Jacksonville, NC (July, 3 2016) The Bryan Herta Rallysport team celebrated Fourth of July Weekend on Marine Corps Air Station New River in front of an enthusiastic crowd of military personnel and their families. The No. 18 Kobalt Tools Ford Fiesta ST was able to finish the weekend with a fourth place finish in Round 6, the Round 7 Final was canceled due to storms in the area. The trip to Saturday’s Final was no easy task as the car finished P7 in Qualifying and P1 in Heat 1A, but in Heat 2A Sandell hit the tire barrier exiting the joker causing the team to retire before the checkered. An absence in the Semi-Finals forced the team to enter their first Last Chance Qualifier of the season. A P4 finish in the LCQ gave Bryan Herta Rallysport access to a muddied Final where Sandell managed a P4 finish.
Day two of the weekend the schedule was condensed to beat the potential rain in the forecast, but storms entered the area before Supercars moved to the starting grid for the Final. The road to the Final almost mirrored Round 6 as Sandell finished P5 in Qualifying and a P2 in Heat 1A. The team encountered another absence in the Semi-Finals that would have forced the team to start from the back of the field in the Final in P8. Ultimately the Final was canceled and more information will be provided as to what will happen to Round 7.
“It was fantastic to be able to race Fourth of July weekend on the military base,” said Sandell. “They host a fantastic track and it’s amazing that we can bring this event to them and show our sport. And it’s been great to be able to see the interest from the military base. It’s tough that we had a hard weekend, the team had to work really really hard, but we got away with a 4th place finish in the first final and got really good points for the championship. We are very happy about that. We agree with the organization that it was right to cancel the second Final because it was unsafe for us drivers to go and it was too muddy for even the ambulance to go. They took the right decision to cancel it and we will see what happens moving forward. We will be back in Washington DC to fight for the win.
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