Race Report: First GP1 Win in the WRL Season Opener at Eagles Canyon for Million
Decantur, TX | February 2-4th, 2024
The season opening 2024 event for World Racing League will forever be remembered as the first WRL win for Palomar Racing and the #38 BMW E36 in the competitive GP1 category. Eagles Canyon Raceway, a new circuit for the series, will be remembered as a fond trip to northern Texas.
Team regulars Matt Million, Nik Romano, and Ryan Keeley piloted the #38, rebranded from #14 as was the number in 2023.
The team finished an impressive 2nd place in Saturday’s 8 hour and capturing the class win in Sunday’s 7 hour race. With a 13-car GP1 field of strong entries and 40+ in the overall entry between all five WRL classes, it was finally ‘mission accomplished’ for Palomar Racing after a year of hardship with glimpses of potential.
Saturday’s 8 hour started in cold, damp conditions after torrential rain plagued the circuit the night before. A significant lack of grip saw the pace of GP1 fall throughout the event. Nik Romano started the race for the team in 4th and handed over to Ryan Keeley after about 1h30m, then to Matt Million after another stint, and Romano back in to finish the final hour. New-for-2024 regulations mean a driver cannot exceed 3 hours of drive time at any given time, hence swapping drivers typically each fuel stint.
The #38 crew steadily moved up to 3rd then into 2nd after an extremely consistent race with fantastic pit stops, driver changes, fuel economy, and an overall impressive pace. Where the team had struggled matching the ultimate lap times of the fastest GP1 cars has been made up by all the elements around it, enabling a rise up the order. Million set the car’s best lap of a 2:07:5, and while the #38 has development left to go, the consistency and tight spread between the three drivers helped close the gap to the competitors.
Romano once again start the race on Sunday, this time in wet conditions. While the team fell back from 2nd for a few hours, again the #38 rose through the field after pit stops and driver stints began to play out as the circuit dried and gripped up.
The same driver order and a remarkably similar race resulted in again a 2nd place run with an hour to go. During the final set of stops, the team capitalized extremely well on a late full-course-yellow. The leading #522 Choice Racing BMW E46, Saturday’s class winner, then suffered a failed alternator leading to their retirement. Palomar Racing inherited the lead as the field went back green and succeeded to claim the team’s first WRL win.
It was an impressive team performance and a show of how far Palomar Racing has climbed in WRL. A lot of lessons, both easy and hard, were learned in 2023 after completing its first full season. The lessons have paved the way to now exit Eagles Canyon and enter March’s round at Barber Motorsport Park as the GP1 championship leaders.
Matt wants to thank his co-driver Ryan Keeley and Nik Romano for an incredible event with their camaraderie and support. Thank you to Andy and Mike Anderson with the support of Palomar Solar and Roofing, of which none of this season would’ve been possible without.
Special thank you’s as well to the crew, including the driver’s and the owner’s, along with Blair, Grant, BimmerSpeed (Ryan, Mike, Pete, Mark), Strom Motorsports, Mashore Autobody, and many others who have helped our season.
Matt wants to thank all the volunteers and corporate partners who support Palomar Racing. The primary support of Palomar Solar and Roofing along with support by Apex Race Parts, Red Line Synthetic Oil, Ferodo Racing, AP / Essex Part Services, Yokohama Tires, BimmerWorld, Strom Motorsports, BIMMERSPEED, FastSideways, Enphase, Panasonic Solar, Swift Springs, MCS, AGA Tools, SignArt Graphix, and others.
Visit ‘Photos’ to view more pictures from the event and other pages on mattmillionracing.com.
Photography by Sam of Low Tide Motorsports.