Unfortunately, a pair of incidents on-track last week at St. Pete involving Team GDT cars, has left Corey without a car to drive this weekend at Barber Motorsports Park.
None-the-less, he is with the team doing what he can to help teammate Andrez Mendez. Mendez will be the only Team GDT driver active this weekend for races 3 and 4 of the Star Mazda Championship Series.
Corey is with Team GDT in St. Petersburg this weekend, but he did not take to the track today. The timing and scoring had maintained his name from the Barber Test for car #65/#39, which was actually being driven by team owner/driver JW Roberts, who is also the defending 2011 Expert Class Champion.
The Star Mazda Series session press release is available here with corrected timing and scoring.
The most recent Team GDT press release features Corey Lewis.
A little late, but the official Team GDT press release distributed in advance of this week’s open test is available here.
The Team GDT crew worked hard to fix the steering in Corey’s #39 (#65 on timing and scoring) machine after it failed in the last session on day one. Corey got out in the first of four sessions on day two and made some immediate gains.
In the second session, Corey put in the most laps of any driver with 33 and had his best time yet on lap 32 at 122.538 (his last lap was 122.677) a scant 0.049 behind Connor De Philippi’s best session lap (he set the track record in the morning session).
In the third session, Corey again put in the most laps with 34 and his best time came on lap 30 with a 1:22.864 in the Team GDT #39/#65.
The final session again featured plenty of laps and great consistency, but no gain in speed.
Averaging close to 30 laps per session, Corey got a great workout and experience at the track that will be the second event of the 2012 Star Mazda Championship Series.
On Monday at Barber Motorsports Park, Corey participated in the Star Mazda Championship Series‘ open test with Team GDT.
There were three sessions on Day 1 and Corey drove in sessions 2 and 3. In the 2nd session, Corey noticed a problem with the steering.
While the team tried to determine the cause they were unable to and it broke during the 3rd session as he approached turn 1 in the 120 mph range. Fortunately, Corey was able to hold onto the car and keep it from hitting the wall.
Corey later Tweeted, “That’s why we call it testing.”
Obviously it was not the result either he or the team were looking for following the strong testing they did in Texas over the past several weeks.
Testing resumes with four sessions on Tuesday.
While not yet officially open for the season, Corey got a full day driving in at Monticello Motor Club on Saturday both working with members and getting some house cleaning done prior to the opening.
The day’s work included some time in this McLaren.
Check out the 2012 Corey Lewis Overview using Prezi.com or better yet, share it with friends whose businesses want to get involved in open-wheel racing!
First time at the MotorSport Ranch and Corey Lewis sets the track record in his Team GDT pro Star Mazda car. On the 16 turn, 3.1 mile course Lewis’ best lap was a 2:00.8, roughly 3 seconds better than the former record and a lap average of just over 90mph. He set the record lap in the afternoon, earlier he had two two morning sessions to get acclimated to the new track.
