ELKHART LAKE, Wis. (7 August 2022) – Irish Mike’s Racing rebounded in challenging conditions at Road America Sunday to better their finishing positions in Round 6 of the IMSA Porsche Carrera Cup North America presented by Visit Cayman Islands.
After finishing 13th in class and 22nd overall in Saturday’s race in sunny conditions, Conor Flynn finished 11th in the Pro class and 17th overall driving the No. 95 FlynnCo Cars/ Chillout Systems Porsche 992 in wet conditions on Sunday.
“All in all, it was a good weekend, and I feel like we made a lot of ground as far as learning how to drive the car,” Flynn said. “We learned a couple of tricks, and this car seems to be all about tricks. We were excited for the rain today. We had a little bit of an issue in qualifying which cost us not be able to set a second-fastest lap, so we started pretty far back, so we’re happy to have been able to crawl our way back up in the rain.”
Craig Conway placed 10th in class and 28th overall on Saturday in the No. 97 Diamond Suzuki Porsche 992. On Sunday, he advanced to ninth in class and 25th overall, missing his season-best finish of eighth in the most recent round at Watkins Glen by only one position.
“We keep making progress with the new car, and that’s what we’re trying to do every session,” Conway said. “I’ve been making forward progress, and that’s our goal, that we just keep moving forward.”
Conway was pleased with his progress racing in the rain.
“I felt like I did a pretty good job, and I was amazed with the aero on this new car and how much of an effect it had in the rain– that took me a while to get used to that. But I was able to build up my level of confidence to keep the speed up,” Conway explained. “I had a couple of good races with a couple of guys. We ended up a little bit ahead of where we started, but at least we didn’t go backwards or go off or do anything to hurt the car.”
Rain or shine, both drivers managed to avoid incidents in the two races, including the Sunday round that started in light rain and ended on a drying track. Both Irish Mike’s Racing drivers recorded their best laps of Sunday’s event on the final lap.
“All in all, both of our cars are clean in terms of not having body damage, although they are really dirty from running in the rain! ” Flynn said. “Our guys are going to be busy cleaning them up and getting them looking great for our upcoming races.”
Next up for the Porsche Carrera Cup North America will be historic Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Sept. 1-3. The season concludes at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta during the Motul Petit Le Mans weekend on Sept. 29-30.
“We’re excited to be going on to Indy, which is a track I’ve raced at,” Flynn said. “We like Indy and then Road Atlanta is another of my favorite tracks. I think we’re in a good spot in terms of learning about the cars to finish the season on a high note.”
