Ruscitti: “You Have To Appreciate the People That Run in ST”

One of the emerging stars in the Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge is North Vancouver, B.C.’s Remo Ruscitti, who looks for his and Adam Isman’s second ST class win of the season this weekend at Road America. Ruscitti qualified on the pole on Friday.

Ruscitti and Isman starred in the last two races on permanent road courses in the team’s No. 04 Autometrics Motorsports Porsche Cayman. They were in win contention at Watkins Glen before running out of fuel late there, before things came good at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park mid-July in a dominant performance.

“It took a little bit of time to get the monkey off our back,” Ruscitti told Sportscar365. “Earlier this year we didn’t have the experience in knowing how to win.

“Kansas we didn’t need to charge as hard as we did. Watkins was more of a saving fuel kind of race. Then at Mosport, everything came together from qualifying through the race.”

Ruscitti’s weekend in his home country also included a sweep of the two IMSA Prototype Lites races in his series debut with 8Star Motorsports. He was a late scratch for this weekend’s Lites races at Road America.

Back in CTSC, a chance to double up at Indianapolis two weeks ago went begging after a late race mechanical issue dropped the pair to fifth.

Although the Cayman has been the undoubted pacesetter in ST this season, flawless execution is still something required in order to convert the pace into victories. And that’s something Ruscitti and Isman, both CTSC rookies, have had to learn this season.

“You have to appreciate the amount of people that run in ST and in other classes as well,” Ruscitti said. “Michael Valiante (a fellow Canadian) is one of the top guys that’s done both, and he’s been a huge help for me and Adam throughout our careers.

“There are other guys like Ryan Eversley, Terry Borcheller, and more. With the number of professional drivers making a living in this class, the amount of competition in the class is insane. It shows how good you need to be to run up at the front.”

Ruscitti and Isman enter today’s two-hour, 30-minute race currently seventh in the ST class points, 23 out of fourth and 43 out of the lead.