2019 Pro-Am Third Place Standings – IMSA North America Super Trofeo
Ron Atapattu started Race 2 in the No. 124 Elephantea Lamborghini of La Jolla from 11th-place in Pro-Am. Atapattu put down some strong laps and avoided the accident that took out several cars early in the race. He had moved up to ninth-place in Pro-Am when he brought the car in early in the pit stop window. After a great driver change, Patrick Liddy almost immediately started experiencing issues with the electric systems of his car that effected the ABS and power steering, leaving the Southern California driver struggling to maintain track position while muscling the car home safely to an eighth-place Pro-Am finish.
It was not the final race Atapattu and Liddy were hoping for, but their success on Friday to clinch the third position in the North American championship helped ease the pain. The pair came into the weekend fourth in the standings and had podiums in both races moving them into the final podium spot for the season. Atapattu and Liddy paired up for Race 6 of the North American championship 48 points back of second-place finisher William Hubbell and ended the season only 39 points out of second-place. USRT is proud of the efforts of both drivers this accomplishment.
Team owner Shane Seneviratne had mixed feelings at the end of the day. He went from the high of winning the Am World Championship with Aghakhani to the low of knowing that unfortunately, the pit stop error likely cost Ockey and Eidson a World Championship of their own. Seneviratne is proud of his amazing group of drivers and his great crew and he’s already making plans to be back in the LSTNA series again next season.
and an amazing World Finals, so all-in-all I can’t complain.”
QUOTES:
Ron Atapattu – “It was a fairly common and uneventful race for me while I was in the car. The car was running fairly well, and I had some minor issues on the track with other drivers but nothing major. My pit stop was fine. I think when Patrick got in the car, he had some problems that I didn’t face, with steering issues and ABS issues. So, something didn’t go according to plan. I’m happy we finished eighth in Pro-Am, but we didn’t make it to the podium today.”
Patrick Liddy – “Not the end to the weekend that we were hoping for, getting riddled by car issues. We had an electrical shortage that gave us issues with the pitlane speed limiter, our ABS and our power steering, so we were left to pretty much fend for ourselves with the car at the end of the race. But we kept it on track and passed several of our competitors, so happy with our personal performances, but looking for some redemption next year.”