The start to the 2019 TRAK season was a cold and wet one. Rain throughout the night, chilly April air along with on and off showers throughout the day made for tricky conditions for the first race of the year.
Daniel went out for the first practice session with an old set of rain tires from his first season. He had some difficulty finding grip, but tuner Andrew saw corners that Daniel could improve on. After the session, Andrew told Daniel to write down his comments on the session, helping to identify strengths and weaknesses, then review information from his MyChron with team data analyst Gianmarco.
With the advice given by the experts at PRO, Daniel went out for practice 2 and set the fourth quickest lap of the session. Despite the improvement, there was no time to rest, as after the session, Daniel continued to look at data and listen closely to what the experienced Andrew had to tell him
As track conditions continued to change, Daniel kept searching for better lap times, and beat out friend and team mate Chad Webster on the final lap of qualifying, for a best ever club racing qualifying position of fourth.
After further work with the PRO crew, Demaras went out for the Pre-Final. Despite a poor start, he managed to stay ahead of Webster, briefly challenging PRO teammate Owyn Thomas. Daniel didn’t have the pace to keep up with the top two drivers Alex Murphy and Jordan Prior, but opened a gap to Chad Webster, Zach Boam and Tim Knight behind. After a late race collision between Prior and Thomas, Daniel picked up a third place finish, his best ever result in club racing.
Daniel prepared for the Final with some last pieces of advice of advice from Gianmarco and Andrew in mind. A near miss with a spinning Chad Webster could’ve ended Daniel’s race early, but he avoided the incident and drove on. After spending much of the race in third, Daniel found himself under pressure from Owyn Thomas, who attempted an overtake on the inside of turn one. Demaras defended, but was eventually passed. In the later stages of the race, Zach Boam took fourth from Daniel who had began running a defensive line to protect his position. Demaras would cross the line a club racing best, albeit slightly disappointing, fifth place.
By working closely with the very skilled and knowledgeable men at PRO, Daniel was able to improve all throughout the day, leading him to his best ever result in both qualifying and the race. However, Daniel is hungrier than ever after missing out on a podium, so he’ll be on the attack in the races to come.
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