Top ten for Drewer first time out.

Tom Drewer has finished 9th outright at the SCCA Tom Nehl Classic XXX at the 3.25 kilometre Roebling Road circuit near Savannah, Georgia in his debut race in the USA.

Drewer qualified 4th fastest in the DSR class with an IMSA Spec car, out qualifying his experienced team mate, Eric Vassian, and was the highest placed WEST.

The highly modified Stohrs of Jean-Luc Liverato, Dorian Foyil, and Ken Tyrrell set a blistering place all weekend and in the end proved too strong for the IMSA spec WEST, but never the less Drewer was pleased with the performance of the car and himself.

‘We really set out to use the Roebling Road race as a test session. It was fantastic to finally get a chance to push the new tunnelled floored WEST on a high down force circuit like Roebling Road. I thought Phillip Island and Eastern Creek (Australian circuits) had their moments but this place is unreal.

‘I was extremely happy with the performance of the car. It felt very balanced and the grip levels were maintained through out the race. We had a very neutral car.

‘The racing in the SCCA series is great. I didn’t know what to expect but these guys have some awesome machinery and race extremely hard. I didn’t think I would be able to catch or stay with a worked Stohr at the start of the weekend but we did pretty well considering we were about 40hp down on those cars and this is a really high speed circuit with my average race lap speed being around 180 kilometres per hour.

‘I took a fairly conservative approach on the start experiencing my first rolling start and found my self behind the Stohr of Garry Cook after pulling away from my team mate, Eric Vassian.

‘The Stohr would pull around fifteen metres on me down the main straight, but I was reeling him in under brakes at turn 1 and turn 2.

‘I spent a lot of time hustling him through the twisty back section because he was holding me up, and I was filling his mirrors for most of the race apart form a short stint in front when I passed out of the last corner.

‘I was just waiting to pounce again towards the end of the 23 lap race but got tagged on my right rear wheel which resulted in spin and a deflating tyre. It was just a racing incident but it was a shame as I think I was in line for a genuine fourth or fifth outright given that I was running sixth at the time.

‘But I come out of this event with a lot of positives. My car is performing extremely well and I feel comfortable and confident with both my machinery and my PVM team. To be so strong with the outright DSR cars is great. I think we will have a very competitive package at the Sebring IMSA event.

‘I take this opportunity to thank all my supporters back home in Australia’.

Drewer’s IMSA Lites race debut is at Sebring on March 13/14.