Aussie Takes Double Podium at Road Atlanta in No. 12 Norton by Symantec Porsche
When he embarked on his rookie IMSA GT3 Cup Challenge by Yokohama season at Sebring International Raceway in March, David Calvert-Jones did not know exactly what to expect from the season.
It was my first season racing these cars and its all been new and an overwhelming experience, said the Australian driver known as CJ. Ive been lucky enough to have the support by Norton, Blundstone and others and the racing has been competitive. Every track was a learning experience. Im not sure I can quantify the amount Ive learned this year from driving these types of cars, racing with the types of competitors that youre racing against and managing the whole process of putting a competitive car and a competitive team together.Its safe to say that CJwith the support and assistance of Norton by Symantec, mobilesecurity.com, Blundstone Boots, JRZ Suspension Engineering and Competition Motorsportswas competitive throughout the 2012 season.
He finished the season with nine podium results in 12 series startsincluding a run of seven straight podiums beginning with his victory at Canadian Tire Motorsport Parken route to second in the final Gold Cup championship standings. And he did it without having previously raced at any racetrack on the series schedule other than Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca prior to this year.
I had no quantifiable references on how fast I could drive this car to know whether I could be competitive or not, he said. I just had to get to the track the first time, test the car a couple times and just drive it to see how I measured up against the other guys. I guess I measured up OK.
His final opportunity to measure himself against the GT3 Cup competition came in a season-ending doubleheader last Thursday and Friday at Road Atlanta.
Overnight rains prior to the Thursday morning qualifying session turned out to have an enormous impact on the outcome of both races. IMSA officials declared it to be a wet session at the start of qualifying, forcing all teams to utilize rain tires. On the wets, CJ found his way to the provisional Gold pole position for most of the session.
Unfortunately, the track dried out enough toward the end of the session that a number of driversincluding Gold champion Angel Benitez Jr.changed to slicks for the final few minutes, whereas CJ and the Competition Motorsports team elected to stay on wets. The move to slicks enabled Benitez to knock CJ off the class pole with a significantly quicker lap time, and put a number of slower Platinum Cup cars between himself and CJ on the starting grid for the race, despite the fact that CJ qualified second in the Gold class.
When the green flag dropped on Race #1 on Thursday afternoon, CJ began picking off the Platinum cars and closing the gap between himself and Benitez. CJ cleared the last Platinum car when a full-course caution came out with under 10 minutes remaining, but the race wouldnt be restarted and he settled for second.
It was under different circumstances, but CJ found himself in a similar situation in Race #2 on Friday. Just as the green flag dropped to start the race, a multi-car accident sent drivers every which way in avoidance, including CJ, who could have collected at least two spinning cars but managed to narrowly avoid contact. When the smoke cleared, however, there were once again several Platinum cars between CJ in second and Benitez, the race leader.
Just as he did the day before, CJ spent the remainder of the race maneuvering his No. 12 Norton by Symantec Porsche around slower Platinum cars and once again cleared them all. However, he again ran out of time to mount a challenge and finished second one more time to Benitez in the season finale. The performance earned him the Yokohama Tire Hard Charger Award in the race.
The situations that presented themselves in qualifying with the wets and so on, which put me back in the field and behind a lot of Platinum cars, gave Angel a good buffer on me, CJ said. I had to work really hard to get through all that traffic to try and catch him, which I ended up doing, but I just didnt have the opportunity to finish that off. The second race, again, there was a situation out of my control, which was a big crash on the first lap. That put me back behind a number of slower cars, so I had to work my way through those to catch him and I nearly caught him again. The positives I took out of those were I could drive that car for a 45-minute race as quickly or quicker than anybody.
Both races at Road Atlanta turned out to be a microcosm of CJs season, as in addition to receiving second-place honors in the Gold Cup championship, he was also presented the season-long Yokohama Hard Charger Award for advancing the most total positions in the Gold Cup class throughout the 2012 season at the GT3 Cup Challenge awards celebration on Friday night. It was yet another pleasant surprise in an outstanding season.
I surpassed my objectives from the start of the year, but as the year went on, my objectives increased, said CJ. Im a competitive guy and I want to realize my objectives in a very successful way. There were some ups and there were some downs this year, and Im really fortunate to say not many downs.
