Top 5 Finish for Abbate at Home Track
The Trans Am West Coast Championships added a new track to their schedule for 2023, Spring Mountain Motorsports in Pahrump, NV. The facility boasts several tracks and layouts and the Trans Am series would take on the Charleston Peak North course layout.
“I couldn’t be more excited to have Trans Am coming so close to home for me,” Michele said. She planned on attending the event with her Grr Racing TA2 car, but, when the Nitro Motorsports team was planning to make the trek out west with two other car entries Abbate jumped on the opportunity.
“Driving my National Tour car on my home track will provide me some great seat time and get me more comfortable in the car as we head into the season finale”, Michele shared.
The race weekend was packed with track time, including two test session, two practices, and then qualifying before the feature race on Sunday. Abbate proved to be a competitive entry as she came out the gate in the top 3 on Friday. She was able to secure P5 in class and P7 overall once qualifying was over on Saturday.
“I think we are in a good position to make some moves in the race tomorrow,” she said, “I hope to stay focused and I am excited at the opportunity to get to the podium at my home track”. The race in the desert was a grueling one. On the opening laps Abbate set forth on a mission to get to the front. There was some contact and lots of rocks spewed onto the track from others making contact. She held her own and advanced to P4 in class with a battle in front and behind her. Unfortunately the #31 car lost both of his brakes lights and the two made contact on a restart, causing severe front end damage to the #30 GHOST Energy x Lucas Oil Mustang. At the end of the 100 mile race Michele officially earned a P5 finish in TA2 P6 overall.
“It was a challenging race and a lot of fun. I am glad we were able to finish strong and I look forward to applying what I learned in the car at COTA for the season finale”, Michele said.
