Round 5 to begin Sunday at 4:55 pm CT
The 27 drivers competing in Round 5 of the SCCA Pro Racing Volkswagen Jetta TDI Cup arrived today at Autobahn Country Club in Joliet, Illinois to compete at a track that is hosting its first professional race weekend. The 21-turn, 3.56-mile road course was largely a mystery for the competitors since only local driver, Timmy Megenbier had ever driven on the circuit.
It was no surprise to anyone that the Megenbier, a Melrose Park, Illinois-native, topped the speed charts in morning practice, while many of the other drivers struggled to master the course with the most turns that the series will see during the season. Megenbier’s time of 2:46.974 during the morning practice session was a half second ahead of the rest of the field that included Andy Lee (2:47.520) and Andrew Cordeiro (2:48.461) in the top three positions.
‘With this being the first big race held at this track, it was really hard to prepare for this weekend,’ said Cordeiro. ‘Given my lack of track knowledge, I wasn’t concerned about going out and tearing up the track right out of the box. I just went out and tried to give myself plenty of spacing on the track so that I was able to try different lines going into the corners. With 21 turns, it’s one of the most challenging tracks we’ve run on, so it’s especially rewarding when you put down a good lap time.’
The qualifying session started off much as followers of the series would expect with Megenbier at the top of the speed chart. However, after his sixth lap, he pulled into the pits with .7 sec lead in order to save his tires for the race. As the clocked ticked down to end the session, Megenbier was still at the top until Maricopa, Arizona’s Andy Lee took a flyer on his last lap and put his #27 car on the pole for tomorrow’s race with a time of 2:46.171. Megenbier (2:46.204) and Joey Atterbury (2:46.482) rounded out the top three starting spots.
‘I was really frustrated throughout the qualifying session,’ Lee said. ‘It seemed that I couldn’t find clear track to get a good lap. I think that I only was able to get two good ones the entire session. I messed up the first, but thankfully, I was able to regroup and get what I was after. It’s really exciting for me because this is my first pole in any form of racing. However, I know that tomorrow is what really counts, so I’ll do my best to hang on to my spot.’
Despite not hanging on for the pole for his home race, Megenbier has his eyes on the larger prize.
‘It’s been a great weekend for me so far with all of my family and sponsors here to watch me,’ Megenbier said. ‘Obviously, I wish I could have won the pole, but I’m happy for Andy (Lee). He had a great lap, so he deserves it. I’m starting up front, and I know what to expect from the guys around me, so I’m hoping for the best.’
Three guest drivers are joining the series for this weekend’s race including Autobahn founding member and local Volkswagen dealer, Richard Fisher, extreme skier and TV personality, Glen Plake and journalist, Jeff Olson. Fisher posted the best time of the three during the qualifying session and will be starting from the fifth position. Plake and Olson will start 26th and 27th respectively.
The Volkswagen Jetta TDI Cup series returns to action Sunday at 4:55 pm CT at Autobahn Country Club for Round 5 of the season. Live timing and scoring is available at http://www.livetiming.net/SCCA/VW/livetiming.asp.
Saturday Practice Session:
Position/Car Number/Driver/Hometown/Sponsor/Time/Speed
1 17 Timmy Megenbier/Melrose Park/IL / Chicagoland VW/ 2:46.974 / 76.754 2 27 Andy Lee/Maricopa/AZ/Castrol/ 2:47.520 / 76.504 3 26 Andrew Cordeiro/Woodbridge/Ont/CN/Bosch/ 2:48.461 / 76.077 4 19 Jake Thompson(R)/Vancouver/BC/LAMIN-X/ 2:48.519 / 76.050 5 20 Mark Pombo/Duluth/GA/VW Parts & Accessories/ 2:48.634 / 75.999 6 2 AJ Nealey(R)/Pasadena/MD/Sherwin-Williams/ 2:49.078 / 75.799 7 7 JD Mobley(R)/Castle Rock/CO/VION/ 2:49.215 / 75.738 8 6 David Richert/Niverville/MB/CN/Bosch/ 2:49.480 / 75.619 9 35 Richard Fisher(G)/Evanston/IL/The Autobarn/ 2:49.613 / 75.560 10 4 Nicky Boulle(R)/Dallas/TX/Defnder/ 2:49.770 / 75.490 11 8 Derek Jones/Philadelphia/PA/Aggreko/ 2:50.101 / 75.343 12 29 Devin Cates(R)/Broad Run/VA/HYPERFUELS/ 2:50.222 / 75.290 13 3 Taylor Broekemeier/Fort Collins/CO/Oakley/ 2:50.224 / 75.289 14 34 Juan Pablo Delgado(R)/Orizaba/VZ/MX/Red Bull/ 2:50.329 / 75.242 15 14 Joey Atterbury(R)/Renton/WA/SCCA/ 2:50.330 / 75.242 16 22 Andrew Novich(R)/Novato/CA/Oakley/ 2:50.533 / 75.152 17 23 Juan Pablo SierraLendle/Puebla/MX/Castrol/ 2:51.305 / 74.814 18 24 Donny Warren(R)/Winchester/VA/Aggreko/ 2:51.344 / 74.796 19 5 Ryan Ellis(R)/Ashburn/VA/VION/ 2:51.929 / 74.542 20 30 Perry Richardson(R)/Los Gatos/CA/Tire Rack/ 2:52.158 / 74.443 21 15 Theresa Condict(R)/Lexington/MA/HYPERFUELS/ 2:52.314 / 74.375 22 28 Rhett Tucker(R)/Cumming/GA/DC United/ 2:52.720 / 74.201 23 16 Eric Morse(R)/Pittsburgh/PA/Amplify/ 2:53.252 / 73.973 24 18 Kerstin Smutny(R)/Bothell/WA/iRacing.com/ 2:54.190 / 73.574 25 32 Andrew Gun Tucker(R)/McDonough/GA/Pirelli/ 2:54.418 / 73.478 26 37 Glen Plake(G)/Livermore/CA/Athletes Performance/ 3:03.941 / 69.674 27 31 Jeff Olson(G)/Des Moines/IA/Virginia Tech/ 3:20.359 / 63.965 (R) – Jetta TDI Cup Rookie Driver (G) – Guest Driver
Qualifying (Round 5 – Sunday Race):
Position/Car Number/Driver/Hometown/Sponsor/Time/Speed
1 27 Andy Lee/Maricopa/AZ/Castrol/ 2:46.171 / 77.125 2 17 Timmy Megenbier/Melrose Park/IL/Chicagoland VW/ 2:46.204 / 77.110 3 14 Joey Atterbury(R)/Renton/WA/SCCA/ 2:46.482 / 76.981 4 20 Mark Pombo/Duluth/GA/VW Parts & Accessories/ 2:46.656 / 76.901 5 35 Richard Fisher(G)/Evanston/IL/The Autobarn/ 2:46.994 / 76.745 6 26 Andrew Cordeiro/Woodbridge Ont/CN/Bosch/ 2:47.587 / 76.473 7 19 Jake Thompson(R)/Vancouver/BC/LAMIN-X/ 2:47.656 / 76.442 8 8 Derek Jones/Philadelphia/PA/Aggreko/ 2:47.673 / 76.434 9 3 Taylor Broekemeier/Fort Collins/CO/Oakley/ 2:47.697 / 76.423 10 2 AJ Nealey(R)/Pasadena/MD/Sherwin-Williams/ 2:47.932 / 76.316 11 6 David Richert/Niverville MB/CN/Bosch/ 2:47.971 / 76.298 12 4 Nicky Boulle(R)/Dallas/TX/Defnder/ 2:48.154 / 76.215 13 7 JD Mobley(R)/Castle Rock/CO/VION/ 2:48.377 / 76.115 14 28 Rhett Tucker(R)/Cumming/GA/DC United/ 2:48.413 / 76.098 15 29 Devin Cates(R)/Broad Run/VA/HYPERFUELS/ 2:48.451 / 76.081 16 30 Perry Richardson(R)/Los Gatos/CA/Tire Rack/ 2:48.607 / 76.011 17 23 Juan Pablo SierraLendle/Puebla/MX/Castrol/ 2:48.936 / 75.863 18 5 Ryan Ellis(R)/Ashburn/VA/VION/ 2:49.508 / 75.607 19 34 Juan Pablo Delgado(R)/Orizaba/VZ/MX/Red Bull/ 2:49.526 / 75.599 20 16 Eric Morse(R)/Pittsburgh/PA/Amplify/ 2:49.535 / 75.595 21 22 Andrew Novich(R)/Novato/CA/Oakley/ 2:49.558 / 75.584 22 24 Donny Warren(R)/Winchester/VA/Aggreko/ 2:50.224 / 75.289 23 15 Theresa Condict(R)/Lexington/MA/HYPERFUELS/ 2:51.081 / 74.911 24 32 Andrew Gun Tucker(R)/McDonough/GA/Pirelli/ 2:52.795 / 74.168 25 37 Glen Plake(G)/Livermore/CA/Athletes Performance/ 3:01.972 / 70.428 26 18 Kerstin Smutny(R)/Bothell/WA/iRacing.com/ 2:51.289 / 74.821 27 31 Jeff Olson(G)/Des Moines/IA/Virginia Tech/ 3:04.476 / 69.472 (R) – Jetta TDI Cup Rookie Driver (G) – Guest Driver
