ANSA MOTORSPORTS ENDS RACING SEASON WITH SUCCESSFUL FARA MIAMI 500 WEEKEND
ANSA Motorsports competed in the largest club-racing event in the nation on Thanksgiving weekend at the famed Homestead Miami Speedway in Florida.
This year, the team from Miami Gardens, Florida, co-owned by Alain Nadal and Patrick Otto Madsen, came to the FARA Miami 500 with the goal to win races and score podium finishes with its three cars and six drivers.
The event started on Saturday with practice, qualifying for Sunday’s Miami 500, followed by four sprint races. ANSA Motorsports brought three competitive cars to the 500 this year. Two Audi R8 LMS (MP-1a class), including the No. 114, co-driven by Eric Johnson and Ernie Francis Jr., and the No. 222, co-driven by Chris Fountas and 2016 Pirelli World Challenge GTS champion Brett Sandberg.
The third entry was one of the most followed by the fans and the media throughout the weekend, because it was the No. 113 KTM X-Bow GT4 (MP-2a class), co-driven by two of the most talented sports-car-racing women drivers in Europe: Ines Taittinger from France and Laura Kraihamer from Austria.
Kraihamer raced in the 2016 GT4 European Series and finished second in the Reiter Young Stars competition in the female driver’s class. Taittinger raced an LM P2 in the European Le Mans Series and made her first start in the 24 Hours of Le Mans this year. Both competed in their first North American racing event last weekend. The two young women drove in all 30-minute sprint races and recorded three podium finishes -- a great result, considering that it was their first driving experience racing around the tricky Homestead Miami Speedway.
On the AUDI R8 side, Johnson elected to drive his AUDI DTM in three of the sprint races and left his teammate, 18-year-old Francis, to drive the No. 114 R8 LMS in the four sprint races. Francis was on top of his game and won three sprint races, proving once again that he is very fast and one of the top, promising, young drivers on his way to the big leagues.
Sandberg and Fountas drove in three of the four sprint races and scored two podium finishes.
On race day Sunday, Kraihamer and Taittinger had an awesome and problem-free FARA Miami 500 race. The two Star drivers took the lead of their class not too long after the start and raced in first place for almost the entire race. Their impressive performance ended with an historic FARA result, since the two ladies won the MP-2a class and were the first women to do so in the history of the event. Thanks to the ANSA Motorsports crew that prepared a very reliable KTM X-Bow, Kraihamer crossed the finish line in first place at the four-hour mark. The two ANSA women racers were reunited at the Homestead Miami Speedway Victory Lane right after to celebrate and receive their trophy, ending a memorable racing weekend with ANSA Motorsports.
Sandberg took the start of the race in the ANSA Motorsports No. 222 AUDI R8. After an hour, Fountas took over. The car was running well, and Fountas was racing in the top three, when his car suffered a gearbox overheating issue that forced him to take the car to the garage to avoid damage.
Francis took the start of the 500 behind the wheel of the No. 114 AUDI R8. He and Johnson drove a couple of stints and, after a very competitive race, Francis crossed the finish line third in the MP.1a class.
The 2016 FARA Miami 500 edition was a positive one for ANSA Motorsports and its six drivers, since they recorded eight podium finishes in the sprint races on Saturday, a third-place finish in class for Johnson and Francis and a great class win for Kraihamer and Taittinger in the Miami 500.
ANSA Motorsports continues to win races and championships and is now gearing up for the 2017 season. The team is still testing drivers for its Pirelli World Challenge GTS program, as well as for the new IMSA Prototype Challenge LMP3 Adess program.
Kraihamer raced in the 2016 GT4 European Series and finished second in the Reiter Young Stars competition in the female driver’s class. Taittinger raced an LM P2 in the European Le Mans Series and made her first start in the 24 Hours of Le Mans this year. Both competed in their first North American racing event last weekend. The two young women drove in all 30-minute sprint races and recorded three podium finishes -- a great result, considering that it was their first driving experience racing around the tricky Homestead Miami Speedway.
On the AUDI R8 side, Johnson elected to drive his AUDI DTM in three of the sprint races and left his teammate, 18-year-old Francis, to drive the No. 114 R8 LMS in the four sprint races. Francis was on top of his game and won three sprint races, proving once again that he is very fast and one of the top, promising, young drivers on his way to the big leagues.
Sandberg and Fountas drove in three of the four sprint races and scored two podium finishes.
On race day Sunday, Kraihamer and Taittinger had an awesome and problem-free FARA Miami 500 race. The two Star drivers took the lead of their class not too long after the start and raced in first place for almost the entire race. Their impressive performance ended with an historic FARA result, since the two ladies won the MP-2a class and were the first women to do so in the history of the event. Thanks to the ANSA Motorsports crew that prepared a very reliable KTM X-Bow, Kraihamer crossed the finish line in first place at the four-hour mark. The two ANSA women racers were reunited at the Homestead Miami Speedway Victory Lane right after to celebrate and receive their trophy, ending a memorable racing weekend with ANSA Motorsports.
Sandberg took the start of the race in the ANSA Motorsports No. 222 AUDI R8. After an hour, Fountas took over. The car was running well, and Fountas was racing in the top three, when his car suffered a gearbox overheating issue that forced him to take the car to the garage to avoid damage.
Francis took the start of the 500 behind the wheel of the No. 114 AUDI R8. He and Johnson drove a couple of stints and, after a very competitive race, Francis crossed the finish line third in the MP.1a class.
The 2016 FARA Miami 500 edition was a positive one for ANSA Motorsports and its six drivers, since they recorded eight podium finishes in the sprint races on Saturday, a third-place finish in class for Johnson and Francis and a great class win for Kraihamer and Taittinger in the Miami 500.
ANSA Motorsports continues to win races and championships and is now gearing up for the 2017 season. The team is still testing drivers for its Pirelli World Challenge GTS program, as well as for the new IMSA Prototype Challenge LMP3 Adess program.