Road America didn’t provide much of a home-track advantage for Blackdog Speed Shop as the Pirelli World Challenge wrapped up its doubleheader weekend with its second GTS/GT race.
Tony Gaples placed ninth in GTSA and 14th among GTS runners Sunday in his No. 11 Blackdog Speed Shop Chevrolet Camaro GT4.R. Both positions represented improvements from his starting position as he drove a smooth and measured race for the second straight day.
Unlike many other GTS competitors, Gaples brought his Camaro home undamaged on consecutive days. Multiple cars in the category had trouble and damage, which benefitted Gaples’ consistent run.
One of those, unfortunately was Gaples’ teammate Lawson Aschenbach in the Blackdog Speed Shop No. 1 Camaro GT4.R. The defending GTS Driver’s Champion took off like a rocket at the start and took the lead on the opening lap from his fourth-place starting spot.
Things took a turn for the worse shortly thereafter. Aschenbach reported a rear suspension issue on the next lap and did his best to nurse his Camaro home. Ultimately the problem at the left-rear forced him to retire for the second straight day.
The next race for Blackdog Speed Shop in Pirelli World Challenge is July 13-15 from Portland International Raceway in SprintX competition.
TONY GAPLES, NO. 11 BLACKDOG SPEED SHOP CHEVROLET CAMARO GT4.R: “This isn’t quite the result I had in mind today. Things were very up and down… a lot like yesterday. I don’t know if it was the fact that this was a combo race or the nature of the track, but there were a lot of drivers being really aggressive. Some got away with it and some didn’t. For me, it seemed like things were a little off. That’s unfortunate given how badly we wanted to do well for the home crowd at Road America. We’ll move on and get ready to go at Portland.”
LAWSON ASCHENBACH, NO. 1 BLACKDOG SPEED SHOP CHEVROLET CAMARO GT4.R: “This was one frustrating weekend. It’s disappointing to have issues in both races after a strong Friday. It wasn’t for lack of effort from anyone at Blackdog Speed Shop or Team Chevy. We really wanted to give everyone who showed up from the shop a good result. But we’ll rebound, figure out what went wrong and be back stronger than ever when we head to the next round at Portland.”
