Casey Carden Motorsport WRL Barber Motorsports Park race review 22.08.2018: Drivers: Jason Workman, Simon Tibbett, Hunter Cestoni This past weekend the World Racing League visited Barber Motorsports Park located outside of Birmingham, AL for the “Sportscar Showdown.” This also marked the penultimate round of the WRL Southe

Drivers: Jason Workman, Simon Tibbett, Hunter Cestoni



This past weekend the World Racing League visited Barber Motorsports Park located outside of Birmingham, AL for the “Sportscar Showdown.” This also marked the penultimate round of the WRL Southeast championship.





Casey Carden Motorsports had two cars entered with Jason and I in our usual 213 Mazda MX-5. This weekend Hunter Cestoni would also be driving with us to complete our driver lineup. Hunter had experience at Barber before and with Casey Carden Motorsports so he was a welcome addition to the lineup.





Friday was a short test day. Jason and I decided to do the bare minimum and we just turned a few laps before parking it for the remainder of the day to save the car. We were happy with the car’s performance and the grip of the Federal Tires we were using this weekend.




Saturday was a nine-hour race and Jason took the green flag to run a double stint early on. He managed to get us an eight-lap lead and first in class before handing the car over to myself. Only fifteen minutes in to my stint I smelt gear oil and a few laps later the cockpit was filling with smoke.




 I had to pit where the team diagnosed a bad differential which forced us behind the wall for a repair. It was just bad luck as the issue was with a small part in the differential and not anything the team could have prevented beforehand.




Not all was lost though, it took the team two hours maximum to replace the differential and have the car back on the race track. We decided to restart the car with Hunter to allow him to get seat time and up to speed. I jumped back in the car to drive until the end where we finished fourth which was good enough for some championship points.



Sunday morning came and we had seven hours of racing ahead of us. I would be driving a double stint in the morning as the track runs a mandatory “quiet time” from 11:00-12:00 so I’d start with three hours of driving. The green flag flew and I got a good start and by the end of the stint had a five lap lead.




Hunter took the green flag at the restart and continued our lead before handing the car over to Jason who would drive until the end. At the end we took the checkered flag in first place and lead every single lap of the seven hours.



 A true testament to the workmanship and strategic work behind Casey Carden Motorsports and the consistent grip of our Federal Tires. Our next race is the southeast championship weekend next month in New Orleans.

 

 
-Simon Tibbett - also photos