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Sebring HSR Race Highlights
Oct 25th
Oct 16, 2011
Velox Motorsport, Jerry Vento and Guy Cosmo had a very successful weekend at Sebring International Raceway in Florida. The HSR event was well attended and the weather was absolutely beautiful. The weekend began with a couple of sprint races that were driven solo by Jerry Vento. Competing with cars consisting of almost double the horsepower Vento was able to pull off a couple of 4th place finishes, 1st in class. Considering the overall class leaders have over 800hp and the sprint races are 30mins in length the team was very happy with this result. Sunday afternoon brought on a different entity consisting of a 4hr enduro. The Velox Motorsport Ferrari 430 was started by Jerry Vento in the 6th place position. At the drop of the green Vento was cautious as the surrounding Porsche cup cars began to lean on each other in an aggressive manner. Vento decided to hang back slightly knowing there was 4hrs of tough racing ahead. Inevitably coming into the hairpin on lap 1 all 4 Porsche cup cars contacted each other and went spinning off the track. Vento was able to squeak through the carnage and speed away from the incident unscathed. The Velox Ferrari 430 then began to hunt down the 2nd place car. With the first half of the race remaining under green conditions Vento brought the Ferrari into pit-lane after a mistake free stint under green to hand the driving duties off to ALMS star Guy Cosmo. Cosmo re-entered the field in the 3rd place position right where Jerry Vento left off. Cosmo was able to put his head down after the yellow and instantly pick off the 2nd place car. Leaving only the Lola to chase down. With about an hour left the Lola was found high-sided on a curb and Cosmo easily took the race lead and never looked back. Cosmo was able to hold off the Lola and receive the checkered with a commanding lead.
It was a great weekend for Velox Motorsport and Guy Cosmo. Next event is Daytona Nov 9-13. See you there !
Second Place at Monterey
Sep 1st
1956 Ferarri Boano
Velox Motorsport began its Monterey Historic week with a entry into the prestigious "Carmel-by-the-Sea" concourse event in Carmel California. This event was well attended by many great works of art and the Velox Motorsport 1956 Ferrari 250GT Boano Alloy low roof entry was a big hit. On Wednesday the team headed to the Famous Laguna Seca Raceway to compete in the 1956 - 1962 sportscar division.
Once again this was Jerry Ventos first chance to experience the famous California course. With a very successful practice session on Thursday for Vento and the freshly restored 56' Ferrari the team was ready to push hard. With over 600 beautiful cars entered with the likes of Ferrari, Bugatti, Jaguar, Porsche, Lola and Cooper, this was an event like no other. Friday consisted of a single qualifying session for the feature race Saturday morning. Vento was able to continue to bring the lap times down throughout the session placing him 6th in the drum brake division, a great effort. Saturday morning was cool with the mist beautifully clearing as the sun grew taller in the sky. The Velox Motorsport entry with Jerry Vento piloting was ready for a fight. As the green flag dropped Vento dropped the Ferrari down to the inside and rode the wall all the way to turn 1 muscling his way by 3 cars. At the conclusion of lap 2 Vento was sitting in 3rd and in a direct train with the leader and 2nd. Vento then began to pick them off on his way to the lead. By lap 5 Vento had the lead and began to stretch it out. At Lap 7 Vento had a commanding lead, almost the length of the front straight. With another car leaving sand and oil at the apex of the final corner Vento gets off the course and the 1956 Ferrari stalls. Vento quickly regroups and rejoins the field in 3rd position. Crossing the line with 1 lap remaining Vento is able to take back the 2nd place position and take the checkered 2nd in Drum Brakes. Considering this is the first outing for the freshly restored 250GT and Jerry Ventos first visit to Laguna Seca Raceway this was again a very successful weekend having lead the class and stretching the lead. This event contained the rarest and most expensive cars in the world, everywhere you looked there were the cars you have read, seen pictures of or only seen on t.v. It was truly an amazing site all these historic sport and vintage racecars all at one venue. The Monterey Historics are definitely "a must see".
Second Place Class Finish at Elkhart
Sep 1st
Velox Ferarri 430GTC
With his first ever visit to Elkhart Lake Wisconsin Jerry Vento came away with an impressive 2nd Place finish. The week started with a test day on Thursday, Practice and Qualifying on Friday and Saturday with the feature race dropping the green flag late Sunday. With the coaching help of ESM / ALMS star Guy Cosmo, Vento was able to quickly come to terms with the daunting track and become comfortable in his Ferrari 430GTC. Qualifying on pole for the first race Saturday was a fantastic feet considering the Velox Motorsport driver had never been to Road America before.
At the drop of the green Vento lead the field around for the first lap. On lap 4 another competitor tried a dive bomb pass going into turn 4. This concluded with the Tequila Patron Ferrari facing the wrong way on the race surface and a black flag for the other competitor. Vento continued on a lap down however the finishing order of this race would construct the starting grid for the feature venue on Sunday.
With a very hot and humid Sunday beating down on the 4 mile course Vento knew he would have to make a hasty charge to the front in the short feature race. Taking the green in the 14th position Vento quickly began slicing through the field. On lap 5 Vento was sitting a comfortable 3rd in class. On lap 6 the 2nd place car spun in turn 9 and Vento sneaked by grabbing the 2nd place honors. This was a very successful weekend for Vento and the Velox Motorsport team. Considering this was Vento first time at Road America and was able to put in a fantastic charge to come up with a 2nd place in class in the feature venue. With over 1150 cars entered for the weekend it was an amazing site of man and machine around the 4 mile historic course.
Race Report – Watkins Glen June 12/2011
Jun 28th
Gerald Vento - Velox Motorsport
With a variety of mixed weather throughout Friday and the weekend, Velox Motorsport had a fantastic qualifying effort and final result. Velox had Scott Sharp and Guy Cosmo on hand to assist in the driving department. However it was Jerry Vento who took on the qualifying duties and competed in the entire enduro driving solo. Vento was able to place his Ferrari 430 on pole with a qualifying time of 1:57.8 which was also good for 8th overall. With the enduro shortened to 1hr because of weather and fog Vento set out on a solo voyage. With the drop of the green Vento quickly moved to 5th overall. There was a wreck of considerable size after 1 lap so the Velox team took this opportunity to conduct their mandatory pitstop. With only a hand full of cars pitting this placed Vento deep within the field. Knowing that there was no need for further pit action Vento set out and continued to pick off competitors lap after lap. Being very consistent and precise, Vento found himself leading the class with 25 minutes remaining, he was able to hold the lead the rest of the way and took home his first solo victory and 5th place overall. An excellent effort considering the top 4 overall were the likes of an Audi R8 prototype, Porsche prototype and two 800hp Trans-am cars. It was a very successful weekend on all accounts for Velox.
The team now looks forward to Road America in July.
Velox – A Team of Champions
Oct 6th
Article courtesy of Jerry Vento – Team Owner/Principal Driver
To all team members!
It was a great honour to race with you... a "Team Of Champions" in the American Le Mans Series.
Because of your team achievement, Shane and I were privileged to attend the ALMS Awards Banquet on Sunday evening. During the event, the great Simon Pagenaud said ALMS was " the most challenging racing Circuit in the World." He should know...
He went on to say that in Europe, drivers race on F1 Circuit race tracks and a driver can miss the breaking zone with no consequences and hit nothing. But, he said, on the ALMS circuit, if you miss your mark by a few meters you will lose a race car.
While we took many gratuitous, very nasty hits this year, and 4 memorable ones in the Petit, we never lost the car, ever...
We competed with and against the best teams & drivers from around the World, in 4 Classes, with factory support, sponsorship and many years of experience.
3rd Place, that's right, THIRD PLACE in Season Points in Class.
That is a spectacular achievement.
While you all know the results, I had to type it out because it's still seeping in.
We competed at the highest level in racing....Amazing.
We started this journey with such humble beginnings. I remember in August of 2008 sitting at my kitchen table with Tom and Jeff, deciding that I wanted to compete in the 2009 IMSA Series.
I looked up the word for SPEED in the Latin and Greek Dictionary and chose the name VELOX (Speed) and then as you all know, began growing our team to get through 2009 Season.
After competing in only 3 races the '09 season was over.
When we decided to enter the 2010 ALMS Season, it was a steep climb to get ready for Winter Practice and the 12 Hours of Sebring. Our car was delivered on a Saturday before practice week and wrecked on Tuesday.
Not one of you complained when I crashed the new Cup Car into the tire wall at the end of the straight-away in the first practice session at Sebring... and felt like walking death. Wonder what you signed-up for at that point?
I actually felt better when Shane kissed a few things on the track during the next few days after the car was repaired. Bonding, I thinks it's called or maybe shared IV's after getting out of the Cup Car. Whatever the shared high and low moments were...we bonded as a Team.
Thanks to you guys, I made it through the rough patches, the Herculean climb to get prepared to share driving duties with Shane and Lawson. Shane is a super human, great teacher and one of the most skilled race car drivers in the business. Lawson is an extraordinary race car driver and taught me a lot this season. He's also a class act. I couldn't ask for better partners to share #88 with.
In fact Guys and Ms Chase, each and every one of you champions and cherished teammates taught me so much this year and for that I am truly grateful.
We pushed hard in every practice, every test day, every race. We learned, improved and while the fierce competition frustrated us at times, it ultimately made us better as the season progressed.
Our respect for Black Swan, Alex Job, TRG, Marquis and others made us work harder, dig deeper to improve every aspect of what we did on and off the track.
We set a new standard by using our Pit Stops as a competitive weapon. 
We ruled Pit Stops.
Bob Sanderson, Steve Cosgrove and Dave Fullerton helped prepare # 88 for Petit Le Mans and supported us through the race. A big thanks to them.
Roger Hawley was a constant source of support to me and our team. Thanks Roger.
To TEAM VELOX it was my great privilege to share this race season with you.
Jerry
VELOX Motorsport Finishes 4TH in First Petit Le Mans, Clinches 3rd in Championship
Oct 5th
Braselton, GA – After starting 4th in class amongst a record setting starting field of just under 50 cars, the Velox Motorsport Porsche took a physical beating in the 2010 ALMS Petit Le Mans before taking the checkered flag and clinching 3rd place in the Team Championship for the GTC class. The 4th place finish, a miracle after multiple unscheduled pit stops, also solidified Shane Lewis’s position in second place in the Drivers’ Championship. After a days of rain, the ensuing mud that follows, and with limited test time, Shane Lewis managed to put the Velox purple Patron Porsche in 4th position on the grid for what promised to be an action packed 1000 miles of drama and excitement on a sunny Saturday in October. 
The Velox team was fully prepared for this race, but no team member could imagine what was to come when the green flag flew. Lewis took the first stint that was riddled with traffic and heavy action, which unfortunately included a BMW GT car aggressively running Shane off the track into the gravel trap at turn 10. After a loss of a lap he was back underway with some damage to the front splitter and brake ducts. His extensive experience in this type of endurance race kept him alive for the next hour, and he handed the car over to Lawson Aschenbach back up in P4. Aschenbach, in his first stint, took two hard hits from P1 cars that cut down his right front tire twice and the Velox crew was put to work to try to get him back out quickly. The crew was fast and did an outstanding job of keeping the Velox car from going another lap down. By the time Lawson had finished his stint, the car was handed over in P3 to the team owner/driver Jerry Vento. The attrition was not as great as expected five hours into the race, but Jerry mastered the nonstop aggressive traffic and brought the car in with no more damage at the end of his 80 minute stint. Shane got back into the car and had the car solidly in P4 until a Corvette sent him on a wild ride on the back stretch which resulted in four flat spotted tires. The crew was relentless and once again got Shane back out to survive another long stint, and they begun to secretly hope some bad luck would happen to another car in the GTC class instead of the continual bashing of the teams purple Porsche. As some final luck would have it, Lawson was able to get in and finish the race without incident through the darkness of Road Atlanta in the same position the car started in, P4, resulting in a solid lock for Velox Motorsport to earn a fantastic third place finish in the extremely competitive GTC class in ALMS.
2nd Row Starting Position for Velox at Petit
Oct 3rd
Braselton, GA (October 1, 2010) Velox will start this weekend’s Petit Le Mans in the 2nd row after placing 4th in qualifying with a personal best time of 1:25:746 for Shane Lewis. He will be joined with principal driver Jerry Vento, and co-driver Lawson Aschenbach in the No. 88 Velox Motorsport Patron XO Café Porsche in the GTC Class of the 10 hour/1,000 mile final even of the season, Saturday, October 2, 11:00am ET.
This event will be a dramatic one for Velox Motorsport with it determining the championship based on their finish when the checkered flag waves. Leading into the event Velox Motorsport is in 3rd place for team championship, while Shane is currently 2nd for driver championship. The team is excited to be this close to the championship in the inaugural year of professional sports car racing, knowing the extrodinary competition of teams and experienced drivers they would be racing against this year.
Lewis, the most experienced driver of the team, played an intricate part in developing the team strategy from the beginning. He and Jerry Vento spent long hours leading into the season and throughout the year to ensure their team had the knowledge, hard work, and chemistry needed to be successful. As the season progressed, it was apparent that Velox Motosport was a team in which was extremely competitive, and found themselves on the podium 3 times this year, including a 1st place finish at Mosport.
The team has prepared hard for this event, and is ready for the challenge.
“I realize how much relies on this event, and it’s exciting to be competing in the last event of the season, and still have the competition be so close that the final standings are dependant upon the outcome,” said Lewis.
“Starting 4th place is a good advantage, however, in a 10 hour race it’s all about strategy, making sure you and your teammates keep out of trouble, the car is running good, and a good team to keep it all together. I am confident with Jerry and Lawson we have that team that could put us in Victory Lane again. The crew has been working hard and have been dedicated to ensure the car is at it’s best in the extreme conditions we will be facing. I am proud to be apart of this team, we have made huge accomplishments throughout the season, and I am looking forward to celebrating with them our success no matter what the outcome.”
The 1,000-mile/10-hour Petit Le Mans powered by MAZDA 2 is set for 11:30 a.m. ET on Saturday, October 2. SPEED will air the race starting at 11 a.m. Live Timing and Scoring will be available on americanlemans.com. In addition, Shane will be providing personal updates throughout the 10 hour race Shane on his website http://www.shanelewis.com.
A Fresh Car for Atlanta
Sep 27th
Winning Petit is a dream for many teams and drivers, and for all of Velox Motorsport, this dream can actually come true for us this year. 
We are coming off of a great win at Mosport, so all spirits are high, even though we know the challenge to win a 10 hour race is even higher. Jerry has dedicated a lot of personal time and effort to learn the race track for his first ALMS race here, and we have brought back Lawson, fresh off a championship victory at the Miller Motorsports track.
The team is trying some new things in preparation for this race so there will be high expectations and efforts heading into the weekend. We have the best crew and drivers lined up, plus what we expect to be a strong, fresh Porsche coming off the trailer, so we can't wait to start the first session on Wednesday!
Chase Navarre
Velox Motorsport Takes the Checkered Flag at Mosport
Sep 3rd
Bowmanville, Ont (August 29,2010), Shane Lewis and Lawson Aschenbach took the checkered flag in front of thousands of Canadian and US fans on late Sunday afternoon at the Mobil 1 Grand Prix of Mosport. This round of the American Le Mans series was the penultimate of the 2010 season, and the Velox Motorsport team showed its teeth by coming together for their first victory, despite some pit lane errors, a hot racetrack and the toughest traffic at any event this season. 
Lewis started the #88 Porsche from 3rd position after running hard for the tightest field at any ALMS GTC race yet this year, with the field separated by only 0.9 of a second from position 1 to position 5. Shane immediately shot his car to second place with a great start, and then worked the traffic for over an hour to hound the first place car of Bryce Miller lap after lap. The track, with its fast corners and massive prototype closing speeds, left Shane with few passing opportunities, so he held fast on his bumper until the first caution period an hour into the race. A miscommunication from his pit wall had him unprepared for a driver change, but he switched quickly to hand the car over to Lawson Aschenbach, his co-driver for this weekend while team principal and driver Jerry Vento was unable to make it to Mosport because of a business commitment.
A fast release from pit lane left the team with a penalty to serve when the crewmen could not get over the wall fast enough. Lawson quickly served the penalty when the track went green and got down to business. Lawson was starting to run down the first place car of Luke Hines, who took over for Miller also at the pit stop, at one to two seconds a lap. Lawson was closing rapidly when a huge wreck involving first place Hines put the race under yellow. All GTC cars dove to the pits to get the last needed few seconds of fuel to finish the race, when Velox Motorsports car came out in first place, with the other GTC cars in tow.
The field circulated under yellow until the race director decided to red flag the race while the guardrail was being repaired on track. The long delay allowed Lewis and Aschenbach time to plot their strategy from first place for the last 30 minutes of the race, which ended up being unused as IMSA decided the damage to the track was not repairable in the time left for the race. Lawson hopped in the car for his victory lap as the team celebrated on the pit wall.
“ This was a tough win! The track is so fast, dangerous really in some ways when you are dealing with 4 different classes that are all battling for the win,” stated Lewis. “ The closing speeds here are really intense from the prototype cars. To win here you not only have to be fast, but you have to work the traffic to stay in the hunt. Lawson and I were fast and smart and we used that to keep ourselves up near the front, and in the end it paid off. We did have a miscommunication in the pits, which put us way farther back than we wanted to be. We had to serve a stop and go penalty plus 20 seconds and we still rallied back for the win! The competition this weekend was really tough, but man, I sure enjoyed the fight. “
Next race is the final round of the 2010 ALMS season at Road Atlanta on October 2, 2010.
Mid-Ohio – Race Report
Aug 17th
Velox Motorsport // Jerry Vento started the race at Mid-Ohio for the sixth round of the Tequila Patron American Lemans series. Early in the race a gratuitous hard hit to the #88 by an LMPC Class car caused minimal damage and Jerry was able to get back in the game quickly and regain focus.
At the 50 minute mark of the race Velox pitted for a driver change and was able to take advantage of a full course caution. The pit-crew was super-fast and very well organized, and with amazing precision the team was able to perform a complete driver, fuel and tire change in record setting time. A big thanks to our crew for a superb effort.
Shane Lewis was quick to adjust to track conditions, a testament to a veteran drivers ability to adapt and focus on the task at hand, but a GT class car decided to put a stint in his progress with a minor contact. The Velox crew was amazing and they gave us an incredible car that was running with flawless intensity. The field was very tight throughout the entire race and the car spun just before the front straight. Shane's comment summed-up the race. When asked (What Happened) , his radio response was:
" I just asked the car to do something it couldn't do"
That friends... summarized race day at Mid-Ohio. We could not catch a break. With a fifth place finish at Mid-Ohio now behind us, we can focus on Road America, it's a very short break and the team is already on the way. Once on site the task of precision tuning the car and getting the damage repaired will begin and the crew will have the car race ready for what will hopefully be a podium finish at Elkhart Lake.
We appreciate the many fans that came by to visit us on Friday and Saturday.
//Jerry Vento//
