Star Mazda race at Trois Rivieres
Ostella stages a comeback while problems plague Goncalvez

(2009.08.15) The day ended with a mix of good and bad for AIM Autosport as David Ostella had a good start, spun and fought back to 7th while Jorge Goncalvez got tangled up in a first turn incident that affected the rest of his day.

Ostella had s strong start from his best road course qualifying position (8th) making up a couple of spots before settling in to 7th position eventually moving back to 6th on lap ten. Just four laps later though he had a big spin but managed to keep it off the wall. He kept the car going and rejoined in 13th. A caution helped him close the gap to the cars in front and by lap twenty-five was up to 10th. Then two cars in a battle in the lead group tangled and David moved to 8th, then he made a great pass on the final lap to finish the race in 7th.

Jorge Goncalvez was starting near the back of the pack due to issues in qualifying was on a strategy to be patient but ran into a car that spun in turn one on the star. It was alight hit and Jorge was able to get rolling again but lost ground eventually going down two laps after coming in to have the car checked. Coming under the arch on lap 24 Jorge went a bit wide and slid into the tires ending his day.

"It was just one of those weekends" commented team manager Keith Willis. "David had a great run and some good luck this time. Jorge started well in practice only to have a broken CV joint and a an shortened qualifying hamper his chances at a good starting position. It went a bit backwards from there."

Willis continued, "We are happy for David and disappointed for Jorge but now we concentrate on our home race at Mosport in two weeks. We have a good car for that track and are hoping for good results for both drivers."

AIM's Star Mazda Qualifying at Trois Rivieres
Ostella starts 8th, Goncalvez 17th

(2009.08.15) Qualifying for the Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear race at the GP3R (Trois Rivieres, Quebec) took place this morning with AIM's David Ostella (71) starting from the eighth spot after a strong run while team mate Jorge Goncalvez (72) will start 17th after a mechanical problem cut his session short.

Challenging in the first group, David had a very strong run and finished just .019 seconds off the fastest lap in the session. This put him a good position as the next group would have to deal with a track that was becoming a bit greasy with the heat. When all was said and done, David's time of 1:02.122 was good enough to start from the outside of row 4 in tomorrow morning's race.

The day did not go as well for Jorge who had some good laps going on scrub tires but when he came in to switch to stickers, the crew found a problem with the left rear CV joint. The crew worked feverishly to repair the problem and sent him out with only minutes to go in the session. At the end of his first lap the caution flags came out for a car in the tires. With less than five minutes to go, officials halted the session and Jorge was not able to complete a good hot lap. He had to settle for a time of 1:02.988 which he recorded early in the session.

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