for Pirelli World Challenge SprintX Final Sunday at Laguna SecaTeam Rallies to Repair No. 80 ACS Manufacturing Dodge Viper GT3-R for Dan Knox and Mike Skeen Only to be Sent to Back of SprintX Starting Field On Saturday in Pirelli World Challenge competition at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, Dan Knox, Mike Skeen and Lone Star Racing came within one lap of victory.On Sunday at Laguna Seca, Knox, Skeen and the No. 80 ACS Manufacturing/Lone Star Racing Dodge Viper GT3-R barely completed half a lap in competition before their weekend ultimately came to an end.Making Lone Star Racing’s first Pirelli World Challenge race start since Road America in 2015, Knox and Skeen co-drove to a near-victory in Saturday’s SprintX race. Skeen was up front with little over two minutes remaining when Kyle Marcelli passed for the win in his Audi.Bolstered by the runner-up placing in Lone Star Racing’s SprintX debut, the team decided to run both Sunday’s 50-minute GT race and Round 2 of the SprintX doubleheader.Skeen made a great start in the GT race and was battling for position in the lead pack on the opening lap only to be hit hard by none other than Marcelli going into Laguna Seca’s famous Corkscrew. The Viper sustained steering rack and related component damage and retired from the SprintX race without completing a lap.Undaunted, the Lone Star Racing crew quickly went to work on repairing the No. 80 Viper for the 60-minute SprintX final that followed the GT race by little over an hour. The team skillfully repaired the Viper in time to make the race only to be delivered the second major blow of the weekend.“We took care of business on the repair but we were late to pre-grid,” said Team Manager and Lead Engineer AJ Petersen. “We missed the time, they knew we were thrashing, but the rule is that you have to start from the back of the class if you miss pre-grid.”

Instead of being allowed to take its third-place starting position, Lone Star’s only option was to take a repaired race car that had already sustained one major hit to the rear of the GT starting field. The chance of more calamity starting from the back in a SprintX race that was the final event on the final weekend of 2016 Pirelli World Challenge competition was too much to take for the Lone Star team.“At that point, the risk of tearing up the car did not outweigh the real reward of running the race,” Petersen said. Despite the disappointment of barely competing half a lap in what should have been a two-race day on Sunday, Lone Star left Laguna Seca with a sense of accomplishment.“We had a great day Saturday and showed that it takes a strong base team to get the result,” Petersen said. “Our intention this weekend was to go have some fun and see what we could do back in this series."We decided to run just under two weeks before the event and it was great to earn the result Saturday. That was a complete team effort, Sunday was also a complete team effort as well, but the reality is that effort does not automatically equal results. That is why we keep racing.”Lone Star Racing will now continue its ongoing planning and focus on its 2017 racing campaign.