Fontana Nissan Racing: Doing it in the desert!

Fontana Nissan Racing took to Interstate 10, heading for Firebird International Raceway in Phoenix and Round 2 of the Pro Track Challenge.

Saturday dawned wet, cold, rainy, cold, windy, miserable, and just plain yucky. Oh well, make another pot of coffee and try to stay warm. Neither car ventured out on a very slippery track.

Never bet a kid that he can’t fit into a tire. You will lose.

Sunday’s weather was the complete opposite of Saturday. Yea!!! Sunny, warm and beautiful, just like the desert should be!

Both Mike Cronin in the 350Z and Cort Wagner in the GTR were eager to make up for lost time, and entered the track for the first time all weekend.

First up after a quick practice session was the qualifying session, with all cars trying to lay down their quickest laps to get a good spot in the Super Session race later in the day.

The 350Z was running great, thanks to some last minute tweaks by Naoto, the Sakata Motorsports guru. Mike was able to take the top qualifying position with a blistering lap of 1:01.206!

Cort was very quick in the GTR, following closely behind Mike with a qualifying lap of 1:02.151 for 3rd.

After qualifying the crew set about getting the cars ready for the Super Session, a 5 lap wheel to wheel race that would set the brackets for the Circuit Battles.

The drivers were kept busy with interviews by Samantha Schacher, the pit reporter for the Circuit Battles TV show. Mike was able to meet the legendary Tarzan Yamada, racing for the first time Pro Track Challenge!

The drivers discussed performance issues with Naoto and endlessly watched themselves drive around the track. Again. And again.

After working out any issues with the cars, they bench raced. Again.

Next up, the Super Session start, with Mike and Lou Gigliotti on the front row.

With Lou out front, the 350Z, GTR, and Paul Brown in the K&N Infinity were battling all the way to the checkered flag.

Gigliotti won, followed closely by Mike, then Cort in the GTR. The bracket races would be set by this finishing order. First up for FNR was Cronin vs. Tsaran and Wagner vs. Wolfe. (Scroll down to the previous post for the complete write up on each bracket.) Each race is a green, white, checker race, with the winner moving on and the loser either going home or to the loser’s bracket.

Both FNR cars were victorious, setting up the first FNR on FNR battle!

Mike was the winner, setting up a battle with Lou Gigliotti, and Cort went to the loser’s bracket to battle Paul Brown.

Mike lost by a hair, and Cort won, setting up a second round of FNR vs. FNR. Mike once again bested Cort to win a place in the final winner-take-all battle!

Talk about exciting! This photo says it all. The battle was intense! In the end, Lou Gigliotti took the win in Round 2 and Mike settled for a fantastic 2nd place finish!