 Manuel Gil del Real Gets Overall Win at Buttonwillow
Buttonwillow, CA, March 16, 2008. Last year, Team MGR Racing-WOT Performance came back victorious from Buttonwillow after enduring scorching temperatures above 110 degrees to clinch the ASC Racing Unlimited Class Championship. This year, the weather at Buttonwillow Raceway Park put all ASC Racing drivers to the test once again with ever changing conditions.
On Saturday, after a monumental dust storm brought visibility to the track down to zero, all ASC teams took their grid positions 45 minutes behind schedule. But if they had hoped that the worst was over, just a few minutes later, it started to rain hard. Dust and rain do not mix well with auto racing, and much less with racecars equipped with slick tires. "I was sitting in the car with water coming in from everywhere. These cars have no windows and no windshield wipers, not to mention that we don't have treaded rain tires either... needless to say, I was a bit concerned about racing in those conditions," said Manuel Gil del Real.
During the warm up lap leading to the green flag, a couple of drivers decided to park their cars when the conditions inside and outside of their racecars became too challenging for them to continue racing with minimum safety. The #27 WOT Performance Ford started in second place behind the ASC spec car driven by Bryan Hintz. At the drop of the green flag, both cars were passed by a Dodge Viper equipped with rain tires. Nevertheless, Gil del Real stayed on course wishing for once that he didn't have so much horsepower under the hood. "The car was so hard to control... I could get fairly good speed in the back straight but braking and cornering I had to be extremely careful and smooth to keep it on the track," added Gil del Real. In the end, Manuel Gil del Real finished third in the ASC Unlimited class, and if he needed any consolation, the two cars that had passed him earlier in the race were both on rain tires. Pete Andreas, the team's Technical Director, summed it up very clearly after the race: "We came here to prove that we have a fast racecar capable of winning this weekend and if the weather cooperates tomorrow, we will have a chance to prove just that."
Somebody up there must like Pete because the weather did cooperate on Sunday. Although still windy and cold, the track was dry and all the ASC Racing Teams were willing to show their true speed. Qualifying times went down almost a full second from Saturday's times. The #27 WOT Performance Ford qualified in fourth place albeit just seven tenths behind the pole sitter. "I had a decent qualifying lap, not perfect, but good enough to stay up front. I'm not sure if the guys ahead of me will be able to keep their pace as the race goes on, but we'll find out! I know Pete and I wanted to set up the car for the longer runs and not just for qualifying," said Gil del Real. Still, after analyzing their data, Pete Andreas decided to make a gear change that would match better the Ford engine's powerband in the high speed sections of the track.
Sunday's race turned out to be the most entertaining race of the weekend. Seventeen cars took the green flag, all of them with qualifying times within tenths of a second of each other. During the warm up lap, the #27 Ford lost all instrumentation when the digital dash went blank. "I radioed Pete because all of a sudden, the dash turned off and I could not get it back on. I had no gauges at all, including shift lights or RPM numbers. I spent the entire warm up lap wiggling cables trying to get it back on, but I finally decided to forget about it and deal with it," said Gil del Real.
After regaining his focus, Gil del Real had a clean start. He came out of turn one side by side with the fifth qualifier but still was able to keep his fourth place going into the esses. Now in fourth place, his eyes were set to keep up with the three cars upfront waiting for a chance to get by them. This is when the earlier gear change completed by Pete Andreas proved to be masterful. Manuel gained 6 mph in top speed which enabled him to get past the #13 of Bryan Hintz right at the end of the back straight and into the fast Riverside turn. Two laps later, he moved up one more position after passing Robert Davis going into turn one. That pass into second place set off a hard fight for first place that lasted until the last corner of the last lap of the race.
Lap after lap, Gil del Real chased Ken Davis' #64 car as hard as he could. "His motor was stronger than mine; I could be on his bumper all the way into the Mazda turn, and then he would just open up a 70-80 foot gap in the back straight. It was getting frustrating but I was just trying to force him into making a mistake or hoping that we would run into lapped traffic that would affect his speed." As it turned out, both of these situations happened with just one lap to go. While passing a slower car, Ken Davis went too deep into turn 15, locked his brakes, ran wide and left the door open for Gil del Real to squeeze by into first place. "I couldn't believe it!! I saw his right front tire lock up and I knew I had him!! With one lap to go now I had to make sure that I could stay ahead of him the rest of the way!" said Gil del Real.
 Despite Ken Davis' efforts to recover his lost position, the #27 WOT Performance Ford crossed the finish line just three tenths of a second ahead of him bringing the Phoenix team its second win of the season and their second consecutive win at Buttonwillow Raceway Park. Just like Pete Andreas had predicted the day before, Team MGR Racing-WOT Performance came to prove that they have a fast car and Manuel set the fastest lap time for the team during the last race of the weekend to prove just that.
The next two races in the ASC Racing Series will take place at Willow Springs International Raceway in Rosamond, CA, on April 5-6, 2008.
For more information about the Team's 2008 schedule, please visit www.MGRRacing.net or www.WOTPerformance.com.
About WOT Performance:
Based in Riverside, California, since its inception in 2001, WOT Performance (WOT) has had the privilege of working directly with celebrities' cars, fleets and individuals to provide services from oil analysis and speed limiting to wheels-up drag racing to wheel to wheel short track, dirt, and road racing. Among other features, WOT's facilities include Fuel Injection services and a chassis Dyno bringing their passion for technology and custom tuning to continue "Taking Performance to the Next Level".
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