The Mid-Ohio School instructors from left to right: Aaron Quine, John Schmitt, Max Gee, Adam Andretti, Sam Halkias
INDIANAPOLIS (September 29, 2017) - The SCCA National Championship races are underway at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. After four days of qualifying, Adam Andretti and Aaron Quine will be the first of The Mid-Ohio School instructors to take the green flag later this afternoon at the SCCA Runoffs. The Grand Touring 2 (GT-2) race is set to take the green flag at 3:40 p.m. Eastern.
Andretti and Quine qualified 10th and 11th, respectively, on the GT-2 starting grid. Each race is a 19-lap winner-takes-all shootout for a coveted SCCA National Championship on the 2.592-mile road course using portions of the legendary Indianapolis oval.
Max Gee led the way in qualifying amongst the instructor group saving his best for last in yesterday afternoon’s session. He progressively moved up the Sports Touring Under (STU) grid each day moving from eighth, seventh, then sixth with a final qualifying position of third. His top lap time was 1:50.538.
“My Honda Prelude is hooked up. It’s the best the car, has been all season,” said Max Gee. “We’ve been really working and experimenting with the tire pressures all week, and it has paid off in our final qualifying session yesterday. Now we wait until Sunday to race. I can’t wait.”
John Schmitt will start alongside Gee on the STU row two grid after a qualifying performance of fourth in his Honda Civic. The STU race is the second to last one of the SCCA Runoffs on Sunday afternoon. Schmitt will also race a Honda Prelude in Super Touring Lite starting from the eighth spot on Saturday afternoon.
Sam Halkias, the 2009 National Champion, is appearing in his 31st SCCA Runoffs and will start 21st tomorrow morning in E Production.
Additionally, Mid-Ohio announcer Rusty Bell, qualified 19th for the GT-Lite final set for Sunday morning. He’s doing double duty as he’s also serving as an official SCCA Runoffs event announcer this weekend.
To stay up to speed on all the action, go to scca.com/live or follow @SCCAOfficial on Twitter.