October 9, 2009 – ATLANTA, GA – Fresh off another pole and win in Round 9, Todd Lamb of Atlanta, GA wrapped up the season championship in SCCA Pro’s Playboy Mazda MX-5 Cup series at Virginia International Raceway this past weekend. The pole was Lamb’s 7th of the season, and the win was his 8th straight, setting records for the number of poles (7),  consecutive poles (5), wins and consecutive wins (8).

Lamb, driving for Atlanta Motorsports Group (AMG), had a substantial points lead heading into the doubleheader weekend of Rounds 9 & 10 at VIR. The pole and win in the Round 9 on Saturday extended Lamb’s points lead, allowing him to simply take the green and get to the halfway point of the final race on Sunday to clinch the championship.  However, things would get very exciting in Round 10.

Lamb was the victim of an incident during the first lap, requiring him to pit twice under a full course yellow for repairs to his Luna-C/Traqmate Mazda. Fortunately, the MX-5 suffered only minor damage and a tire rub. Quick work by the AMG crew to pound out a fender and replace the right-rear tire allowed Lamb to restart the race without losing a lap, albeit in last place.  Within 6 laps, Lamb worked his way through the field and into the lead, at about the same time the race reached the halfway mark and he clinched the championship.  With two laps to go another car lost control at the end of the back straightaway and sent Lamb into the tire wall, ending his race.

However, as expected, Lamb remained positive about the weekend:  “Despite missing the first race of the year, I came into the MX-5 series with the goal of winning the championship using my extensive racing experience. This weekend our primary focus was the big picture,  so to even get another pole and win on Saturday was just icing on the cake.”

Lamb continued: “The championship was won with the hard work we put into winning races all season. I owe the crew a lot for getting the repairs done in the last race without losing a lap. I had a very exciting run from last to first after the restart, so we proved we were there to run for the win even with the championship on the line.

As a team, we exceeded our goals for the season with the number of wins and poles – I’m very proud of AMG for everything we accomplished this year. It is even more rewarding to know that we did it with a Mazda that was proven time and again to be 100% legal, passing an engine teardown, 3 days of tech on the entire car, and 4 protests from other teams.

It was great working with Jason Hoover on setup. As a mechanical engineer I like to take a hands-on approach to dialing in the car –  Jason and I shared a very similar viewpoint on how to get the most out of the car for a given track, and that synergy was certainly a key factor in our success.”

As part of the rewards for winning the championship, Lamb will race a Mazda in 2010 as a Mazdaspeed driver in the professional racing ranks.  Specific plans will be announced at the Performance Racing Industry Show in December, or shortly thereafter as Mazda planning is completed.

Lamb commented: “I look forward to representing Mazda as a driver next season in the next step of the Mazdaspeed Driver Development Ladder.  While plans have yet to be announced, it would be an honor to be a part of the Mazda family in any series - every vehicle that Mazda puts on the racetrack is a winner!”

In-car video highlights from the final race are available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c0KW2ZiLaio

Lamb can be followed on Twitter @toddspeed, and additional information is online at www.toddlamb.com.

MX-5 Partners:
AMG (team) - www.atlantamotorsportsgroup.com
Traqmate (data acquisition) - www.traqmate.com
Luna-C Racing (race inspired clothing) - www.lunacracing.com

Posted by Todd Lamb on 10/09 at 12:26 PM



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