Jeff Francis takes another last-to-first win at Mazda Raceway and sets a track record in the process

Jeff Francis drove his Improved Touring BMW to a win at Mazda Raceway at Laguna Seca on Sunday, May 3 2008 to earn his first victory of the 2008 SCCA season. Even though it was Francis’ first race in a year, he showed no signs of rust as he carved through the field in cold and tricky track conditions to take the victory and also setting a new Improved Touring “B” track record to boot.

Due to a scheduling conflict, Francis had to miss Saturday’s qualify ing session and was forced to start Sunday’s race from the tail end of the large Improved Touring class. After a last minute thrash to get the BMW racer ready to race, Francis pulled into his position at the end of the procession and took to the track. At the drop of the
green, Francis carefully started to pass one car after the next in the cold and windy conditions. By mid-race, Francis had methodically weaved his way through the pack and found himself at the head of the “TouringB” class. Francis then set his sights on the faster “TouringA” class cars and started to reel in several of the faster cars.

With about 4 laps left in the race, Francis had maneuvered his Sherwin Williams sponsored BMW past several TouringA cars and began to hunt down the next in line. Even though the TouringA car was a faster racecar, Francis was closing in on him in every corner of the famed 14-turn Laguna Seca Raceway. By the white flag lap, Francis was on the tail of the TouringA car in front of him and he masterfully dodged to the inside and made the pass under braking in the blustery conditions.

In all, Francis passed 27 cars in route to the “TouringB” class victory and despite the cold and changing track conditions, also set a new TouringB track record in the process. “Not bad for our first race in over a year”, exclaimed a jubilant Francis. “We weren’t sure where the car was going to be when we unloaded this morning, but it felt good despite the conditions”. Francis was most proud of his new track record, of which he had been trying to set at the historic Laguna Seca Raceway for years. His new track record is now his third such record, as he has also set fastest times at Thunderhill Raceway and Infineon Raceway.

Return to News