Essex Racing 2nd Place in Trois-Rivieres
August 4, 2003 Trois-Rivieres, Quebec
Melanie Paterson, Jason Workman and the Essex
Racing team saw a successful end to the 34th
Grand Prix de Trois-Rivieres this weekend. The
#18 Imation Lola/Nissan P675 finished the 2
hour, 45 minute race in second place in LMP 675.
After some electrical problems threatened their
race result, the Essex Racing team worked
strategically to bring the car home to a podium
finish. The race was broadcast live on SPEED
Channel starting at 2:30pm ET. The live race
commentary was also broadcast on American Le
Mans Radio Web from the American Le Mans
website.
"I was extremely pleased with our result and
performance today at Le Grand Prix de
Trois-Rivieres," said Melanie. "The team did a
good job and the car ran well considering the
alternator problems."
After the morning warm-up session, it was
apparent that the #18 Imation Lola/Nissan had an
alternator issue and was not sufficiently
recharging the on-board battery. The crew worked
hard between warm-up and the race to fix the
problem, however, 25 minutes into the race, the
problem resurfaced.
"We thought the issue was solved, but then
Jason reported a misfire," Melanie said. "From
that point forward, we were running until our
battery got too low, then we would pit for a
replacement battery - it
made for long and frequent pit stops. The
strategy worked, though, and we were able to
bring the car to the finish line."
At one point in her session, the car shut off
while Melanie was entering pit lane and she had
to be pushed to the pit stall where the battery
was replaced once again. The result today was a
nice return to Trois-Rivieres for Melanie and
Essex who sat on the third step of the podium
last year with the Lola/Nissan.
Melanie's corporate partners are technology
leader Imation Canada Inc. and Cartech of San
Antonio, Texas, a manufacturer of forced
induction and high performance automotive
components. Melanie's other corporate partners
include Maraca Canada, Driving Unlimited,
GeoGraphics Motorsports Graphics and Digital
North Media.
The next race for the Essex Racing team is on
August 17 at Melanie's home track - Mosport
International Raceway, northeast of Toronto.
For more information and photos, visit
http://www.melaniepaterson.com.
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