Ernie Francis, Jr., leads six cars for damp practice
May 15, 2014
It was Ernie Francis, Jr., in the #9 Breathless Performance Chevrolet Camaro, who led the few members of the Trans Am field who opted to participate in the first session of Round 4 of the 2014 Trans Am Championship at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, a part of the Castrol Victoria Day Speedfest.
Francis showcased the ability of the less powerful TA3 class to handle the wet conditions, similar to the history making effort of Bob Stretch at Lime Rock Park last year when he and the #98 FixRim Mobile Wheel Repair Chevrolet Camaro won the Trans Am race outright. In fact, Francis’ time of 1:40.798 was a full 10 seconds faster than the rest of the cars on track.
Other members of the Trans Am paddock who joined Francis were teammate Fernando Seferlis, Stretch, Tom Sheehan, Todd Napieralski and David Pintaric.
Stretch led all TA2 competitors with a time of 1:50.610, followed by teammate Sheehan with a 1:55.617.
David Pintaric was the only representative of the TA class and logged a time of 1:54.494.
Trans Am will return to the track here at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park at 10:30 EDT a.m. tomorrow, May 16, in preparation for a split qualifying session at 2:40 p.m., with the TA class going first, then TA2 and TA3 following suit.
The 100-Mile Trans Am race will take place at 1:40 p.m. on Saturday, May 17.
For updates throughout the weekend, and throughout the 2014 Championship, visit www.gotransam.com, follow the Series on Twitter at @gotransam or “Like” Trans Am at www.Facebook.com/gotransam.
