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Milwaukee: HVM Champ Car Race - Bremer is Top Rookie
BREMER TURNS WEEKEND AROUND, SECURES TOP ROOKIE, TOP TEN FINISH
Despite a weekend full of challenges, Rookie Ronnie Bremer gave a
strong showing at the Time Warner Cable Road Runner 225, improving
eight positions, he led 10 laps, made three perfect pitstops and
finished his first oval race in a Champ Car at the top of the very
talented Rookie class. Bremer tested at The Milwaukee Mile last month
with his HVM Racing crew and while it was successful in terms of speed,
Bremer made contact with the turn three wall at the end of the first
test day, cutting the scheduled two-day outing short. Yesterday during
practice, Bremer brushed the wall again, causing minor damage to his
#55 Champ Car, but perhaps more importantly it left him toward the
bottom of the time sheets, which determined the qualifying order. Champ
Car qualifying took place immediately after the ARCA practice, which
wreaked havoc on the track conditions. Very disappointed with his 16th
place effort, Bremer admitted he was not sure what had happened to the
speed found in testing and that he had lost some confidence driving on
the tricky one-mile oval. Preparing for a better day today, Bremer
spent the morning warm-up preparing for the race and getting
comfortable with his race set-up. All seemed to go well until the Dane
returned to the paddock with an oil leak. The 55 crew worked feverishly
to determine the problem and fix it during the short layover between
warm-up and the race. They were successful and Bremer reward his team
with his second top-ten finish in just his third Champ Car race.
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Bjorn Wirdheim added something new to his bio this weekend; he
completed the first oval event of his career and impressed several
along the way as he ran in the top-ten throughout the weekend. Ever the
scholar, Wirdheim maximized his time on and off the track by studying
the strategy of an oval race and running smoothly and consistently at
more than 170 mph. After a successful morning practice on Friday,
Wirdheim qualified eighth and became the first of the qualifiers to
match his speed from the morning session. A job well done as he
out-qualified several Champ Car “Veterans” and became the top-Rookie
qualifier. The morning warm-up gave the Swede another opportunity to
train in traffic and his crew the opportunity to practice their pit
stops before the 225-mile race, a successful effort on both
accounts. As the Champ Cars roared past the green flag signaling the
start of the race, Wirdheim settled in to a very competitive race pace,
often setting lap times as quick as and sometimes quicker that the race
leader. By the first pit stop of the race, Wirdheim was up to the fifth
position when a malfunction in the pits cost him a few positions on his
first stop. A combination of strategy by his team and concise driving
by the Rookie allowed him to earn a few positions before the next
stop. The second and third stops were flawless by the HVM crew and with
just 47 laps to go Wirdheim was running comfortably in the seventh
position and chasing the pole sitter, Jimmy Vasser for
sixth. Unfortunately the quest for his second consecutive top-ten
finish vanished as Wirdheim brushed the wall at the exit of turn four,
which bent his rear-suspension and ended his day prematurely. While the
scorecards show Wirdheim’s day producing a 15th place finish, they are
hardly representative of the maturity that was shown on the track by
Wirdheim throughout his oval debut this weekend.
BJORN WIRDHEIM, #4 HVM/Lola/Ford-Cosworth/Bridgestone
Started: 8thh Qualifying Time: 21.584 Qualifying Speed:
172.128
Highest Race Position: 5th
Race Result: 15th
Reason Out: Contact
Bjorn on the Race:"I think it was a positive experience at the end of
the day. We ran the same lap times as the leader and we were closing in
on Jimmy who was in front of me. The team did a fantastic job preparing
a great car. It was great experience as I was overtaking cars and had a
good rhythm going. Unfortunately as I was lapping traffic I came into
dirty air and I lost all grip. I let off and went wide and got into the
marbles and brushed the wall. I bent the rear suspension so I had to
come in and our day was done. It was a shame it ended the way it did
but at least I know what to expect next time we race here and I am
going to be prepared for Las Vegas."
RONNIE BREMER, #55 HVM/Lola/Ford-Cosworth/Bridgestone
Started: 16th Qualifying Time: 22.424 Qualifying
Speed: 165.680
Highest Race Position: 1st
Laps Led: 10
Race Result: 8th
Ronnie on the Race:"Big thanks to the team who supported my through the
race and race weekend. It was a good experience. We had a really tough
weekend going, and we salvaged a decent result and I built up my
confidence. My Bridgestone tires were great, very reliable. To finish
eighth and the top Rookie was decent, but of course I wanted more."
Keith Wiggins, Team Owner:“I was happy for Bjorn because he was really
on pace and doing a great job for his first oval race. If he hadn’t
tapped the wall, it would have been a great result, but that’s ok for
his first race. I am happy for Ronnie that he finished eighth after a
very difficult weekend.”
PaddockTalk Perspective
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Also in CCWS Weekend Team Reports: |
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