Unlucky break sees Drewer finish third in race two at Mosport.

A right rear suspension failure has resulted in young Australian driver Tom Drewer taking third place in race two, Round 8 of the 2008 IMSA Lites Championship at the Mobil 1 Grand Prix of Mosport.

Drewer started race 2 from pole position in the L2 class, and 12th overall, after taking the win and setting a new race lap record in race1 on Saturday, his first ever race at Mosport and in Canada.

(Image: Looking at the failed lower wishbone snapped in two, through the tunnel floor.)


“The start was ultra critical today. I had my two team-mates Jordan (Taylor) and Eric (Vassian) right behind me on the grid, but I had a good plan and I got the perfect start keeping them at bay into turn one.

I pulled a small gap and then Jordan and I battled it out until half race distance when he got a great tow on me going into 8 and he pulled a small gap on me until the safety car came out.

Behind the safety car I went into turn two and heard a clunk. Initially I thought I’d run over something but I was certain there was nothing on the track.

Just prior to the safety car period my team-mate Eric Vassian had radioed into the team to say my right rear tyre was rubbing on my bodywork.

The rubbing was due to the lower wishbone fatiguing, and the clunk I heard through (turn) two was it finally giving way.

It was an unlucky break because the Daily Planet car felt great and we had the package to take it right back to Jordan after safety car lights went green.

Instead I went through turn one and backed off because the car felt unstable. In turn two I could feel that the rear end had given way and limped the car back to pit lane, but our race was already effectively done.

Really though, I was pretty lucky because if it had broken at speed through turn two, or any of the high speed turns here at Mosport, we could have had an even worse outcome or even an accident.

As they say, ‘that’s motor racing’. Yesterday I experienced the high of winning my first ever race in Canada and today not everything went to plan.

I know being the factory WEST team, the guy’s will examine the failure very carefully, work out exactly why it failed, and learn from it.

The main thing is we were still classified third and continued to accumulate points for the Championship.

It was another fantastic weekend for the WEST Race Cars team with Jordan and I giving the team two more race wins.

I want thank my engineer Jake Randels, my coach Randy Aust, and all the whole team for all the effort they have put in during and leading up to this weekend.

I’m ecstatic that this weekend has brought yet another win for Daily Planet and all of my friends, family and supporters back home in Australia who have made all this possible.”

The race was won overall by Jonathan Goring (L1) while Drewer’s team-mates, Jordan Taylor and Eric Vassian took out first and second respectively in the Lites L2 class.

The next race for Drewer and his Daily Planet WEST will be Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta for Rounds 9 and 10 of the 2008 IMSA Lites Championship, presented by Hankook, to be held on October 1-4, 2008.