Mawer Just Outside Top 10 at Portland

Barton Mawer had his strongest run to date in the Champ Car Atlantic Championship in Round 4 of the series at Portland, Oregon on June 16-18.  After running in the top 10 throughout much of the race, Barton crossed the line in 11th  place.

This was an event that Barton had eagerly looked forward to.  Being an old style circuit built after WW2, it is of similar character to the European circuits that he is familiar with.  Extra support from back home in Australia was in place too with the recent partnership that Barton Mawer Motorsport has formed with upcoming Australian band Dusted Orange (www.dustedorange.com).  Both Barton and Dusted Orange are aiming to make a name in America and will be working on a cross promotion programme in the future.

An official test day took place for the Champ Car Atlantic field on the Wednesday before the race meeting.  Barton demonstrated his liking of this circuit by posting the 6th fastest time in the morning.

“I felt comfortable from the outset. We had some rain during the session and we were quick in these conditions so I am hoping we can have a good showing with whatever the unpredictable Portland weather will throw at us”, he commented.

Qualifying proved just how close and competitive this field is.  Barton was one second off pole which put him in 15th place.  He was ahead of previous Atlantic champion and Indy car racer, Alex Barron and only 3 spots behind the championship leader, Andreas Wirth.

“We are struggling with understeer through the long corners at turns 4, 5 and 6. We just can’t seem to dial it out and it is costing us too much time”.

The race was bound to be a test of speed and endurance.  Although scheduled for 40 laps, it stretched to the 1 hour time limit with one safety car period.  The start predictably produced havoc at the first chicane.  Barton got through unscathed and picked up a number of positions but was passed again by a few drivers who elected to shortcut the chicane in all the chaos.  Portland is not an easy circuit to pass on.  Faced with some incredibly stiff blocking tactics he was unable to make any further progress through the field after the first few laps.

“We decided to take some wing off for the race to help the straight line speed but, coupled with the understeer, I could not get close enough through the corners.

”The two Forsythe cars which had problems earlier in the race were slicing their way through the field.   Barton was unable to stop their progress and dropped to 11th place which is where he remained until the end of the race.

“My goal was top 10 today which we only just missed out on but I am still happy with this result and it shows the improvement the team is making.

”Full results and race report of the Portland event can be found by visiting the official Champ Car Atlantic site www.champcaratlantic.com .