Challenge Of The Americas Tucson Race Report

BBR Karting attended the second round of the 2019 Challenge Of The Americas in Tucson, Arizona with Ian Qiu who would compete in the Vortex Mini Rok class. This was Ian’s first time competing at COA as well as driving the Rok engine.

THURSDAY

Practice began on Thursday and Ian managed to get comfortable with the new kart right away. Ian was posting consistently some of the best times during the day which was a great feeling heading into Friday.

FRIDAY

On Friday the track began to grip up. When the track grips drivers have the ability to carry more speed into and through the corner. With the changing conditions Ian actually started to struggle a little, slightly over slowing in each corner, not carrying that speed. Friday we continued to focus on rolling speed and build his confidence back. Getting experience like this on the National event level is really important for young drivers because you don’t generally get to experience situations like this at a club event.

SATURDAY

Having practiced earlier in the low 57, adapting to the higher grip levels was still a bit of a struggle for Ian. Every session we continued to work and review video. In particular there were two corners that we were losing almost .5 seconds.

The final for Saturday Ian made some great improvements in his driving. He was much more comfortable with the track and he began to run lap times much closer to the leaders. It was a good feeling going into Sunday.

SUNDAY RACE

On Sunday Ian had a great qualifying run. He was in great position on track, and it showed. He ended up in P2. However all weekend the scales were not very consistent or accurate and we found ourselves 3 lbs light along with three other drivers. The session previous we were okay for weight. It wasn’t a big deal, and in fact we were happy to see how Ian would handle starting at the back and having to pass his fellow competitors and try and get up to the front. In the prefinal he drove a great race starting 10th, and making his way up into 4th place.

The final was a “youtube video” worthy race. The battles these kids had for third place was amazing. At one point Ian was back down in sixth place and even for us standing on the fence we thought the race was over. Ian never gave up, he battled back making some great moves. On the last two laps he made a great pass down the back straightway and defended to hold off for his first podium finish at COA. Ian also got the fastest lap of the race.

It was a great weekend. Ian worked hard, stayed focus and had fun competing at his first Challenge Of The Americas race. It was our goal to just learn and improve every session.

Join us on the next race April 5-7 in Sonoma, California.

Kart: PDB Falcon Kart – Setup 1G (low grip)
Coach: Blake Choquer
Team: BBR Karting
Engine: Super Power Engines Mini Rok
10/79 Sprocket. P2 97 Main Jet
Bridgestone 12.5 PSI cold