Article appearing in The Advertiser newspaper. "Adelaide race driver Tom Drewer has risen from 7th to equal 5th in the IMSA Lites Championship after Rounds 7 and 8 at Lime Rock Park, Connecticut- part of the American Le Mans Series.
Drewer described the "rough-and-tumble" weekend as frustrating. In the first practise session, Drewer was inside the top six when an incident with a Lites 2 car caused damage to his Daily Planet Elan DP-02."
Drewer rumbles. (The Advertiser)
Drewer consistent at Lime Rock. (Auto Action)
Article appearing in the July 25 edition of Australia's Auto Action Magazine. "Tom Drewer had a consistent run in last weekend's IMSA Lites round at Lime Rock, finishing fifth in the first race and seventh in the second to move to fifth in the L1 Championship."
Click on image to view article.
Drewer moves to 5th in IMSA Lites Championship.
Australian Tom Drewer has moved from 7th to equal 5th in the 2009 IMSA Lites Championship presented by Frisby Performance Tire after Round’s 7 & 8 at Lime Rock Park, Connecticut, as part of the American Le Mans Series’ North East Grand Prix.
Drewer described the ‘rough and tumble’ weekend as one of “frustration” which almost ended in heartache before it had really even begun.
In the first practice session Drewer looked strong and was inside the top-six when an incident with a Lites 2 car left Drewer’s Daily Planet Élan DP-02 with heavy damage, including a broken front upright, and his weekend potentially in tatters.
“I was behind my team-mate from last year, Eric Vassian, in a West. After both slowing to pass a stricken car before the last corner we both began accelerating onto the main straight towards the next flag point.
As I approached him on the straightaway I caught him just as his car rapidly decelerated for a second time. I’m not sure if he had a problem. In the video it looks like he lost power. It took me completely by surprise- we were on a flat-out straightaway. I tried to avoid him, but I had nowhere to go. I turned but just couldn’t react fast enough to get the left front corner out of the way.
I couldn’t believe it. It was a devastating blow because it really disadvantaged us. Lime Rock is a very condensed two-day schedule. There is very little time between sessions and we had heavy damage to contend with.
The Comprent team did a great job to get me out for the second session, but we never got the car back on the flat-patch. I was instructed to take the session tentatively in case there was further damage sustained we didn’t know about. I had a fair bit of play in the steering box and a cocked steering wheel.
We weren’t worried about only being P10 in the session because we had qualifying to go and we had chosen not to put on new rubber like most of the guys in-front of us but, due to the weather, that proved to be a costly decision.”
During the American Le Mans Series session, 45 minutes prior to the scheduled IMSA Lites qualifying session a Severe Weather Warning was issued for Lime Rock and the entire surrounding area. Like storms of the previous day, thunder, heavy rain, hail and winds of up to 70mph were expected.
IMSA stopped the ALMS session short, and even though only light rain was falling, abandoned Lites qualifying declaring the session would become another practice and combined practice times would decide the grid for race 1.
“The rain came, but it wasn’t the down-pour they expected. However, it left the track wet enough for rain tyres and meant practice 2 times would be the day’s fastest. I had no way of putting in a lap to better my grid position. It was very frustrating.”
In Race One, Drewer made an amazing start and rocketed from tenth to six by the first corner, passing team-mate Charlie Sheers who had started 6th on the grid.
“It was a really tough aggressive race. We were all lapping around the same pace and battling it out. I found myself in fourth place when the safety car came out.
On the restart I had both teammates behind me. As we barrelled into Turn 1 Jonathan Gore dived on both Charlie and I but couldn’t make it stick. We battled it out for the rest of the race, and unfortunately I was behind both of them at the chequered flag, in 5th place.”
Race Two again saw Drewer make a great start from tenth on the grid.
“Race One was so intense I don’t think I ever had a clean lap, and that put me a little further back on the Race Two grid.
Again I got a great start and found myself in around seventh by the first corner, this time behind Charlie. The car felt good and the leaders just kept falling off the track. I was looking like I was on for fourth or possibly even third.
On around lap 7 it felt like something let go in the left rear corner. It started to sag around right-handers. I radioed the team and said I would proceed with caution. The rear was falling over itself and producing a lot of over-steer. It was like driving a sprint car. I couldn’t maintain my pace and started to fall into the clutches of the cars behind. Then one of the leaders fell off and brought out the safety car.
Just after the restart the two cars in front of me made heavy contact into turn 1 and spun. I had to lock-it all up to avoid contact with them, but that left the door open for a couple of cars to go by.
It was a real shame. Until the car had issues I thought we were knocking on the door of a podium. In the end I had to settle for 7th, struggling to just bring it home.”
Post race inspection revealed extremely heavy blistering and on both rear tyres of Drewer’s Daily Planet machine.
“There was almost no rubber left on the middle of the rear tires. The team is yet to determine if that was the cause or effect of the miss-handling car, or if something else broke. Looking at them I think I was really lucky to finish at all.
At least we kept hauling points. I gave it my all but it just wasn’t our weekend. I’m just glad it’s over and I can’t wait to get to Road America to make up for it.”
Despite the weekend’s frustrations Drewer still collected valuable Championship points and now sits equal fifth with Gary Gibson, within striking distance of team-mate Jonathan Gore in fourth.
2009 IMSA Lites Championship – Current Points Score
1 | Matt Downs 130pts
2 | Joel Feinberg 127pts
3 | Lucas Downs 110pts
4 | Jonathan Gore 84pts
5 | TOM DREWER 80pts
= | Gary Gibson 80pts
Tom Drewer’s next event is the Time Warner Cable Road Race Showcase at the famous Road America circuit, Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, August 14-16.
Drewer ready to 'rock'n'roll' in Connecticut.
Coming off the back of his best performance of the year, the young American Le Mans Series hopeful Tom Drewer is looking forward to Round’s 7 & 8 of the IMSA Lites Championship at this weekend’s North East Grand Prix at Lime Rock Park, Connecticut.
At last month’s stand alone Mazda Formula-X event the Australian hot-shot took his first pole position for 2009, setting a new qualifying lap record for New Jersey’s Thunderbolt raceway with what proved to be the fastest lap of the weekend.
It was also his first pole position in the Lites 1 category, which he moved to this year after winning the 2008 IMSA Lites 2 Championship in only his first year of competition in North America.
Asked whether he was possibly inspired by a recent test in the Panoz Team PTG Esperante American Le Mans GT2 car at Summit point raceway Drewer said,
“That was certainly a positive experience, but I think it was about time we put the Daily Planet car back up where it belongs. I’m very committed to progressing to the next level. I’ve been working hard with the guys at Comprent (Drewer’s Lites 1 team) and it’s paying off.
It was great at New Jersey to take the green from the front and to have clear air in front, leading the pack, even if the car went away a little after the restart. It was frustrating that we finished off the podium in fourth.
This year I’ve had the challenge of a new car, with no testing, and Lites 1 is very competitive, after all most of these guys have lots of experience in these cars and on these circuits. But this is the junior category to the American Le Mans Series and tough competition is why I came to America.
We showed in New Jersey we have what it takes. We proved we have the speed.
I know a win is just around the corner now and I want to be the one to get Comprent’s first win of the year.
I think it should be a great weekend at Lime Rock. It’s a beautiful part of the world. I can’t wait to get back into the car and keep the momentum of New Jersey going. I’m at one with the car now, and I’m more determined than ever. I’m ready to rock’n'roll!”
Drewer’s determination and results are being noticed too. Drewer was recently pencilled in as a future Le Mans Winner. Drewer’s name was included in a cartoon by world-renowned motorsport cartoonist John ‘Stonie’ Stoneham for Auto Action magazine suggesting he will one day follow in the footsteps of fellow countrymen David Brabham who won this year’s 24 Hour with Peugeot.
This comes after he was named by Auto Action magazine as Australia’s ‘Best Rookie Overseas’ following his stellar performance in 2008 and was also included in Australia’s Wheels Magazine’s Hot Half Dozen watch list.
Drewer makes his first appearance on the Lime Rock circuit at 10:40am EST Friday, July 17. Qualifying will occur later that day, while Race 1 and 2 will be on Saturday, July 18.
Drewer pencilled in as future Australian Le Mans winner.
World-renowned Australian motor sport cartoonist, John 'Stonie' Stoneham has pencilled in Tom Drewer as one of Australia’s future Le Mans winners.
In a cartoon published in this week’s Australian Auto Action magazine, 'Stonie' has put forward two possible successors for David Brabham who was only the fourth Australian outright winner of the famous French Le Mans 24 Hour race.
Joining the statues of Bernard Rubin, Vern Schuppan, Geoff and David Brabham in the cartoon are two names adorning unfinished plinths, that of current V8 Supercar champion Jamie Whincup and that of US-based Tom Drewer, an American Le Mans Series’ feeder category champion.
Drewer is attempting to follow in the footsteps of fellow South Australian Vern Schuppan, who won
Le Mans outright with Porsche in 1983, and 2009 Le Mans winner and American Le Mans Series regular, David Brabham.
“To be mentioned in the same sentence or in this case the same drawing as the likes of the Brabham brothers, Vern and Whincup is a huge honour.
Both David and Vern have been fantastic mentors to me in the last year and a half. Vern is also from Adelaide, South Australia. He helped advise me, and endorsed my decision to come to America last year. And ‘Brabs’ has been fantastic to talk to in the paddock during the season.
They have both achieved so much, both racing in Formula 1 and winning the 24 Hour. They are definitely people I look up to and I’m absolutely focused on one day matching their international motor racing success, especially Le Mans. Hopefully I can beat Whincup to becoming the next Australian!”
2009 is only Drewer’s second year competing in America and already he looks set to make the transition into the AMLS GT2 category after testing with Panoz Team PTG earlier this month.
The young up-and-coming Australian sold up everything to pursue an international sportscar career and last year, his first time racing in America, he won ten from twelve races including the opening two rounds at the Sebring 12 Hour event to claim the 2008 IMSA Lites 2 Championship.
This year Drewer has stepped up to the Lites 1 category driving for Daily Planet Racing/Comprent Motor Sports in an Élan DP-02 junior prototype and is again his talents are impressing. With the fastest lap of the weekend, Drewer qualified on pole position for the last race (Round 6) at New Jersey Motorsports Park and went on to dominate the first half of the race.
“I am determined to make the transition to the main-game (American Le Mans Series) by the end of the year. Make no mistake, I want to drive prototypes and that is why I chose IMSA Lites, but I think GT2 would be the next logical progression.
I nearly had a seat at Sebring for the 12 hour this year. It was really disappointing when that team decided to withdraw their entry, so it was fantastic to get a taste of a GT2 with Panoz the other day. Having that big rumbling Ford V8 up front reminded me of the V8 Supercars I drove back home.”
Asked if the Panoz drive is a sign of things to come, Drewer remained a little vague.
“Now that would be following in David’s footsteps! [Brabham drove both Panoz GT and Prototypes]. We’re currently investigating all sorts of avenues. But yes I certainly have my sights set on North American GT and Prototype drives.”
Drewer’s next IMSA Lites races, Rounds 7 & 8 are to be held at Lime Rock, Connecticut, on July 17 & 18 as part of the American Le Mans Series North East Grand Prix. The ALMS race will be David Brabham’s first event since winning Le Mans for Peugeot. He will be back driving in the Patron Highcroft Acura.
Drewer tests for Panoz
Article appearing in the June 17 edition of Auto Action Magazine.
"Australian Prototype racer Tom Drewer had his first outing with Panoz Team PTG last week, testing the outfit's Esperante GT2 at Summit Point Raceway, West Virginia.
Drewer's test with the American Le Mans Series GT2 team was for experience at the wheel of a production-based sportscar..."
Click on image to read entire article.
Drewer tests GT2 Panoz. (Motorsport eNews)
Article appearing in the June 16 edition of Australia's Motorsport eNews publication.
"Aussie Sportscar hopeful Tom Drewer had his first taste of American Le Mans Series equipment recently, testing a Panoz Team PTG Esperante GT2 car at Summit Point Raceway in The States..."
"...Drewer is currently racing in the IMSA Lites 1 category in America, the feeder series for the ALMS. And he admits the GT2 test is a genuine indicator of where his career is heading..."
Click on the image to read entire article.
Drewer sets new Qualifying Lap Record, claims Pole and best results at New Jersey.
Young Australian Tom Drewer showed he has more than what it takes to run at the front of the premiere division of IMSA Lites at the Mazda Formula X weekend held at New Jersey’s Thunderbolt raceway near Millville, New Jersey USA.
Drewer, who won the 2008 IMSA Lites 2 Championship, proved he can match and beat the best of the Lites 1 category on Sunday as he set a new Qualifying Track Record around the 2.17 mile road course with the fastest Lites 1 lap of the weekend, 1 minute 15.327 seconds.
The nail biting half hour session saw drivers Lucas Downs, Kyle Marcelli, Joel Feinberg and Johnny Meriggi trade fastest times with Drewer until the Aussie nailed a blistering lap in his Daily Planet machine to take the coveted pole position by a mere .022 of a second, with the top seven cars all within less than .8 of a second apart.
“I knew we had found a much better setup in Saturday’s race but I just couldn’t utilise it, getting stuck behind Meriggi for most of the race.
So I just gave it everything today. I had the car on the edge for three laps in a row and dug ready deep. It was awesome to finally hear ‘P1’ on the radio in only my third race weekend of Lites 1.
The amazing thing was it wasn’t the perfect lap. I had a slight lock-up in turn 5 and that cost me a couple of tenths. I was likely on for a sub 1 minute 15 lap.”
After claiming pole Drewer, who finished 5th in Saturday’s Round 5 race, got off to a perfect start in Sunday’s Round 6 and dominated the first half of the race.
“Last year having class pole in Lites 2 usually meant starting mid-pack, so this was my first rolling start from the front of the grid since karting– we generally do standing starts in Australia.
It was a perfect start and although I had Lucas on the outside of turn 1 I controlled the corner and quickly found my rhythm.
It was fantastic to once again have nothing but clear track in front. The guys behind were pushing really hard but I just kept my head down and led, with a gap, right up to the full course yellow came out with around 20 minutes to go.
My car was starting to go off a little and I found it really difficult to keep the temperature in the tires with the pace car down to 35mph. Upon the restart I just couldn’t seem to find the same grip as in the first half of the race. It was a shame because I immediately slipped back to fourth. I continued to push hard to try and get back onto the podium but we just didn’t quite have the pace.
It was frustrating to finish lower than what we started but I’m really happy we led a lot of laps today. We are very close to podiums and wins now.”
It was the first time Drewer’s team, 2008 IMSA Lites 1 Championship winning Comprent Motor Sports, had led race laps since last year. Drewer’s fourth position is his best result so far in the 2009 IMSA Lites 1 season.
“I really must thank all the boys at Comprent Motor Sports, especially Kenny and Terry, for all their hard work this weekend. We are moving in the right direction and I can’t wait to further reward everyone who is allowing me to follow my dreams. A big thank you to John Trimble and the Daily Planet, Terry Little, all my supporters and friends back home, and my Mother and Father.”
Drewer and IMSA Lites presented by Frisby Performance Tire next head to Lime Rock, Connecticut for the North East Grand Prix, July 17-18, 2009.
Drewer gets Qualifying Record and Pole Position at New Jersey.
Tom Drewer has put his Daily Planet sponsored Comprent Motor Sports Elan DP-02 on pole position for this afternoon's race, Round 6 of the 2009 IMSA Lites Championship, at New Jersey Motorsport Park.
Drewer broke the circuit L1 qualifying lap record to take his first pole in the premiere division of IMSA Lites with a time of 1 minute 15.327 seconds.
The nail biting half hour session saw drivers Lucas Downs, Kyle Marcelli, Joel Feinberg and Johnny Meriggi trade fastest times with Drewer until the Aussie nailed a blistering lap to take the coveted pole position by a mere .022 of a second, with the top seven cars all within less than .8 of a second apart.
"This is fantastic. I just want to thank everyone who continues to make this possible- Daily Planet, John Trimble, my mother and father, all my friends and supporters back home who give up so much to make this possible. I'll be racing for you all this afternoon." This afternoon's race is 45 minutes long and begins at 12.05pm EST.
Drewer finishes 5th at New Jersey, in Round 5.
Australian Tom Drewer driving for Daily Planet has taken fifth place in Round 5 of the 2009 IMSA Lites Championship, at the “Mazda Formula X” weekend held at New Jersey Thunderbolt Motorsport Park, near Millville, New Jersey. Drewer started the race much lower on the grid than he expected after qualifying eighth. 
"We finished practice yesterday 4th in the timesheets, and therefore I was obviously a little disappointed with eighth in qualifying, although everyone is so close here. Another few hundreds of a second would have put me 5th on the grid."
Drewer started the race strongly, made up a couple of places off the start line and after passing his team-mate Jonathan Gore found himself behind Johnny Meriggi.
"It was an extremely tough race. We battled it out for around 30 minutes of the 45 minute race, probably a good 20 laps. I was faster than Johnny everywhere, turns 1, 2, 3, 7, 9, except for where it counted. I couldn't get the power down coming out of the last turn. I tried everything but I just couldn't feed in the throttle as quick as he could.
My car was much faster in a straight line, though and I would reel him in going into turn 1 but I was just never quite close enough to make the pass stick. I must have attempted to pass him a dozen times, but I just never had quite enough. So, I focused on pressuring him every lap, but to Johnny's credit he just didn't make a mistake. It was a great battle!"
Drewer will be back on track tomorrow at New Jersey for Round 6 of the 2009 IMSA Lites Championship presented by Frisby Performance Tire.
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