IWSC: Mid-Ohio Series Debut

Throughout practice the team showed competitive pace getting through the practice plan and learning for the two hour and forty-minute race on Sunday. Josh Sarchet qualified the car on Saturday against the experienced field. Sarchet showed why he is the reigning IPC champion by laying down fast lap after fast lap. Trading the top spot back and forth with Jarett Andretti, ultimately missing out on pole by a few tenths and claiming the second starting spot.  

When the green flag flew on Sunday Josh battled with the top 4 for the opening stint and led a lap before the first pit-stop. On the initial stop, Dakota Dickerson took over the number 58 MLT Motorsports Ligier JSP320. Dickerson climbed up to third place before the first and only full course yellow came out on lap 54. The timing of this yellow put the LMP3 field just on the outside of being able to make it home without stopping again, or so was the conventional thinking. On the restart, contact with the 54 CORE Autosport car of Colin Braun shuffled Dickerson and MLT back to 4th where the team would run for most of the final hour.

With fuel saving to the end not looking possible, MLT along with two of the other top five stopped for the final time. However, CORE and JR3 stayed out and gambled to the end. The gamble paid off for those two and left MLT in a battle for the final podium spot with Riley Motorsports and Andretti Autosport. With traffic being intense around the tight Mid-Ohio Sportscar course MLT would go on to finish fifth. On debut the team was right in with normal contenders and looks forward to the Watkins Glen 6 Hour.