On Q Racing #66 E90 BMW grabs the third step on the podium

July 23, 2023 (Summit Point, W.V.) – Andrew Conner, driving the #66 On Q Racing BMW E90 finished 3rd in Round 3 of the Hankook Tires United States Touring Car Championship East Coast Series at Summit Point Motorsports Park.

On Q Racing arrived at Summit Point for Round 3 of the USTCC East Series with high expectations. The red E90 had just undergone some minor engine maintenance, and while the car was in the shop a few tweaks to the alignment were performed utilizing the notes from Round 1 at Summit Point.

Saturday’s Qualifying session was a full house, 35 cars were placed on the grid, and the red E90 was sitting P19. The mix of cars was sure to make for heavy traffic. The plan for qualifying is always to either get right to the front or to drop back and look for clear track space to lay down a fast lap with minimal traffic, that was not going to be the case. From flag to flag, the Qualifying session was uneventful for the On Q Racing E90, traffic was heavy, and most drivers were treating the session as a race, so inner class battels were prevalent, and open track space was hard to find. The session lasted 12 minutes and the On Q Racing E90 was able to set a fast time of 1:26.776 around the 2.0 mile course, which would put the car 3rd within USTCC ST behind Coyote Black in his Porsche Cayman S (P2) and Anthony Piselli (P1) in his Subaru WRX for the Saturday Qualifying heat race later in the day.

Post Qualifying debrief was short and to the point, “change nothing” were Andrew’s thoughts to the team, “the car is fast, we just need to get into the fight at the drop of the green”.

The second session, Qualifying Heat Race, had the On Q Racing E90 placed P10 on the grid, 3 place behind Coyote Black and 5 places behind Anthony Piselli. At the drop of the green, the E90 settled in and started to move forward in the pack, but the field of Big Bore competition proved to be too much for the E90 to outpace, the #66 BMW fell back to a P20 finish with a fast time of 1:24.932 which was well of the pace of both Coyote Black (1.23.680) and Anthony Piselli (1.22.002). Even with less than stellar fast lap recorded, the E90 pilot was very pleased with the car, mentioning the setup was “spot on for Summit”, and the car needed nothing more than fuel, tire temps and pressures, to be ready for battle on Sunday for the Feature race.

Sunday’s Feature Race grid was set, Andrew Conner in the On Q Racing E90 and placed P11 Coyote Black was P7 and Anthony Piselli was sitting just forward in P6. The weather threatened rain, but as the green flag dropped, the skies cleared and the minimal moisture on track was quick to dry, providing a full dry track scenario. The USTCC ST group was quick to pull forward in the group, with multi-inner series battles forming as well as sub battles between USTCC cars and the other high HP Big Bore cars that made up the remaining 34 cars on track. As the laps ticked down, the E90 BMW found itself tucked in behind a T1 mustang that was piloted by a highly talented driver, making passing room hard to find. At the drop of the Checkered flag, the On Q Racing E90 was able to move up 1 to P10 with a fast time set of 1:25.721 securing a solid P3 in ST.

Post session, Andrew was quick to offer praise to his fellow USTCC competitors for running a clean race, and how he recognized the work needed to get the E90 in the fight with Coyote and Anthony going forward.

The team now looks forward to Round 4 at PittRace in August, with two full feature races planned.

About On Q Racing

On Q Racing is a family owned and operated team that competes in the Hankook Tires United States Touring Car Championship aboard a BMW S54 powered E90