Grand-Am Continental Tire Series, Race 1, Daytona Intl. Speedway

My First Race in the Mazdaspeed 3 was a good one, we went into the race with the mindset of just doing the best we could we werent expecting a great result with the new car and all. I was racing with Freedom Autosports. We got to the track on thursday, we had 2 practice sessions and a qualifying sesson. The practices went well, i got to meet my co-driver Ryan Ellis, he is new to the series as well and a little greener than me in the racing world but he did a great job. Both practices we worked alot on setup and trying to resolve some of the electronic problems we were having with some of the saftey traction control systems in the car.

We were also working on driving trying to figure out how to get more and more time off of our lap times. Along with setup changes we made big steps every practice along with getting used to the track and car. Ryan qualified the car, it was his first time qualifying in the series and i think he was a little nervous and maybe over-drove the car a bit so it wasnt his best session. We qualified 28th in class 65th overall, so the goal in the race was to keep it clean and run consistient times and hopefully we would move up!

On Friday we had a morning warm-up/practice session, working on big setup changes as we had nothing to loose and hopefully it would pay off in the race. In Grand-am the driver who qualifies has to start the race so Ryan was starting, the goal here was to stay out of trouble on the start hopefully make up some positions on those who got into trobule. Thats exactly what he did, kept it clean and drove a great very consistent first half capitializing on the mistakes and problems of other drivers.

It was about my turn to get in the car 1hr into the race i started to prepare to get in the car, suiting up and getting my helmet on so i could be ready to get in at any time if there was a yellow flag situation. Ryan had moved the car up to 22nd in class geting by 6 cars then there was a full course caution so he was coming in to pit.

We had bit of a problem with the driver change, both of us were newbies so it was not un expected. The steering wheel fell off the dash into the seat just before i got in so i had to deal with that instead of getting my belts on, after that i belted up, plugged in the radio and put on the steering wheel, then Ryan and i were putting up the saftey nets and on of them got snagged so we lost a little more time, eventually we got out on track still under caution so we didnt lose a whole lot. Driving out of the pits i realized between the two of us we never moved the seat back so i was driving alot closer to the wheel and pedals then my liking. Hoping for a quick caution that i never got there was finally a caution about 20 min into my stint, i was then able to move my seat back and re adjust the belts, whew what a relief!

About half way into my stint we decieded to come in for a splash of fuel just to be safe, as my teammates Patrick Dempsey (yes the famous greys anatomy actor) and John Edwards (Star Mazda and Atlantic Winner) ran out of fuel on their first stint. The splash and go went without a problem. Now it was coming down to it, about 20-30 min to go in the race the battle was on! It was time to start to really push the car and myself to strive to get every position i could. All of the cars teams and drivers were in the same position trying to move up the grid.

I drove 100% battling with cars passing back and forth for the last 20 minutes, boy were they intense! Not without a little bumping and grinding passing cars up to the last lap i made up 12 spots in class!! Putting us in 10th place!! 33rd overall!!! a top 10 for the first race with a new car was a great feeling, especially for my first time racing in the series and first time racing a Front wheel drive car! Everyone was very happy with the end result i was the highest finishing Mazda Mazdaspeed 3! The crew and team did a great job along with my co driver Ryan Ellis it was a great team effort and the results show it!

Now i look ahead to the Grand Prix of Miami at the Homestead Miami Speedway March 5-6. Stay tune for more blogs!
Taylor Hacquard

• Grand-Am Continental Tire Series, Race 2, Homestead Miami Speedway.
• Updates, race 5/6/7 Grand-Am Continental Tire Series, 2010 Mazdaspeed 3.
• Grand-Am Continental Tire Series, Race 3, Barber Motorsports Park.

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