Grist Earns Pole for Rounds 13 and 14 of the Pro Mazda Championship
Lexington, Ohio – As the 2015 season comes to a close, Juncos Racing collected two more podium finishes this past weekend in Rounds 13 and 14 of the Pro Mazda Championship Presented by Cooper Tires. Rookie Timothé Buret picked up a second and third place finish while teammate Garett Grist earned both pole positions for the Cooper Tires Grand Prix of Mid-Ohio. Juncos Racing maintains in the lead for the championship by 20 points.
Juncos Racing kicked off the week at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course pacing the field in both test and practice sessions on the 2.25 mile, 13-Turn road course. Grist lead the 18 car field recording the fastest time overall. Rookie Will Owen took the second fastest time and Buret finished inside the Top-5.
The team carried the momentum into qualifying with Grist taking the pole position, along with Buret earning the third starting position for Round 13. Owen qualified seventh and Jose Gutierrez ninth.
Round 13 of the Pro Mazda Championship went caution free for the entire 23 lap race. Buret, driver of the #6 BroadSign car, took home his seventh podium finish of the season taking third. Grist finished fourth in the #5 BlackList/Lander Property Management car. Owen, driver of the #23 AMR car took eighth and Gutiérrez, driving the #7 Prisma car took 12th.
Round 14 started off on a strong note for Grist who would once again take the pole position, earning his fourth consecutive pole. Grist went on to record the fastest lap of the race for Round 14. Buret delivered the team their second podium of the weekend taking second, giving him the points to maintain third in the championship. Owen finished a strong fifth and Gutiérrez finished 10th.
Heading into the season finale next month Team Principal Ricardo Juncos was pleased to keep the points lead for the championship along with picking up two more poles and podium finishes.
“Garett (Grist) did an outstanding job to capture his fourth consecutive pole position,” said Juncos. “Unfortunately the races weren’t as kind to him. Tim (Buret) managed to continue his string of solid results finishing on the podium in both races. We are looking forward to converting our strong pace into the race results at Laguna Seca next month.”
Driver Quotes:
Timothé Buret (Montpellier, France): “It was a very good weekend for me at Mid-Ohio. I had two podiums in two races! I think I did a great job considering how difficult of a track this is for a rookie. The team worked very hard with me to help me get faster and be more comfortable with the track since our test back in June. I’m so happy to be back on the podium after some difficult races and I am really looking forward to a strong finish to the season next month at Mazda Raceway. I want to thank my team Juncos Racing for motivating me to finish the championship out strong and to be one of the Top-3 drivers this year.”
José Gutiérrez (Monterrey, Mexico): “This weekend didn’t go to plan like we had hoped for at Mid-Ohio. I was fast in practice, but made some mistakes in qualifying and the races. I did my best, but I feel bad for the results for Juncos Racing. We will get focused and be back to the front of the field at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca.”
Will Owen (Castle Rock, Colorado, USA): “Mid-Ohio was a good event overall. Garett (Grist) was very fast during the test, but I was able to find that gap during practice and challenge for the pole. Unfortunately we weren’t able to put it together for qualifying and ended up seventh. Though this was disappointing, starting further back in the field taught me some very valuable lessons. My goal for Round 14 was to race the most aggressive I ever have. I achieved that goal and gained a lot of confidence passing others. I can’t thank everyone enough that helped me out this weekend. I proved to myself that I have plenty of speed to compete at the front. Now it just comes down to putting everything together at the right time.”
The 2015 Pro Mazda Championship Presented by Cooper Tires concludes next month Sept. 10-13th on the 2.238 mile, 11-Turn road course at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. For more information please visit juncosracing.com and promazdachampionship.com.