Hitt on track for strong finish to 2014

October 10, 2014

(Team Release) Kerry Hitt and his Advanced Composite Products team produced another workman like effort at Virginia International Raceway for round 10 of the 2014 Trans Am Road Racing Series Championship. Hitt finished 7th and remains in solid control of 5th in the championship standings.

Hitt is a veteran race car drive but he only had one previous experience at VIR and that was more than a decade ago. It was a win in the Rolex series. VIR is a challenge for any racer with its combination of high speed, elevation change and highly technical corner sequences. Hitt used every lap of practice thru the race to find speed and comfort on the 3.27 mile course.

"I was leaving some time on the table as I am finding that I am still not driving the car as deep into corners as I should. These cars stop so well and I am not taking full advantage.", Hitt said. Even in qualifying I was still not quite up to speed between relearning the track and finding the proper braking zones. It comes down to a lack of seat time. Which we will fix with an off season testing program."
The #19 Corvette qualified 8th with a best lap of 1:51.996.

The race was largely uneventful. "Considering the number of cars we have racing in Trans Am now and the number of different cars and the difference in closing speeds, the drivers do a superb job.", Hitt said. "It says a lot about the quality of the driving in the series."

There was one big moment of excitement in Hitt's race. It came on the restart from the only full course caution of the event.

The caution came out near the end of the race and the restart was going to be the best chance for drivers to pick up a position or two and for Hitt it was no different. "On the first lap after the restart I had a good run going down the long backstraight following John Baucom's Mustang. He went three wide to pass two TA2 cars that were racing side by side. The middle car, one of the Challengers, I don't think saw that there were two of us coming and he moved to his right after John passed. I had to take my car into the grass to avoid contact," Hitt said.

"After mowing the grass, the grill became blocked and the water temperature jumped right up to 230 degrees. I didn't get any worse and we finished the race."

With the 7th place finish Hitt remains 5th in championship points. With one race left in the season he is 15 points ahead of Jim McAleese and 13 points behind Cliff Ebben in the standings.

The Advanced Composite Products Racing Team will finish the 2014 season at Daytona on Saturday November 15, 2014