The Thunder Roadster Series moved to Autobahn Country Club for races 12, 13 and 14 in the NASA Great Lakes Region. With three points-paying races at Autobahn, this event would be critical in deciding the series championship that will conclude at NCM Motorsports Park in October.
Heading into the Autobahn event, 2015 NASA Great Lakes Region Thunder Roadster Series champion, Brian Bohlander, led the series standings after commanding wins at Mid-Ohio, Road America, and Gingerman Raceway. The Autobahn event also featured Time Trial standout Phil Gehlhausen and 2015 series runner up Prashanth Siddalingaiah battling for the second spot in the series standings.
In race one, Bohlander, driving his PEAK Antifreeze & Coolant roadster, started from the pole and took the early lead followed by Gehlhausen and Siddalingaiah. Brian moved to third overall in the race group, while Gehlhausen and Siddalingaiah battled for second place in class. In the end, Bohlander went on for the win followed by Gehlhausen and Siddalingaiah.
Race two Sunday morning brought unseasonably cool Chicago summer weather, and with it, great track conditions. Again Bohlander qualified on pole followed by Gehlhausen and Siddalingaiah. Bohlander went on for the win and, in the process, lowered the class track record to 1:36:412. But all eyes were on the battle for second place. Gehlhausen and Siddalingaiah traded positions, with Siddalingaiah taking second in his Benchmark Synthetics/Amsoil roadster until he had a rear end housing failure on lap six, and was unable to finish.
In the final race, the field was inverted putting Gehlhausen on the pole, because Siddalingaiah was unable to make the call, and Bohlander in second. At the finish, Bohlander took the win with Gehlhausen in second.
The Thunder Roadster Series moved back to Gingerman Raceway in South Haven, Mich., on August 6-7 with Brian Bohlander leading in points, followed by Phil Gehlhausen and Prashanth Siddalingaiah in a close battle for second.
