It is funny how you can have a great race as we did at Watkins Glen and be content with a decent finish. Then, when you least expect it, something happens to a competitor even after their race via force majeure that puts a spring in your step, extra whipped cream and a cherry on your sundae. Well, that is what has just happened to my friends at Action Express. We were content with third place after a great drive from our trio, and especially the massive stint put in mid-race by Jack Aitken, our endurance racing specialist who also steered us to our victory at the 12 Hours of Sebring earlier in the year. Then comes news that the "winning car", emphasis in quotation marks, fails post-race scrutineering and the stewards find something amiss in their camp.
That is exactly what has happened. The sword of Damocles has fallen on the #6 Penske Porsche 963 for a technical infringement and so, this promotes the BMW M Hybrid V8 to the victory, and... thusly promotes the #31 Whelen Action Express Cadillac V Series R to a second-place finish, and a well-deserved and well-earned second place. We hung tough with the German cars all day and were close enough to give them a run for their money the whole time. This is a sweet, and justly earned promotion for Action Express.
The specific penalty for the Porsche pertains to wear underneath the skid block, the piece of either wood or high strength metal under the floor of the car, that protects the undercarriage and chassis, and also must be there for legality reasons. Insofar as the Porsche team violating the rules with the skid block, this has happened with certain types of race cars before in that if a certain portion (measured metrically in millimeters), is worn away, the car fails the legality and homologation tests and thus is disqualified and demoted back to the tail end of the field in their class.
Oh, I know what you're thinking. Chuckle, gloat, in yo' face! Right? Well, that is true, although we do know that there are more races still to come this season. We have a whole second half of the championship campaign to be ready for and of course, as I said in the conclusion of my race report, it is coming up soon north of the border in Canada at the fabled Mosport Park.
Mosport Park, I cannot say if it is known as a Cadillac track. But I think Action Express have won there before. So as always, we have as good a chance as anybody to go for the victory. Celebrated this now promoted result for our podium effort with an ice cream bar. I think that was a proper toast to a great team. We are going to keep going. There is now only one more step on the podium we need. It has been a good while since our last triumph at Sebring in March, and our next one is just around the corner. This is a fabulous steppingstone in such an endeavor. We will find out, together, on Sunday, July 9th, what happens next in the saga of Action Express racing season 2023 in a wee while. Stay tuned, everybody. This novel is getting interesting once again as the chapters continue to be written.
*As of now, the Porsche team is filing a protest insofar as their penalty assessed by IMSA. We will have to wait and see. Hoping that this promotion will stick, and AXR keeps a well deserved second place finish. Stay tuned. I don't believe this is over yet.
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