Lexington, Ohio, May 20th ---- What led to a beautiful sunny day for qualifying and racing was two days of severe thunderstorms that seemed as if they would never end. The locals had eight straight days of rain! Upon arrival at the race circuit Autosport Designs Racing set to building an arc for the upcoming fear of “the flood” as well as replacing two complete engine assemblies in the aforementioned severe rain with units supplied by Aston Martin Racing along with the normal required set up and preparation for racing. Engines were replaced in the paddock next to and with the help of Aston Martin Racing (thank you Stuart, John and Ed) as they were also at Mid-Ohio with the GT1 DBR9’s for their round in the ALMS schedule. Although our teething problems have continued it does seem to be getting better and better each event.

Johnny Mowlem #44 fresh from two days testing at the Houston Motorsport Ranch (MSR) (Tom Papadopoulos could not attend and left all sorting and development in the capable hands of Johnny and the Autosport Designs team) felt the team had made excellent progress with regard to chassis development. This was apparent when Johnny was 3rd overall in Friday evenings very wet practice. Tom Papadopoulos #43 unfortunately did half a lap before an electrical problem cause the #43 car to be returned directly to the garage.

Saturday morning’s qualifying saw the Autosport Designs Racing Aston Martin DBRS9’s of Johnny Mowlem #44 and Tom Papadopoulos #43 qualify 18th and 27th respectively. This event was the closest grid in the history of World Challenge GT with the top twenty qualifying within two seconds of the pole-sitter. Johnny Mowlem was extremely pleased and stated “the ongoing testing program seems to be a step in the right direction”. Tom Papadopoulos #43 having never been at Mid-Ohio and only having a total of fifteen practice and qualifying laps was not as pleased as Johnny but indeed looked forward to the upcoming race and what consistency and attrition could bring.

The race…Johnny #44 and Tom #43 both got extremely good starts overtaking several in the process. Tom #43 moved up through the pack nicely settling into a nice rhythm, catching and passing several until behind hit from behind in what resulted in a left rear flat tire. This forced immediate retirement due to not being able to return to the pits for a wheel/tire change. Johnny #44 moved up through the pack from his 18th starting position to 12th. A yellow flag just two laps from the end of the race resulted in a restart in which Johnny was passed resulting in his finishing 15th overall.

Both drivers and team crew chief Barry Wagner agree progress has been made and the entire team look forward to further development and upcoming races.