Gormley, Ontario - Located midway between Milwaukee and Green Bay in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, Road America’s legendary four-mile, 14-turn road circuit, has defied the world’s best racers for over 57 years. And this past weekend, Samantha Tan in her No. 38 GPI/Kia Forte Koup and her Kinetic Motorsports teammates were amongst the challenged contenders.

With three standing starts at this triple-header event, patience and stability were in order. Incidents and a failed engine at the start caused chaos during the races. “I actually have gotten a lot better at standing starts”, mentioned Samantha Tan. “In the first race, I passed two cars when it went green! It seems that on the front straights, the Civics are faster as they could just pass me way before coming into turn one. I personally enjoy rolling starts but at this track, it was actually a bit detrimental.”

The long and challenging track was demanding on the brakes and Samantha put a lot of effort in to keeping them in good working condition. Traffic management went well and Round 7 was found to be the best race for Samantha this weekend. Starting in 11th position on the grid, she made some good passes that helped her to move up the field. She finished 7th realizing her fastest lap of the weekend with 2:39.879.

Even with a satisfying fastest lap during the first race on Friday, Samantha started Saturday morning’s race in 9th place. Again, running a very clean race, she battled and exchanged positions with Emilee Tominovich and Ron Yarab, both driving a Honda Civic Si. Samantha finished 7th a second time, making sure she was accumulating points while keeping the car and herself out of trouble.

“I personally really like the track because it has a nice flow and a lot of elevation changes. So it is a lot of fun. However, the only thing I don't like is how it really exaggerates your mistakes. If you are 3/10ths of a second off in each corner, which by the way is how fast the blink of an eye is, you are 6 seconds off pace! It was difficult for me mentally to think that I just needed 3/10ths per corner - I kept obsessing over how I was 6 seconds behind!”

Round 9, third and final race of the weekend, proved to be challenging for the car. Samantha did everything she could to save her machine while having great battles with No. 71 driver Ron Yarab, exchanging positions several times. Without any warning, her engine lost power and went into a thwarting “Safe Mode”, preventing her from completing the battle. Samantha was still able to claw her way to the start/finish line, however finishing a lap down.

She exclaimed: “I had a good run out as Ron took the middle line, and I took the inside line - passing the TCB on the left. We were about to go into the kink when my car went into 'safe mode' in which the engine only allows a speed of 36 mph. I was so mad!”

“Overall, Road America was a huge learning experience for me and has made me stronger mentally so I can effectively tackle the next weekend. There is the infamous corner named the kink (turn 11), which is terrifying to go through it flat out since the wall is so close to the edge. However, to keep up and be fast, one must suck it up and keep the pedal to the floor. I even gave myself a tiny celebration each time I made it through”, she said with a smile. Samantha concluded, “Road America definitely isn't forgiving; as seen with my two teammates. I'm glad I left the weekend with no big crashes. I definitely learned a lot more at Road America than I have at the previous tracks, and I think it has helped me further develop my racing skills.”

Rounds 10, 11 and 12 will take place on August 13-15 at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. Samantha’s race fans can follow her on Facebook (STRSamantha) and on Twitter (@STR_Samantha).

To learn more about Samantha Tan, visit www.samanthatanracing.com.