Accident Strikes Down Crown Royal Cask No. 16 Team at Thunder Bolt 250


Driver Antonio Garcia Unharmed

After qualifying 9th for the 2008 Thunder Bolt 250, Cheever Racing's Antonio Garcia escaped serious injury during a first lap accident at New Jersey Motorsports Park.

An electrical issue in the Crown Royal Cask No. 16 Pontiac powered Coyote Cars Daytona Prototype caused Garcia to lose power and spin in the first turn.  Garcia was unable to restart the machine as competition officials gave the green flag to the GT class to begin the race.

The lead GT cars were able to avoid Garcia, but in doing so left the track, kicking up a dust cloud that obscured the view for the rest of the field.  The ensuing collision was unavoidable and caused substantial damage to the Crown Royal Cask No. 16 entry’s right side, retiring it from the race.

Team Manager David Meehan:  “Considering the severity of Scott’s (Pruett) accident earlier this week, we feel lucky that our accident was not as serious.


On a bright note; Cheever Racing and the Crown Royal Cask No. 16 Race Team congratulate their driver Christian Fittipaldi, who became a U.S. citizen on Friday.  Fittipaldi squeezed in the ceremony by practicing with the team on Thursday, flying to Miami Friday for the oath of citizenship and rejoining the team for practice on Saturday.

Garcia and Fittipaldi will team up again as the Crown royal Cask No. 16 Race Team wraps up the season in two weeks in Salt Lake City.  For more information and exclusive in-car videos, visit www.CheeverRacing.com and www.CoyoteCars.net 

Crown Royal Cask No. 16 Race Team Delivers Another Strong Finish At The Glen
Cheever Racing Backs Up Podium Finish In Montreal With Sixth at WGI
The second half of the 2008 Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series presented by Crown Royal Cask No. 16 appears to be a turning point for the development of the Coyote Cars chassis as the driving team of Christian Fittipaldi and Antonio Garcia deliver a sixth place finish for the Crown Royal Cask No. 16 Pontiac powered Coyote Daytona Prototype at the Crown Royal 200 at Watkins Glen.
Fittipaldi delivered another strong start to the race, quickly moving from 8th position to 4th under less than ideal racing conditions on the short course at Watkins Glen International. Pit strategy allowed the Crown Royal Cask No. 16 machine to move into first place for 3 laps of green flag racing, the only other car to score lead laps other than the ultimate victor, the Aim Motorsports entry. A clutch malfunction in the pits during the driver change cost the team precious time, but Garcia was able to refire the engine and delivered a solid second half performance, narrowly missing the top 5 by 1.181 seconds.
Antonio Garcia: “Overall the program and the Crown Royal Cask No. 16 Race Team are moving forward quite well. Other than the clutch problem during the driver change, the Coyote handled very well, allowing me to hold off my competitors and turn in some very good laps and develop a nice rhythm behind the wheel… I think we have a solid team heading into the last races of the season.”
Christian Fittipaldi: “Considering where we are in the development of the Coyote, I think that it was a good race, I look forward to the opportunity to spend some more time behind the wheel and give the engineers some more feed back that will turn into more speed under dry conditions… I felt very strong behind the wheel when the track was wet at the beginning of the race… all in all we have made great progress and better results are close at hand.”
Team Owner Eddie Cheever: “It’s another strong race for the Crown Royal Cask No. 16 Race Team… We had a clutch problem during our driver change that made us lose 25 seconds during the pit stop… otherwise our race strategy worked well and the pairing of Christian (Fittipaldi) and Antonio (Garcia) is coming together nicely… I’m looking forward to Sonoma.”
For more information on the Crown Royal Cask No. 16 Race Team and exclusive in-car footage visit www.CheeverRacing.com. To learn more about the Coyote Cars Daytona Prototype chassis, visit www.CoyoteCars.net.
Crown Royal Cask No. 16 To Start Crown Royal 200 8th

Coming off a second place podium finish for Antonio Garcia and Christian Fittipaldi at Montreal, the Crown Royal Cask No. 16 Race Team is solidly in the field as Fittipaldi turned a fast lap of 1:06.463 on the Watkins Glen short course with a speed of 132.705 during qualifications for the Crown Royal 200 at the Glen.  Fittipaldis time puts the Crown Royal Cask No. 16 Pontiac powered Coyote Cars Daytona Prototype in 8th position in the 20 car field.

Heres a look at the Watkins Glen short-course from the drivers perspective at speed.

 

 

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