It’s difficult to get more unlimited than John Van Caneghem’s Mazda MZR-powered DP02 prototype or two BMW-powered Norma chassis, and in the Championship event at Sonoma Raceway, just driving these hyper-fast racecars was only part of the challenge. Getting through traffic also was paramount to success
2013 Super Unlimited Champion Jon Van Caneghem proved to be adept at both and fought his way through to a second Championship in SU.
“We were trying real hard this week and Sevens Only did a great job preparing the car,” Van Caneghem said. “It’s all about passing traffic. Most everyone was cooperative, but you come up on three or four cars that are battling and you just have to wait, let them fight their race and just get around them when you can. Everyone was a great sport and I had a wonderful time. NASA puts on such a great event. I love it and I’ll be back again.”
Driving for Davidson Racing, second-place finisher Brian Frisselle came up a little short in his quest for Championship glory, despite running lap times within a half second of Van Caneghem.
“The race went pretty well, but we’re disappointed. Obviously, we came here to try to win the race,” Frisselle said. “The Davidson Racing crew did a great job giving us a solid car to finish second. We’ll come back and learn from this one and try to be stronger in the next one.”
Third-place finisher James Paul was ecstatic to be standing on the third step of the podium.
“We had a lot of problems this weekend trying to get the car right,” he said. “We had a lot of fuel issues, and my mechanics Chris and Jason with Bulldog Motorsports came through like champs and got us out there and we ran strong and were able to finish in third place. This is my rookie season. I’ve never raced before in my life. This is the first time I’ve ever done anything like this.”
