The Subaru Motorsports teams experienced dramatic highs and lows through their 2011 seasons, but they managed to win a championship and set a record.Subaru Road Racing Team (SRRT)

Subaru Road Racing Team (SRRT)

Describing the 10 rounds of the GRAND-AM Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge for SRRT runs a gamut of adjectives – hopeful, enthralling, frustrating, encouraging, discouraging, demanding, and competitive are some. Fielded by Subaru of America, Inc. partner Phoenix Performance (based in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania), SRRT had the #35 Subaru WRX STI Sedan in a competitive position just about every racing weekend – in practice, qualifying, and/or during the race.

Consistently capable of running in the top 10, SRRT and drivers Andrew Aquilante, Bret Spaude, and John Heinricy often ran #35 in the top 5. Bret Spaude qualified the car as high as 2nd (Lime Rock), and the team brought home the car as high as 6th (Road America).

As the performance chart shows, when #35 finished, it usually was knocking on the door of the top 10. The chart also shows four times that the car didn’t finish – sometimes due to its own issues and sometimes because of contact in this highly competitive series. At the end of any of the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge races, few of the combatant vehicles remained unscathed.

Drivers weren’t immune either. Andrew Aquilante missed two of the races due to injuries received in a non-Subaru race event before the GRAND-AM weekend at Lime Rock the end of May. SRRT recruited consultant and seasoned racing veteran John Heinricy to take Aquilante’s seat for those two races.

Racing is an unpredictable sport, and the difference between coming in 1st and 10th often depends on a degree of luck. As a well-prepared and well-disciplined team, SRRT met each of the challenges thrown at #35 and continuously presented a strong race car for every round of the series.

SRRT Performance in the 2011 GRAND-AM Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge Grand Sport Class

Follow specific races of SRRT’s 2011 season through Journal entries. Find other articles concerning the team on the website, including the cover story of Version 8.1, which showed how #35 was prepared for the season opener at Daytona the end of January. Also, see the team site at www.subaruroadracingteam.com for more.

SUBARU MOTORSPORTS:

2011 REVIEW

Drive Performance - Subaru Motorsports: 2011 Review