Michael Schein Third at Miller in AJR 21 in Patron Challenge
Michael
Schein posted a
season's best podium finish of third in Saturday's IMSA Patron GT3
Challenge Series at Miller Motorsports Park. In the second race
on Sunday Schein posted a seventh in class finish.AJR took the opportunity to get Schein some additional track time by bringing the car out to Utah on Tuesday. Schein, from Glen Cove, New York, worked with Porsche Factory Driver Patrick Long to try and get every bit of performance out of car and driver for this weekend.
"Patrick hopped into my car earlier in the week and set a baseline," Schein said. "I would go out and do a couple of laps and then over lay the data and see exactly where I could improve. It really helped me through the Attitudes and Turns 12 and 13."
In qualifying on Saturday, Schein put the No. 21 Alex Job Racing Porsche on the second row in third with a time of 1:55.948.
"It was a good qualifying run. The track was a little cooler and the speed was there. I think I could have gone a little bit faster, but I am happy with third and let's see what the race brings."
In the first race on Saturday, Schein had a good start from his second row grid position. Shuffling down into Turn One he settled into third. Defending his position and looking for more Schein ran a well crafted race. The last 10-minutes of the 45-minute event were hampered by a two car wreck resulting in the race ending under yellow and Schein settling for his first podium of the year in third.
"The start was pretty clean," Schein said. "I thought I had the jump on the 16 car going into Turn One, but he went to the left and put a block on me, so I slotted in behind him. Early on I thought he was holding me up, but I couldn't put a move on him. Toward the middle of the race it got spread out and I concentrated on being consistent and hitting my marks. I didn't want to make a mistake at the end. I ran a little conservative and had a good race to bring it home in third."
In race two today, Schein started from the second row in fourth, based upon Saturday's fastest race lap. At the start the young New Yorker was able to move up from the second row to third. Later in the race he had an aggressive spin in The Attitudes and again in Turn Four. The result was a seventh place in class.
"We started the race on new brake pads," Schein said. "I was working in the brakes on the warm-up lap, so I think my tires were a little cool at the start. I was able to get by a couple cars at the start and then they got me back. I locked it up going into the Attitudes a lost a bunch of places. I gathered it back up and then had a high speed spin in Turn Four, the high speed left hander. A difficult day, but I am happy with my third place yesterday."
Alex Job, team owner, is pleased with the results of the weekend and knows there is more work to do.
"Michael learned a lot this week," Job said. "We brought him out on Tuesday and he received a lot of instruction from Patrick Long and put that knowledge to use. He is very coachable. The first race was great he ran a smart race and was awarded with his first podium of the season. The second race was a tough one. He had a couple of spins and worked hard to get back up to seventh. We are putting all of the pieces together with Michael and when we do, he will be very tough to beat."
The Patron GT3 Challenge will travel to Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course for a double race weekend on August 6 - 7.
