF, Durbin will leave Spa eleventh in the standings, second highest of the Kwik Fit cars.

Caitlin Richler "thankful" after incredible second place finish in debut

It was an eventful Spa Grand Prix, as the 18th running of the biggest race in Dash Cup competition rolled around, however all of the chopping and changing that occurred at the front of the field due to various accidents and mechanical woes for drivers went in the favour of several drivers; one being popular PART Racing Series driver Caitlin Richler, who not only surprised many by putting her car 14th on the grid, but by also making her way up the field to finish second place in her first, and only scheduled Dash Cup appearance ever.

Richler, 20, grew up racing Late Models in her home state of Alaska, but the social media virtuoso has also proven to be handy in whatever race car she steps in; currently well inside the top 10 in the PART points, and having also scored several top 10's for HQS Racing in the FARC Elite Series. However, not many expected Richler to make much of this opportunity, given that she was in an unsponsored one car operation, but Richler revealed there were some that had faith in her, and it was those who drove her to get the result she did.

"I knew our car was good but I had no idea we had a top 2 finish in this." said Richler, "A lot of people had seen the car and given their good lucks to us, but it was the guys who came and visited, like Ben Atkins and Hannah Percy and told me 'Hey, you've got this! You can do it!' that really got me motivated to earn the result I did. Give me a little bit of hope and I'll run a long way with it."

"I saw the #1 car break down and I was right on the #90's bumper, and I just thought to myself 'Oh my god, am I going to win this?' and at that point I started making a few little mistakes. I think nerves got to the best of me, but Kellan [Rogers-Ashby] really deserved the win. I'm just proud of what we achieved. It's pretty hard to take in, honestly, but I'm so happy."

When asked if she would like to return to the series for the Spa Grand Prix next year, Richler simply smiled and said "Of course!"