The stakes are high in Turn 1 on lap one. That’s true of regional events and certainly at the NASA Championships. For this week’s Yokohama Move of the Month, we ride along with Joseph Rose who gets a fantastic start in the qualifying race at the 2023 NASA Championships, picks up four spots before Turn 1, and then one more at the exit of Turn 1. Rose has to ditch the car off track to avoid two cars in Turn 3 and loses a spot in the process, but he gets away damage free and soldiered on to finish the race.
Images courtesy of JEREMY BRYNER and Joseph Rose
Check out Rose’s eyes in that second avoidance (T3) – he’s not fixated at all on the shemozzle to the left of him, he’s going off-track to avoid, knows it, and is looking right for his exit strategy. Great stuff to share with new drivers.
Good job of staying out of the melee, but another good thing to share with new drivers is to put your visor down!! The purpose of that is to protect your eyes, especially in a fire. I would like to see grid stewards reminding people to put their visor’s down when they are rolling onto the track. I know some people forget in the chaos of getting to grid.