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Road Atlanta May 26th-27th 2001 Panoz GT Series
Belinda Endress takes home the win over Audrey Zavodsky at Road Atlanta. Starting from the 2nd position, and after a highly questionable start by Zavodsky, Belinda made a pass on the first lap of turn 10A to take over the lead and held it handily for the duration of the 16-lap race.
It was a gorgeous weekend. Saturday I started out in the #20 car that had rear brake problems and then jumped into the #3 car for two sessions. The crew got #20 repaired so I was back in #20 for the last practice session. On Sunday morning practice the transmission went out on the #20 car, losing the 3rd to 4th .gear changes. The next session was qualifying. With not enough time to repair #20 I hopped into car #12. Qualifying in 2nd position, I decided to stay in #12 for the race. All of these cars have different handling characteristics and are not all created equal, so I thought it wise to play it safe by staying in #12, a car that was running well.
Coming down the hill at turn 12 for the start of the race, Zavodsky passed the pace car as soon as it pulled off, far from the start/finish line. I was almost certain that they would have a restart but I found out that this was the first time the flagman had ever started a race. At any event, Zavodsky was off to the races so I gave chase. She left the door open going into 10A by breaking very early, and I easily made the pass and held a comfortable lead for the duration of the race to garner the top spot on the podium.
Again I want to thank my sponsor, Xtreme Island Designs, for the opportunity to race and the entire Panoz crew for taking good care of me, and all their efforts to give us the best equipment.
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