We traveled to Phoenix in February to participate in Races 3-4 of the Challenge of Americas. Like Tuscon, this was the first time Kyle had ever been on this track, so having 2 days to practice before the races was critical for him to be able to compete. Practice on Thursday was good, but on Friday, Kyle ate a burrito for lunch which didn’t sit well with him, so he had to miss the last 2 sessions. Those were sessions we were expecting to get into the 47 second range, but unfortunately didn’t get the opportunity to.

The driver lineup consisted of 22 drivers, 20 of which had participated in Races 1-2 in Tuscon, and 2 new drivers in the series. 

Qualifying

Qualifying turned out to be a bit disappointing since Kyle ended up 21st out of 22 drivers. Other drivers were in the 47 second range whereas Kyle was hitting 48 flat fairly consistently. Missing the last two sessions on Friday definitely didn't help, but he knew which corners he had to work on to remain competitive. The hairpin at turn 8 was definitely one that was slowing him down, since it also set up the two longest straights. He was generally faster in, but slower out so he had to adjust his speed and angle of entry in order to get a better run.

Heat Race

Despite starting P21, Kyle was able to finish the Heat Race P19, which gave him a better starting position for the main race.  

Main Race

Since Kyle’s lap time was about a second off the leaders, his start is critical to getting a good result. Fortunately, in this race, Kyle got a great start and moved ahead of 5 drivers up to P14 in lap 1. His pace was good enough to keep with the middle of the pack, but he would swap between P14 and P15 for the majority of the race, passing or getting passed a few times. Either of those positions would have ended up being his best finish for a National race to date, but in the final lap he gained 2 more positions when 2 drivers took each other out so he ended the race P12. He was super thrilled to almost crack the top 10!

Full Results:

• Warm-Up
• Qualifying
• Heat Race
• Main Race
• Points / Standings

Read about the other races from 2016 Challenge of the Americas