Source: Glass Hammer Racing
PR – St. Petersburg, FL (April 4th, 2012) Collete Davis competed in her first street race last week at the Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg in the 2012 Cooper Tires Presents USF2000 National Championship Powered by Mazda. She was racing the #77 Global Emergency Products-BeatByAGirl.org Formula Enterprise car in the National Class of a 34 car field.
Collete worked her way to P5 in class in the first race at St. Pete before getting punted in a high speed corner by a Championship class car.
“I felt fantastic in Race 1 and we were running with the Top 5 guys my second weekend in the car. We were catching 4th place when I got punted by a Championship class car and got sent into the wall. It was extremely disappointing to have our race end early with only 2 laps to go having passed 10 cars and working our way up the field, but that’s racing. Just have to stay positive and take it as a learning experience.”
Coached and mentored by her team, One Formula Racing, and IndyCar driver, Pippa Mann, Davis took in multiple lessons not only learning her first street racing course, but also adjusting to the new car.
“St Pete was actually my first time coaching another driver,” said Pippa. “Colletelistened, worked hard, and made sizable gains out on track. Her braking improved in the areas I could see, and she improved when around the championship class traffic dramatically. Seeing the times come down on the watch, and literally, visually seeing her improving lap after lap in front of me was extremely rewarding.”
The only female driver competing in the National class of the USF2000 National Championship Series, Collete continued to improve her lap times every session as she adjusted to the new car, series and track. Her fastest lap of the weekend came under racing conditions during Race 1 in heavy traffic.
“Right now I would love go see Collete get some more testing and seat time,” says mentor Pippa Mann, “Trying to get enough track time on a race weekend to really learn a car, on new tracks and under that much pressure is incredibly difficult. I would love to see her really get the chance to dig into her potential, and come back out fighting for more races later this year.” “The biggest thing that hit home for me with what Pippa told me was that while I’m learning a new car I need to not so much focus on trusting the car, but trusting myself,” said Collete. “Mainly trusting myself to be able to push the car and test my own limits. Especially in racing, you have to be able to continuously test yourself both mentally and physically. I’m focused on working hard on getting back in a car for the rest of the 2012 season and beyond.“
Acknowledgement to Davis’ Sponsors – Global Emergency Products, Temco, Glass Hammer Racing, BeatByAGirl.org for their support is propelling Collete to new heights in the Mazda Road to Indy.
“Racing on the Streets of St. Petersburg was literally a dream come true, as I came to the race last year as a spectator. This would not have been possible without the amazing support from my partners: Global Emergency Products, BeatByAGirl.org, Temco Machinery Inc. and One Formula Racing. I can’t thank them enough for coming together and making my first professional street race possible. “
Sanctioned by IndyCar, the 2012 Cooper Tires presents USF2000 National Championship powered by Mazda, is one of three series of IndyCar’s “Mazda Road to Indy” ladder system and the MazdaSpeed Motorsports Development driver program for the future stars of the sport.
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