BimmerWorld Leaves Road Atlanta Finale Wanting More
The leading BMW SPEED Touring Car team comes away from Road Atlanta with a 6th place for Nick Esayian and repair work for James Clay and Seth Thomas.

Dublin, VA 10.9.08

The members of BimmerWorld Racing will look back at 2008 with a full range of memories and emotions. The final tally will reflect a win, numerous podiums, fastest laps, and awards across the three-car BMW E90 World Challenge Touring Car effort. But the ultimate goal of the team – a championship – will have to wait for 2009.

The season ending race at Road Atlanta started off with great promise, according to Clay. “We tested at Road Atlanta the week before and arrived at the track with an awesome setup and were dominant in the early tests and practice sessions. Unfortunately, we were too reluctant to change the setup as the track changed and ended up chasing a push starting in second practice session and lost ground to the competition. If we had raced on Tuesday, or been more flexible in our strategy, it would have been a BimmerWorld podium and I don’t think I could have ever said that in the past.”

Clay’s team spent the better part of the month improving their cars for Road Atlanta, but the rough and tumble nature of the SPEED Touring Car series brought a premature end to Clay’s bid for success. “We spent time before this weekend at the dyno and came up with some extra power with a few new tricks we have learned. Due to this work on the BMW’s power and our race setup which left us slightly lacking in some of the other areas of the track, our best move was to get a run out of Turn 7 onto the back straight and pass under braking.

“Unfortunately for me, racing room was at a premium it seems and this move that had secured a podium for my car last year ultimately resulted in damage and retiring early this year. I have to believe that if drivers in TC took a season-long approach to their driving, everyone would have better finishes. I just hate being taken out for no reason, and with a podium finish in sight, by a competitor who feels the need to drive every lap like it’s his last.”

Nick Esayian’s #34 Debt Cures BMW E90 saved the best for last, delivering a 6th place finish to raise the bar for himself after a challenging year. “I finally had a decent race! It has been a rough year in terms of results between getting hit, some development, and getting accustomed to the cars. We had a broken sway bar bushing that led us down the wrong path in terms of setup but the guys managed to find it before qualifying. Unfortunately I suffered from strong understeer and qualified towards the back, but my start was highlight worthy and I managed to get by three or four cars before turn one.
“Kuno [Wittmer] moved me over and I tried the grass in avoidance but the wall was awful close and I didn’t want to be responsible for any Sportscenter footage so I jumped in line when I started seeing hot dog wrappers flying up in the air. Between a great start, a few passes, and attrition I managed a decent result. The car really handled well and allowed me to continually press. It’s nice to end the season on a decent note.”

Esayian’s weekend was made all the more spectacular thanks to the support of visiting Special Forces soldiers whose charity Nick has promoted for years. “I knew I was fortunate to be able to race at this level when I started in World Challenge in 2004. To give something back, I was evaluating charities and a friend of mine in San Diego told me about the Special Operations Warriors Foundation and explained how they help the kids of the ‘SF’ guys killed in action or training. When I initially contacted them, they sent people to Sebring to work with me, the SCCA, and Realtime Racing to promote the cause. Having some of the soldiers with us at Road Atlanta this weekend was a huge honor for everyone at BimmerWorld.

“When we met some of the kids the foundation had helped as well as some of the SF guys it became a mission of mine to bring awareness to this special charity. These guys leave their families for sometime 18 months, they go to the darkest corners of the earth to deal with things the average person will never know about, and they do it for little pay and at great risk to themselves. My small contribution is to let them know someone is looking after their kids if the worst happens.”

Seth Thomas, driver of the #38 BimmerWorld /GearWrench E90, was holding down a solid fourth place with an eye for a late race charge when an off track excursion called a premature end to his day. Road Atlanta may have lacked the team results BimmerWorld desired, but if there was one resounding success, it was with the increased support of sponsor GearWrench.

Thomas was appreciative of their impact. “GearWrench being on board for Road Atlanta was awesome. The guys had every tool needed at their disposal which helped to get the cars on track every session. It was a great race on Friday where the racing action was very tight. World Challenge Touring Car put on a show typical of the best road racing series in the country for the GearWrench crew.”

James Clay echoed Thomas’ sentiment. “It was great to have GearWrench with us for this race and they got to see what World Challenge is all about – tight racing through the field, and a lot of action. I wish we could have pulled a better result for the weekend, but Nick carried the flag for us and it was good to see him have some well-deserved success. Certainly this was a weekend to put the tools from GearWrench to work, so in that aspect their involvement with our team really stood out.”

BimmerWorldRacing.com offers exclusive driver blogs, photo galleries, and in-car videos for a complete media experience from the leading BMW Touring Car team in North America.

Learn more about the Special Operations Warriors Foundation at www.specialops.org

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Courtesy: BimmerWorld Media Services mediaservices@bimmerworld.com

More information about the team, cars, and drivers can be found at www.bimmerworldracing.com
Information on BimmerWorld’s Customer Car Services can be found at www.bimmerworld.com
Details on PowerFlex Suspension Bushings can be found at www.powerflexusa.com

The BimmerWorld team is proudly supported by: Performance Friction, GearWrench, BMW USA, Alpinestars, BBS, Bimmerforums.com, Diffsonline, JB Racing, Moton, Powerflex, and Rogue Engineering.