2 successful races completed!
Nick Galante has been trying to put together a full season championship effort in the IMSA Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge. He has been honing his skills by running in some of the top events during the past couple of seasons. This year he has secured a seat with the Legistics company as a partner. Driving the #79 Ford Mustang Boss 302R with the experienced team of Racers Edge Motorsports, Nick is set to compete in 4 of the 12 races of the season.
Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, CA: May 3rd2014
Lime Rock Park, CT: May 24th 2014
Watkins Glen, NY: June 28th 2014
Road America, WI: August 9th 2014
The season started on Nick's home track at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. The team struggled with some braking issues in all of the practice sessions and into qualifying. Nick managed to qualify the car 22nd out of the 27 GS cars. With the brakes fixed and hopes high, Nick had a great start and started moving quickly through the field. He picked off 4 cars before turn 2 and another 2 cars into turn 3. The first half of the race was riddled with caution periods. Fuel strategy was going to be tough. Nick managed to work his way up to 2nd place just before the restart of the 4th caution period. With an hour and ten minutes remaining, Nick was under fierce pressure from the cars behind. Be sure to watch that battle on the YouTube link here YouTube/GALANTEbattle
Nick pit for fuel and a driver change immediately after that fierce battle. The team ended up finishing 16th. Although the car was a little banged up, it was a good first race of the season for Nick. He quickly packed his bags and headed to Connecticut for the next race, The Lime Rock Park Northeast Grand Prix. Nick was to be paired with co-driver Justin Piscitell for the 2.5 hour race. Rain was in the forecast for the weekend. Moments before qualifying the skies opened up and a healthy downpour commenced. Qualifying was cancelled due to the flooding. Unfortunately the teams were instructed to grid up for the race by seasonal points and not the practice times. Only having competed in one other race this season the #79 would have to start towards the back, 21st of the 28 GS cars competing. Nick in his usual fashion had a great start and picked off 4 cars into turn one, and another 2 before turn two.
He was able to work his way up to 10th before pitting. The team did a great pitstop and driver change at the halfway point of the race, but the 79 was penalized for speeding in the pits on the way back out. They were ordered to complete a drive through penalty. The team, despite the penalty, was able to finish 14th.With 2 of the 4 races in the books, Nick heads to the historic road course of Watkins Glen in northern New York on June 26th-28th. If you can't make it to the race or watch live on IMSA.com be sure to watch on TV on Fox Sports1 on July 6th at 10:00 AM Eastern time. Thanks for being a fan. Every little bit helps Nick on his wild and difficult journey. Look for him on the podium soon.
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