RSR MINI Victorious in New Jersey
Well, the effort has paid off. The RSR team notched it’s first victory of the season this past weekend at the New Jersey Motorsports Park. Great team work, sound strategy, and some cool driving by Smalley and Trinkler combined for the win.
Official Release:
RSR Motorsports Victorious at New Jersey; First Series Win for MINI
MILLVILLE, N.J.—RSR Motorsports had a weekend of firsts during round eight of the GRAND-AM Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge Series at New Jersey Motorsports Park. Randall Smalley and Owen Trinkler earned the first series win for both RSR Motorsports and MINI, and they did it in the first car built entirely in-house by the RSR crew.
Smalley and Trinkler gave the No. 198 RSR Motorsports MINI Cooper S its first shakedown run on Thursday, following a complete rebuild of the car. Under the guidance of chassis engineer Jim Haaser, the MINI was fitted with a Bosch engine management system and tuned for optimum performance in endurance racing.
Smalley started the race on Saturday, and he pitted during a caution period to hand the MINI over to Trinkler. The green flag stayed out long enough for Trinkler to work his way to first. The team knew fuel mileage would be a close call, though, so Trinkler dashed to the pits during another caution for fresh tires and a splash of fuel.
The pit strategy paid huge dividends: Trinkler re-entered the race in sixth and was able to re-take the lead. From there, he pulled away to a 16.071-second lead, taking the checkered flag first in the Street Tuner class.
It is fitting that the first win for RSR Motorsports comes from team owner Smalley and team manager Trinkler. “This has been a long time coming and I couldn’t be more excited,†says Smalley. “It’s nice that Owen got our first win; he’s worked so hard to make this happen. I’m really happy for everyone on the team.â€
“This validates everything we’ve done over the past six months,†says Trinkler. “We’ve made the MINI competitive, and Randall has given us the tools to do it. We got a little taste of the future with this race, and now we know how competitive we can be.â€
Smalley and Trinkler weren’t the only RSR Motorsports drivers who had a successful weekend. Sarah Cattaneo and VJ Mirzayan finished seventh in the No. 197 MINI Cooper S. It marks the best finish to date for the co-drivers.
Cattaneo started the race and ran in third before pitting to hand the No. 197 MINI to Mirzayan, who re-entered the track in 12th. “I was in a pack of six cars from the time I left the pits,†says Mirzayan. “I knew that was my race right there, and I tried to get around each car without wasting my tires.â€
Mirzayan did just that, crossing the finish line in seventh. He is quick to praise his co-driver Cattaneo, as well as Haaser. “Jim is a very good engineer, and his presence has been a turning point for us,†he says.
“The team has come really far,†agrees Cattaneo. “Everyone has worked so hard to give us a great car. These guys worked all weekend to get us this finish.â€
Watch RSR Motorsports dominate the Street Tuner class during the race broadcast on SPEED. The New Jersey Motorsports Park round airs on Sunday, July 25 at 1:00 p.m. EDT.
RSR Motorsports is sponsored by Cruise America, Four Winds International, MINI USA, Performance Friction Rotors, OS Giken Racing Clutches and Limited Slip Differentials, Midway Ford Truck Sales, Mini North Scottsdale, Motul USA, and Cobalt Racing Pads.
Keep up with the team online at www.RSRMotorsports.com.
<p>Many congratulations are due this great team after years of persisting, it’s wonderful to see their first in-house built car hits the track with a victory!
Way to go, Team RSR!</p>
<p>Incredible job guys – congrats! This is the first win for a MINI in a mixed and very competitive racing series that I know in the US.</p>
<p>Congrats on the win! 16 seconds is quite a gap, I can’t wait to watch next weekend!</p>
<p>Who came 2nd and third? Was this a mixed class race? How modified is the car?</p>
<p>It’s a mixed class race. The MINI won its class (Street Tuner class – the smaller of the two classes competing). 2nd and 3rd in-class were both BMW 328i’s. The MINI’s fastest lap was almost 1 second faster than the best lap of the 2nd-place BMW 328i, so the result was no fluke. Other cars in the class that finished further down the chart (in some cases much further): Honda Civic Si, VW GTI, KIA Forte Coupe, Porsche Boxster, Mazda MX-5 (Miata), BMW 330, Mazda Speed 3. (That list is in order of the best-finishing car of that type in the race, i.e., the best Boxster came in 9th place in class, behind the best KIA).</p>
<p>The cars in the other class, the Grand Sport (GS) class, include vehicles like the Mustang GT, BMW M3, Camaro GS.R and the Porsche Carrera.</p>
<p>Great job, congrats!</p>
<p>Jim</p>
<p>I’ve posted pictures and video at the teams website.
<a href="http://www.rsrmotorsports.com" rel="nofollow ugc">http://www.rsrmotorsports.com</a>.</p>
<p>I’m still savoring the win! It was fantastic.</p>
<p>Thanks for the support!</p>
<p>Randy</p>
<p>Props out to JT Oliver and the crew that built the car .
Keep up the good work ! !</p>
<p>I’m more surprised the Mustang beat the M3s in the GS class</p>
<p>Randy – I’m just curious what size rims and tires you run on the racer? are your rims up to 8″ wide? What spacers did you use?</p>
<p>That was fun to watch on Speed HD which gave alot of coverage to the MINI team as it became apparent that they were by far the fastest in the ST class.
Congratulations!</p>
<p>Lavarda:</p>
<p>15 x 8 wheels 225/45/15 tires. 5mm spacers front. None in the rear.</p>
<p>Randy</p>
<p>Mini wins again at GP3R.</p>
<p>details at <a href="http://www.rsrmotorsports.com" rel="nofollow ugc">http://www.rsrmotorsports.com</a></p>