Testing Log: Sonoma
Infineon 2007 still stings technical director John Probst. Here’s why: Brian’s No. 83 and AJ’s No. 84 (above) were in the bottom seven and combined for only 20 laps in opening practice. Then the cars were 42nd and 43rd in qualifying and went home two days early.
“We had some struggles,” Probst said. “We weren’t mature enough as a team to overcome some of the problems and adversity that hit us at Sonoma last year. This year, we’re more prepared and more mature as a race team. We’re in pretty good shape to perform well there.”
During a recent string of testing at Virginia International Raceway — a road course with similar characteristics as 1.99-mile, 12-turn Infineon — Red Bull Racing Team and the R&D bunch logged 560 miles. Each driver spent three days at VIR, with Brian totaling 319 miles, AJ 241. The team also spent two days before the season testing at Sebring, where AJ “beat up brakes and gear boxes” for 340 miles on the bumpy central Florida circuit.
And to prepare for the August race at Watkins Glen, the team will spend two days at Road Atlanta in mid-July and another at VIR.
“We have to prioritize things. The majority of our races are intermediate and short track races with a few superspeedway and road course events — six races a year,” Probst noted. “We have to keep that in mind, but we also view that, with AJ in the car, that should be one of our strengths. We want to take every opportunity we can to run well on the road courses.”
posted by Bull Rider at 6:07 AM
15 Comments:
Well no one can say they haven't put forth the effort to do their best. We are so proud of this team and what they have done to get to today.
I think both of them will do just fine at Sonoma.
As I said. Just stay on the track at least 75% of the time and we'll get a top 15. Also, it's really more important for us to beat a few key cars than to absolutely get a top 10. I'd take the 9th, 10th, 11, and 12th place cars in drivers points all crashing and us finishing 15th before I'd take them finishing in front of us but getting a top 10.
I'm still stoked about this being their 2nd year in NASCAR and already the #83 team is a weekly contender, the best Toyota team for 2 races in a row. I believe they can keep it going heading into Sonoma. That's a lot of road course testing.
We've scored a hell of a lot of points in the last few weeks. IF we can make the chase, and I think we can, we're definitely a dark horse for the championship.
Think about it. We've got the intermediates covered. We should have won the last two of those.
We've got the superspeedways covered. BV is awesome there.
The only problem could be the flat and short tracks, but BV had a solid run at Martinsville before running out of gas. And everyone is entitled to a bad run or two.
This could be a record breaking year.
And the best part of it is, we've been watching Red Bull Racing since Daytona 07.
Oh, did anyone see this on Jayski?
Vickers says NASCAR admitted scoring mistake: NASCAR admitted to #83-Brian Vickers that it made a mistake in placing the Red Bull Racing driver behind Dale Earnhardt Inc.’s #8-Mark Martin prior to a restart during the waning laps of the LifeLock 400 Sunday at Michigan International Speedway. For Vickers, that admission was important. Vickers said he had passed Martin two laps prior to the caution coming out. He believes he could have had a chance to win the race if he hadn't had to restart behind Martin. Vickers went to the NASCAR hauler after the race to talk to NASCAR officials. “They said, ‘We made an honest mistake – the 8 car [of Martin] was supposed to be behind you,’ ” Vickers said Tuesday during a NASCAR teleconference. “That’s all you can ask for. It’s like when a driver on the race track gets into you, it makes all the difference in the world if they call you the next day and say, ‘Man, I’m sorry. I messed up. I’m sorry. Let’s just move forward from here on.’ And I totally respect that. I’ve made many, many, many mistakes in my life, and I probably will make many more. The important thing is to just own up to it and move on.” Vickers ended up finishing fourth. “I was pretty upset by it and rightfully so,” Vickers said. “I wanted an explanation of why that took place. I felt like in a lot of ways it cost us a shot at the race. There’s no guarantees what would have happened, but it definitely hurt us.” So what can NASCAR do? Not much, Vickers said. “Unfortunately in our sport, and if I was sitting in the tower, I couldn’t do it any different – you can’t just call timeout and go look at the replay and sort it out,” Vickers said. “You look at a football gamem and they get a bad call on the field, they call a timeout and they look at the replay, they fix it, and they move on. That’s one call. For those guys, it’s 43 calls up in the tower; they have 43 positions to sort out every caution, not one. It’s a tough job, and they can’t just halt the race. They’ve got guys running out of fuel, the race is coming to an end, and it’s time to go green and get the checkered out there.”(SceneDaily)(6-17-2008)
Good post, I was actually thinking maybe Red Bull would post this info, but they didn't. Seems like something they should have put out there for their guy.
I have to question the integrity of the #8 crew and driver. Martin had to know he was not supposed to start 3rd, did he convey that to NASCAR and if so why didn’t they take a few more laps to get it figured out before they threw the green? Like BV said in this sport once it’s done it’s done.
Got to agree with your comment abt Mark Martin. I'm sure it can get a little chaotic out there and your concern is to keep up with your own position.(which is what BV was doing) However I think they could have taken BV's comment for what it was and left Martin behind him and see if Martin said anything. I don't think he would have. Neither was he going to speak up and say he was put in the wrong spot.
And the possibility of reviewing the video would have probably ensured that a few more would have run out of gas before the green flag fell for the restart.
I would think if it were lets say Jr. or Gordon who had questioned the line up wouldn't NASCAR have kept it under caution until it was figured out? I hate to say this because I don't want to think this sport is fixed but this mistake was big. I have been involved in another form of racing using electronic scoring and never had a car put in front of another car after being passed two laps back. That is the beauty of this type of scoring it’s not hard to look at the computer to know what the official line up is.
When your biggest star can't win races on his own, your sport is doomed to fraud.
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Can anyone tell me if this is the correct address to RBRT shop:
136 Knob Hill Road
Mooresville, North Carolina
I'm going to Charlotte in a few weeks and I want to stop by the shop.
Also does anyone have the hours and days the shop is open?
Right address, not sure abt the hrs and days. I've never had a problem finding it open on the weekdays between 9 am and
4pm, although the hrs are probably earlier than that.
I also don't believe they are open on Sat. and I do think they are there around 7-7:30 ish. during the week.
You have to stop by.....it is a very awesome place!
Good Luck to Brian and AJ this weekend, you both can do good again........we all believe!!! Everyone is talking about Red Bull now, lets keep the talk going.
Yes, RBRT is located at 136 Knob Hill Road in Mooresville, NC.
Hours are Monday through Friday, 8 AM - 11:30 AM, then 12:30 PM - 5:00 PM.
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