I needed a bit more pace going into the second day of the final weekend for the 2021 Challenge of the Americas. Because of the power deficit on Saturday, we decided we needed to refresh the top-end of engine, and used the morning warmup to break it back in.
The refresh helped, and I ended up qualifying in 4th out of the 8th, on the same track layout as Saturday, Pro National. It was just 2 tenths off the pole time, and over a second faster than my qualifying time from the day before, using the same set of tires.
The pre-final quickly turned into a learning experience. I started outside row 4 but held back a bit at the start, leaving too much of gap and was overtaken on the inside by the drivers behind me, falling all the way back to 8th. In the remaining 9 laps, I managed to make a up one position to finish 7th.
In the final I managed to hold 7th at the start and settled in behind Mateo who was in 6th. 3rd through 6th battled back and forth for a few laps, allowing the top 2 to pull a slight gap. I settled in and let it play out in front of me more a few laps, and while I had the pace, and gained a position to 6th when 3rd and 4th go together, I didn't see a clean passing opportunity and settle for another 6th place finish. The full race on-board video is available on my YouTube channel below.
While I didn't get the the result I was hoping for, it was an encouraging day. I learned a lot about the starts at this level, and I'm confident I have the pace to compete.