Driver Blog: Tyler McQuarrie

The few, and the proud - this is the Insight Racing team.

Once we went back to green, I was sitting in 5th and moving forward. Once I got up to 3rd, I was content to just sit there and save my car for the end. With 20 minutes to go in the 2 1/2 hour race, I knew there was going to be more cautions so I started to make my move to the front. I got by the BimmerWorld BMW going into turn 5 and had my eyes on the leader. I closed up the gap to a few car lengths and was ready to make my move for the lead.  

The race went as well as it could have - our car was fast, we had a good strategy, and were perfectly positioned to win the race. And then, we got a penalty, and lost the race in the closing minutes.

With 8 minutes to go we got an expected full course caution. About a lap into the caution, the ST leader started passing the ST lap cars, so I got on to the radio with my team and asked them what he was doing? I told them to ask the official if they want me to follow the leader? They came back over the radio and said, "The officials told us that you are to follow the leader". Even though it was unusual, I did as I was told because there are unusual things that happen in Grand Am.  Once we went back to green, I was penalized a lap for passing under the yellow. WTF! Are you kidding me!!! I just drove a patient race, biding my time and made my way to the front. And to make matters worse, the ST leader still had to do their mandatory driver change! The win was ours.... Gutted! I wasn't sure who to blame, I was simply PISSED!

This was definitely the most difficult loss I've ever dealt with. Our team had done everything right, and we lost because of bad advice from an official. But we'll be back stronger next time.

This was the toughest loss I've had in a very long time. I wanted so bad to give Insight Racing their first win. We learned a lot that weekend and it is what it is at this point but the biggest thing I learned is that we have a damn fast racecar and we are going to win races this year! Stay tuned for Homestead and I'll make a point to not pass under yellow no matter who tells me to!

While all of that was going on, we were putting the final touches together on my Formula Drift program! It was a stressful weekend for sure. I'll talk about how it all came together in my next MotoIQ blog.

TylerMcQuarrie.com 

InsightRacing.com