Steven Aghakhani’s Co-Driver Jacob Eidson Posts Fastest IMSA Lamborghini Super Trofeo Lap of the Day Before Rain Washes Out Qualifying
ELKHART LAKE, Wisconsin (August 6, 2021) – Steven Aghakhani’s co-driver Jacob Eidson posted the fastest lap of the day Friday in the No. 6 SADA Systems US RaceTronics (USRT) Lamborghini Huracán Evo in preparation for this weekend’s IMSA Lamborghini Super Trofeo series doubleheader at Road America.
Eidson turned a top time of 2:07.957 on his sixth lap around the four-mile Road America circuit, clocking in more than half a second faster than the nearest competitor in the scheduled 40-minute session that was stopped twice for on-track incidents.
“Being first in practice and every session is obviously what you want,” Eidson said. “P1 in practice is not going to yield any results, but it shows us where our pace is. That’s definitely a result of our preparation, and I’ve got to thank US RaceTronics, SADA and all of the sponsors that support our team. It’s been a bit of a head scratching weekend with all the delays and what not, but we’re only focused on tomorrow’s first race right now. We’re going to put our heads down and do everything we can to win.”
Eidson pit when the second red flag waved. He handed the No. 6 off to Aghakhani, who was strapped in and waiting to take to the track only to see the session stopped with not enough time left to complete the on-track clean up. Including a stoppage in Thursday’s first session, the three red flag incidents have kept competitors in the pits more than on the race track so far this weekend at Road America.
“Practice isn’t the only thing you want to be winning out there, but it just goes to show we’ve got the car to do it,” Aghakhani said. “You have to credit the testing we did here before this weekend’s race. Everything comes down to the sponsors, their full commitment, the team’s commitment and my father Armik’s commitment as well. Without them we wouldn’t be able to do this extra testing, wouldn’t be able to put the car on the podium like we did here last year and one race ago at Watkins Glen.”
Aghakhani, Eidson and the SADA Systems USRT No. 6 team tested recently at Road America prior to this weekend.
“We came here for a two day test a few weeks ago,” Eidson said. “It went really well, and we got a lot of good data. Peter Jacobs, our engineer, was able to learn a lot and we did too as drivers. Even though we’ve raced here a lot, and won last year, it’s easy to get rusty. Being able to come out here and test and prepare is huge.”
The top practice effort had Aghakhani, Eidson and the entire SADA No. 6 team primed for a similar performance in Friday afternoon qualifying, but Mother Nature had other ideas. A heavy afternoon thunderstorm saw qualifying cancelled and the grid for Saturday’s first of two 50-minute races set by the results of Thursday’s first practice session.
“We had a little bit of an issue with qualifying,” said Aghakhani, who starts Saturday’s race from fifth on the grid. “The Wisconsin rain wasn’t the nicest to us with thunder and lightning storms here and there too. We’ve got to put it behind us, we have two races ahead of us, and we need to go out there and get it done.”
Saturday’s race is scheduled to start at 12:40 p.m. CDT with Sunday’s second and final 50-minute sprint slated to go green at 10:50 a.m. CDT. Both races can be viewed live at www.IMSA.tv.
Noteworthy
This weekend’s Road America doubleheader takes place more than a month after the previous race weekend at Watkins Glen, but Aghakhani and his father Armik put in some hard off-track work during that time. In the coming weeks, the Aghakhani’s will announce an additional major sponsor that will join SADA Systems and the other fine partners supporting Steven’s racing career. Additionally, the Aghakhanis will also soon announce their participation in another major racing event that will complement their full-season effort in Lamborghini Super Trofeo.
Aghakhani’s racing programs run with the support of several key sponsor partners in 2021. SADA Systems, Inc. is a privately held global leader in providing business and technology consulting services that transform organizations through cloud-based solutions at www.sada.com. Insignia Mortgage focuses on providing flexible portfolio lending options for clients with non-traditional lending needs. Learn more at www.insigniamortgage.com. Magic Laundry Services (MLS) is one of the largest independently owned hospitality linens and dry-cleaning operations in the country, catering primarily to the hospitality industry. Learn more at www.magiclaundryservices.com. TKX Associates specializes in consulting and staff augmentation at www.tkxassociates.com, Shegerian & Associates is a Los Angeles based firm at www.shegerianlaw.com. The Tax & Business Consulting Group is a Los Angeles-based public accounting firm at www.alllp.com. Equeduct provides capital funding solutions for small businesses at www.equeduct.com. O’Gara Coach, at www.ogaracoach, is a luxury and high-performance auto dealer in Beverly Hills, Westlake Village and San Diego. Additional valued partners include Forgiato Wheels at www.forgiato.com, Speed Society at https://speedsociety.com and the Pro Automotive Repair Center in Glendale, California.
