Oryx Racing Press Release
Oryx Racing recorded an unrepresentative 15th placing in the “Porsche 250” at the Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, Alabama. A handling imbalance frustratingly restricted the pace of the Oryx Racing #74 Audi R8 GRAND-AM throughout the 165-minute race, neither Humaid Al Masaood or Steven Kane confident of pushing hard in the mid-engined sportscar.
Al Masaood, having posted the 12th best GT class time in the 28-car field comprising of 19 GT cars during the black flag interrupted 15-minute qualifying session on Saturday morning, began the race around the picturesque, undulating 2.3-mile, 17-corner track with high hopes. But while Al Masaood was content and happy with the Audi’s handling in qualifying, Humaid’s feelings were the exact opposite for his 54mins stint from the green flag – lack of rear end grip heavily restricting the UAE driver’s pace.
Kane took over from Al Masaood during the race’s second full course yellow and was posting times comparable with the top-six in class before the outright race leading Daytona Prototype class car of Memo Rojas forced Kane wide and off the track. The Ulsterman rejoined without hitting anything but the Audi now had steering damage – Rojas subsequently penalized for avoidable contact for the manouvre.
“It was very hot today and we struggled but we finished the race so the reliability is there.” Commented Steven Kane “There were brief phases when the Audi allowed me to set good, fast lap times before the handling deteriorated rapidly again. Overtaking was difficult with no long straights and no big braking zones. Like Daytona, Birmingham was again completely new to us and the complete opposite of the Florida track with Barber having an undulating nature. The team worked hard on achieving a good balance with the R8 and they did a great job for qualifying. But for whatever reason, the car’s handling was not right in the race – from the start to the finish. Oryx Racing is a great team and everyone is working exceptionally hard on what is a very new GT programme for us, and for that matter, Audi, in GRAND-AM. We knew it would be a steep learning curve but with every lap and mile we clock up, our databank of knowledge increases. It’s a challenge but one that we look forward in cracking as the season progresses.”
Humaid al Masaood, who had qualified the car, noted “The set-up wasn’t ideal for qualifying but overall I was happy. I only managed seven laps and data showed I was up by at least two-tenth’s of a second on my fastest lap but I spun after pushing too hard on my final lap. It actually marked the first time I’ve ever qualified myself for a race in the US since racing here for almost a year. I was very optimistic for a good race but immediately from the green flag the handling was poor with just no rear grip. I was not prepared to be aggressive due to the unpredictable handling – I’m bitterly disappointed. But it’s a case of each race we are learning about the R8 GRAND-AM and improving. The entire team is working very hard which makes it doubly frustrating and depressing but we’ll go away and come back stronger at Homestead.”
Follow Oryx Racing's USA adventure at the next race in the 13-round schedule is at the Homestead Miami Speedway on April 29 – a 2.3-mile combined speedway and road course.
