Champion®/Buhl Sport ARX Team Fifth at COTA
Strong first weekend highlighted by qualifier win
DETROIT, (July 14, 2018) - The Champion®/Buhl Sport Detroit team finishes the Americas Rallycross (ARX) series Circuit of the Americas (COTA) round in fifth today.
Early highlights for the Champion/Buhl Sport team had driver Alex Keyes drive to a second-place finish in qualifying race two and went onto win the third qualifying race at COTA. "It feels good," said Keyes. "It was a good battle out there in the third qualifier. We have a small issue with the engine cutting out, so we will get that fixed for the fourth qualifier. It was a great battle. I made a mistake going into Turn 1, then on the last lap I let them push each other wide and I was there for the win."
Alex Keyes
With his strong qualifying race results, the team made it through to the six car ARX2 final. In the final, starting from the outside back row, Keyes drove a strong race to move up a position and finish in fifth place.
"It was a positive weekend all around as a first outing with the new team," continued Keyes. "It was hot in Austin, over 100°F all day and that started to affect our engine as the day went on, we developed a motor-mis. We were focused on the qualifying races and getting to the final which we did. In the final I started on the outside back row and had a good start. I was able to move up a position and close out our first weekend running together in fifth. The engine issue cost us, but we worked well as a team and we will be that much better heading to Canada next month for the next round."
"Everyone on the team worked hard to get us here to COTA for this race," Robbie Buhl, team owner said. "Champion and everyone involved have put in a lot a work over the past two months. Alex did a great job in the qualifying races and was able to win the third qualifier. In the final we just wanted to get to the checker and get this first race under our belt. Good job by everyone on the weekend."
The ARX Circuit of the Americas races will be televised on the CBS Sports Network, Wednesday, July 18 at 8 p.m. ET. The next round of the ARX series will run at Trois Rivieres, Quebec, Canada, August 4-5
For more information contact Kyle Chura, kyle@kcapr.com, (248) 821-0468.
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