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HPV at Newcastle Manufacturer's Cup
Testing an FF2000 at Autobarn
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July 25, 2011
For Immediate Release
Press Contact: Greg Hobbs (414) 737-5705
"Andrew Hobbs Scores his Second Skip Barber Top Five in the Heat at Road Atlanta"
BRASELTON, Ga. ? Andrew Hobbs raced to his second top-five finish in the Skip Barber Summer Series this weekend at the famed Road Atlanta. Running in the heat of the southern summer Hobbs was able to improve throughout the weekend at the high speed circuit culminating in a strong run to fifth in the second race of the double-header weekend.
Two days of testing preceded Friday morning's qualifying session. Hobbs, driving the Mastertech backed car, was up solidly into the top-ten early in the session. However the young Wisconsin driver was unable to put together another lap with a solid toe in the draft dependant Skip Barber car and had to settle for the 13th position in the extremely competitive field.
Late Friday afternoon Hobbs took the green for race one of the double header. Hobbs found himself running in the 12th position at the end of the first lap. For most of the race Hobbs was engaged in a battle for the 11th spot. The back and forth battle allowed the lead pack to get away making advancing up the order more difficult. With two laps to go a tangle in front of Hobbs knocked out two cars and moved Andrew into the top 10. At the checkered Hobbs won his race long battle and was rewarded with an eighth place result for his efforts.
Saturday's race two would go off in the relative cool of the Georgia morning. Hobbs got away to his best start of the season maintaining his eighth grid place as the field streamed up the steep hill on the exit of turn one. The David Hobbs Honda backed driver picked up one spot during the opening circuit to cross the stripe seventh. On lap two Hobbs took advantage of a stack up on the exit of chicane at the end of the back straight to make a pass into the high speed turn 12 for sixth. On lap three the Linear Sport coached driver avoided a stricken car again in the chicane to move into the fifth spot at the end of lap three. From the fifth spot Hobbs kept pressure on the lead group and began pulling away from the mid pack until the half way point in the race. While still solidly in fifth Hobbs saw the lead group pull out to a slight advantage. Not giving up, Hobbs continued to push setting a personal best lap of the weekend with under five laps to go. With two laps to go a full course caution came out bunching the field back up. A shot at the podium was not in the cards though as race came to a conclusion behind the pace car giving Hobbs his second fifth place result of the season in the Skip Barber Summer Series.
"We had another successful weekend in Road Atlanta. I'm very happy at the rate of improvement from weekend to weekend. Now we need to start at a top five on Saturday and push for a win or a podium on Sunday, which is what I'm definitely going for in Lime Rock." Andrew said after the weekend.
The Skip Barber Summer Series returns to action August 10th through the 13th at Lime Rock Park in Lakeville, Connecticut. Hobbs will look to avenge a tough first outing at the high speed one and a half mile circuit as he continues to search for his first Skip Barber podium finish.
Taking over the family business is a rich tradition in the United States. When the family business is driving racecars at the absolute limit, that tradition takes on a whole new meaning. Andrew Hobbs aims to follow in the footsteps of his grandfather and father and become a professional racecar driver. On the track Hobbs has displayed all the traits necessary to compete at the highest levels of motorsports, off track he understands the business of motorsports that will help insure high levels of success for his partners. www.AndrewHobbsRacing or follow him on twitter @AHobbsRacing.
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