Jr III (“Junior Three”) Racing battled through adversity at Road America to finish 10th in the third round of the 2020 IMSA Prototype Challenge season on Saturday.
The one hour, 45-minute race saw Jr III Racing drivers, Greg and Eric Palmer score their third consecutive top ten finish in the highly competitive IMSA Prototype Challenge field. The 10th place finish gives Jr III Racing valuable points towards their championship hunt.
With Road America serving as the Palmer’s home track, the eldest Palmer, Greg, used his knowledge of the 4.048-mile course to quickly settle into race pace as he took the green flag from 13th.
After making several passes to move through the field, Greg Palmer reached a high of eighth place by Lap 12. But unfortunately, on Lap 17, Greg Palmer entered the brake zone in Turn Three and the rear of the Ligier stepped out, sending the car into the gravel trap. Keeping the car out of the tire barriers, the elder Palmer was able to restart the car and finish out his stint.
Greg handed the No. 03 Ligier from 10th to his son, Eric Palmer who rejoined the field in 12th. Eric fought to the finish and brought home the Ligier 10th.
Learning from another race weekend onboard the Prototype, Eric Palmer walked away from the race weekend with more seat time and valuable data to close out his birthday week.
“Overall, this weekend wasn’t as strong as we had hoped,” said Eric Palmer. “We were hoping to repeat the kind of weekend that we had at Sebring, but a few obstacles prevented us from doing so. We can only learn from this weekend and move forward to do better at VIR.”
“We battled with the brakes early in the weekend which made controlling the car very difficult,” said Greg Palmer. “I was able to make progress during my stint, but turning the car around put us a lap down and gave Eric (Palmer) more work to do when he got in the car. The biggest plus of the weekend was keeping the car in one piece. The Jr III Racing team will take what we learned to the next round and work on getting back to the front of the field where we know we can be.”
“We had some ups and downs at Road America and battled through some issues, but my guys worked all night to make sure that the Palmers had a competitive car for the race,” said Jr III Racing team principal Billy Glavin. “The Palmers put a ton of effort into being ready for this weekend. I know we all wish we could have moved farther up the field but we will take this top ten finish and be ready to go at VIR next month.”
Jr III Racing will return in the No. 03 Copps Industries Ligier JSP3 to IMSA Prototype Challenge competition at VIRginia International Raceway August 21-23 for Round Four of the season.