Whelen Engineering Fights to the Finish at Watkins Glen

Watkins Glen, N.Y. (2 July 2017) - The No. 31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac DPi-V.R fought back from a mid-race loose wheel to race to the finish of Sunday’s Sahlen’s Six Hours of the Glen. Action Express Racing drivers Dane Cameron, Eric Curran and Filipe Albuquerque were classified seventh in the Prototype class after the checkered flag flew on the event.

Despite the strong fight back, the result was a disappointment for the squad, which had raced forward to the lead of the event by the middle stages of the race, only to suffer a loose wheel following a pit stop.

Curran opened the race and slotted into fourth at the start, moving up to the lead on lap 23 before turning the car over to Cameron on lap 47. Cameron was able to press the patriotic-liveried Whelen Engineering machine back to the front once again, taking the lead on lap 66 and holding the point until a lap 91 pit stop as he turned the car back over to Curran.

Unfortunately for Curran, his out lap lasted far too long as he lost drive on the back straight.

“I left the pits and before I got back up to speed, the steering alignment was not straight so I slowed down and I knew right away that we had an issue at the back of the car,” said the American racer. A caution for the stopped car saw the team greet the machine back in the paddock, quickly diagnose and repair the problem, and then send the car back to race action. Despite the quick work of the team, the tow back to the paddock was slow and costly for track position as the No. 31 returned to action several laps down.

The Whelen Engineering entry was just as quick and capable in the second half of the race, as the drivers looked to make up lost ground. Unfortunately the team ran out of laps to make more progress, finishing seventh in class.

“It has been a year of should’ve, could’ve, would have’s, but those don’t equal points and race wins,” Cameron said “We had a pretty quick car. We worked on it all week. In the race we had a good car like at Detroit. The No. 5 won today so that shows team progress. It is disappointing to have one slip away when we were close. We have been competitive the last couple of races and I think we can continue that trend for the last four races, which is encouraging.”

“It is too bad we just can't catch a break so far this season,” Curran said. “We were there as fast as anyone else today in our Whelen Engineering Cadillac. The car is a lot better in the race than we had it in qualifying, so it's a shame to not be able to turn that into big result. Just wasn't our day today, but hopefully we can turn it around at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park next weekend.”