Mark Bullitt fourth once again in GT3 -The Muscle Milk team had more of a 'quiet' day at Sebring International Raceway on Friday compared to Thursday. The team's GT3 driver Mark Bullitt once again placed fourth in his second race of the week while Klaus Graf was the best of the petrol powered cars in qualifying for tomorrow's 12 Hours of Sebring race by placing his Aston Martin LMP1 sixth on the grid.
Bullitt takes fourthMuscle Milk Team CytoSport's Mark Bullitt returned to the track today for the second of his two IMSA GT3 Cup Challenge by Yokohama races at Sebring International Raceway this week and once again came out with a fourth place finish.
While Thursday's result was a very satisfying one for the German, Friday's wasn't quite as rewarding. Bullitt was on his way to a podium finish after having taken over third place on lap nine, by overtaking the #24 car of Carlos Kauffmann.
The driver of the #6 Porsche 911 GT3 Platinum cup car held on to his position up until a lap 16 restart. As the field entered Turn 3, following the return to green flag racing, a car at the front of the field spun and caused a melee in front of Bullitt.
In order to avoid any potential contact, the Muscle Milk driver went off course but dropped to fourth before returning to the track. With the incident in Turn 3 causing a lengthy clean up, the checkered flag came out on the following lap, forcing Bullitt to settle for fourth.
Bullitt and his Muscle Milk Team CytoSport crew will be back on track April 29 through May 1 for rounds 3 and 4 at Miller Motorsports Park as part of the Larry H. Miller Utah Grand Prix.
Muscle Milk Aston Martin Racing top petrol powered car in qualifyingThe Muscle Milk Aston Martin Racing team achieved what it had set out to do in Friday's qualifying session at Sebring International Raceway by being the top non-diesel car on the starting grid for Saturday's 12 Hours of Sebring.
After a heroic effort by the Muscle Milk crew on Thursday, the team continued where it had left off the night before by placing sixth in the morning practice, once again behind the Audi and Peugeot contingent.
When it returned to the track later in the afternoon for qualifying, with Klaus Graf behind the wheel of the Aston Martin LMP1, the team initially took over sixth with its first fast lap but was relegated to seventh behind the Audis, Peugeots and the HPD powered Highcroft car soon thereafter.
Never one to give up and knowing that he had the speed, Graf did one more lap of the 3.7-mile, 17-turn road course and posted a lap time of one minute 49.679 seconds. His lap put him back in sixth, making the Muscle Milk Aston Martin Racing team the best of the petrol-powered cars in the field.
The team will be back on track at 8:00 a.m. for final practice before the start of the race at 10:30 a.m. ET.
The 12 Hours of Sebring will be broadcast live in the US, in its entirety on ESPN3.com Saturday, March 19 starting at 10:15 a.m. ET. Television coverage will be presented on ABC from 12:30 to 2:00 p.m. ET on Sunday, March 20.
MUSCLE MILK QUOTES
IMSA GT3 CUP CHALLENGE BY YOKOHAMA DRIVER:
Mark Bullitt, driver #6 Muscle Milk Porsche 911 GT3 Challenge Cup car
"The race was pretty good. We started off well and had a good start. The car ran great and I was staying close to the car in front of me. The top four cars were all running the same pace so it was hard to really get closer, but I kept watching him and suddenly he made a mistake and went through the grass a little bit so I took my chance and overtook him in turn 7. From that moment on we just kept going."When I saw all the cars get together in Turn 3, I went left through the grass and one of the cars that was behind me was a little more fortunate than me and was able to take over third while I fell to fourth."At the end of the day the car is good and fun to drive and I learned a lot. Looking back at my races here, I'm very satisfied. Coming in, I never thought we would have accomplished this and I am looking forward to the next races."
AMERICAN LE MANS SERIES DRIVER:
Klaus Graf, qualifying driver Muscle Milk Aston Martin Racing
"It was a really good run. I think we ended up in the best position possible, being the best petrol car, so I am very pleased about that. It wasn't easy out there. The track isn't at its best condition but we improved the car a lot from this morning and I think we got the maximum out of it. The guys did an awesome job and Brandon (Fry) our engineer made the right changes to the car. It's a very rewarding day from where we were yesterday. Coming out strong like this and actually being the fastest ALMS car is a big achievement with our first outing in the Muscle Milk Aston Martin. "I think we have a good race car. For race day you have to switch your mind set around, it's about making no mistakes and going for 12 hours. Traffic is going to be mad! We saw in all the practice sessions all the red flags we had so I think it will be very difficult for some of the drivers out there, but it's all part of this race. For us it will be to keep it out of the pits and to stay clean all the way."
