Owens Makes Toronto Assault
Los Angeles, CA – Raoul Owens completed his race debut in Canada this weekend, earning himself a combo of awards and championship points for his bullish climb through the Pro Mazda pack, finishing P8 and P6.
Dark and wet conditions greeted the Mazda Road to indy competitors once they took to the bumpy streets of downtown Toronto on Friday for free practice. The sessions proved challenging for Raoul and his teammates, as the Team Pelfrey trio each finished unusually outside of the Top 10.
On Saturday morning, the 20-minute Pro Mazda qualifying session got going at 8:30am after overnight rain showers. While the circuit remained damp in places, slick tires were the rubber of choice for the session and Raoul found himself having to learn and assess the track due to limited track time on Friday and very different weather conditions. This combined with the pressure of setting his flying lap within the optimum tire performance window resulted in a quali position below Raoul’s hopes: P14 for Race 1 and 2.
With the track rubbered in and greasy from the rising track temperature, a Turn 3 crash grabbed the attention of every spectator during the opening lap of Saturday’s Pro Mazda race. Raoul jostled his car to somehow avoid impact and quickly settled into his race rhythm thereafter and driving in the Top 5 quickest lap times of the race.
The action continued on Sunday as Raoul spun in the early stages of the race. As the field drove past, the young Brit rekindled his drive and direction by chasing down his competitors, overtaking one after another. While his prowess in Toronto did not convert into a trophy on this occasion, Raoul was awarded with a total of 3 accolades for his driving performance during the weekend: Quarter Master Hard Charger Award, Staublu Award and the RePlay XD Move of the Race.
Summarizing the weekend, Raoul’s driver coach said “on paper it’s a little disappointing, but being at the track and in the truck we could see all the positives. The excitement came from looking at the data.” Raoul added, “I had good pace throughout the race on Sunday and with Team Pelfrey we have a good understanding of the direction we are going so I’m pleased overall.”
The Pro Mazda Championship goes racing again in mid July for the second oval event of the season in Iowa, but the drivers will have more track time to enjoy prior to Round 12 at the 2-day series test at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course on June 29 and July 1 for a bit more road course fine tuning.
