Two Top-10s For Michael Lewis At Utah Motorsports Campus

Two Top-10s For Michael Lewis At Utah Motorsports Campus Image Credit: K-PAX Racing
 

Michael Lewis and co-driver Bryan Sellers earned 10th- and 7th-place finishes this past weekend during Rounds 7 and 8, respectively, of the Pirelli World Challenge Sprint X Championship at Utah Motorsports Campus.

The duo looked strong as soon as they hit the track for Friday's two practice sessions, setting the 8th fastest time of 31 cars during each session. They fell back just a bit during qualifying and set the 12th fastest lap of the session, which placed them in 12th for Saturday's Round 7 of the Sprint X Championship.

Bryan took the first segment of the two-driver format and immediately jumped from 12th to 10th on the 1st lap. He ran a solid 10th during the subsequent laps in a follow-the-leader format with not much passing among the field. The 10-minute pit window opened with 35 minutes left in the 60-minute race, and Bryan drove into the pit area with 31 minutes left. After the mandatory 60-second pit stop and driver change, Michael pulled the No. 6 K-PAX Racing McLaren 650 S GT3 onto the track. After the field cycled through driver changes and pit stops, Michael remained in 10th, which is where he finished at the end of the race.

Since Michael was the finishing driver for Saturday's race, he started Sunday's Round 8 in 12th position, as a result of the duo setting the 12th fastest lap during Round 7. When the field took the green flag, Michael battled for position and fell to 15th at the end of lap 1 as he avoided contact in heavy traffic, but made up one position on lap 2. He raced clean and remained in 14th until he pulled into the pit area for the driver change with 32 minutes left. With help from restarts after some cautions and the ability to get by competitors, Bryan was able to move up through the field and crossed the finish line at the 3.048-mile, 14-turn road circuit in 7th place.

"In both races, everyone executed their work very well and we didn't have any mistakes," explained Michael Lewis. "Both races were different from my perspective on the track: Race 1 didn't have any caution periods and it was an intense lap-time battle with the four cars ahead of us, while Race 2 was more of a dog-fight each lap that saw us battle many cars for position via on-track passes. In Race 2, there were many restarts that my teammate Bryan had to go through, and he did such an excellent job with overtaking on those restarts. Thank you to the K-PAX team for making some really fast cars and for giving us good equipment for both races. I truly enjoyed my time in Utah driving hard for the team in No. 6 car."

Sprint X Rounds 7 and 8 are scheduled to be televised on CBS Sports Network on Sunday, August 20, at 4:00 p.m. EDT/1:00 p.m. PDT, but verify local listings.

Michael, Bryan and the rest of the K-PAX team will conclude the 2017 Pirelli World Challenge Sprint X season at Circuit of The Americas, just outside Austin, Texas, on September 1-3. To watch Rounds 9

Follow Michael Lewis here:
Website: www.mjlracing.com
Facebook: /MJLRacing
Instagram: @MJLRacing
Twitter:  @MJLRacing_

Follow Bryan Sellers here:
Twitter: @BryanSellers

Follow KPAX Racing here:
Website: kpaxracing.com