Palomar Racing

Race Recap: Strong Showing at WRL Barber with GP1 Podium for Million, Palomar Racing

Race Recap: Strong Showing for Million, Palomar Racing at WRL Barber with Podium in GP1

Birmingham, AL | March 1-3rd, 2024

Round 2 of 10 for the 2024 World Racing League season took place at Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, Alabama. Matt Million competed in the Palomar Racing #38 BMW E36 in the GP1 class alongside codrivers Ryan Keeley and Sean Milburn. Together, they extended their class championship lead with a competitive 3rd place in Saturday’s 8 hour and, after a technical issue in the last hour, 5th in Sunday’s 7 Hour.

With 14 cars entered in GP1 and 50+ entries between all five WRL classes, the 15 combined hours of racing saw fast action and strategy throughout. After a double podium in the first round at Eagles Canyon, two more results at the sharp end of the field have kept Million and the team leading the GP1 championship.

Saturday’s 8 Hour started on an extremely wet track after thunderstorms plagued practice and qualifying on Friday. Million started the #38 from 6th in class. Although the track was wet, the rain had stopped and the surface began to change into ‘drying’ conditions and soon a full 'dry line’ by the end of Million’s opening double stint. With the car’s setup ultimately geared toward dry conditions, Million played a patient game to remain around 6th for the opening hour before rapidly picking up time as the dry track formed. He moved the #38 Palomar Solar BMW E36 into 2nd place, and briefly the lead, just before the first round of pit stops.

From there, team regular Keeley took over for a full double stint and contested around 3rd for much of the two-and-a-half hours. Excellent stops from the Palomar Racing team kept the team fighting between 2nd and 3rd by the time Milburn took over from Keeley. A newcomer to the team but not to touring car racing, he kept the #38 in a competitive position during his stint. Million took over for the final hour on a well timed pit stop that put them within seconds of the #44 PC Racing BMW E46 for 2nd place. Million lacked the ultimate pace to compete, but fought as hard as possible to sustain 3rd place on the day.

Million started Sunday’s 7 hour from the 4th position since he set the classes’ 4th fastest lap the prior day. Within two corners, Million took control of the race by passing for the lead with a fantastic start. He held 2nd place for the majority of his opening stint as the #44 PC Racing entry was too quick to hold back. Million describes his attempts to hold onto 2nd as ‘one of the best stints he’s ever driven’ as he fought off multiple GP1 front runners for the position.

Milburn jumped aboard during the first round of stops to complete his stint before the mandatory 1-hour Sunday ‘quiet hour’, doing a great job. Keeley put in his usual ‘fuel saving masterclass’ to extend his double stint to two-and-a-half hours yet again once the race got back underway. With about an hour to go, Palomar Racing was in a fight for 2nd again but this time with #150 ASM Honda S2000. Million was back in and on the charge when a sudden electrical issue killed the car’s main power. The #38 was towed behind-the-wall with 40 minutes remaining. Although they briefly got back on track, the issue soon came back and Palomar retired the car in the final half hour. Still, a remarkable day up to that point meant they’d still finish 5th of 14 in the car having built up a sizable gap.

It was another impressive weekend for the Palomar Racing team as they continue to make strides and become known as a GP1 front runner. To remain in podium contention for 14 of 15 hours and lead the race on a few occasions, as well as have zero pit lane or on-track penalties, is another huge step in the right direction following 2023.

Matt wants to thank his co-driver Ryan Keeley and Sean Milburn for a great weekend 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 & Scottie Elkins

Race Recap: First GP1 Win in the WRL Season Opener at Eagles Canyon for Million

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.

Race Recap: WRL Finale at COTA Proves Strong with GP1 Podium for Million, Palomar Racing

Race Recap: WRL Finale at COTA Proves Strong with GP1 Podium for Million, Palomar Racing

Austin, TX | December 1-3, 2023

The 2023 season finale of World Racing League turned out to be a positive end for Palomar Racing and the driver’s of the #14 BMW E36 in GP1.

Team regulars Matt Million, Nik Romano, and Ryan Keeley piloted the #14. The team’s second entry, the #15 also in GP1, was entered but suffered a large setback in Friday practice.

The #14 finished a respectable 4th in Saturday’s 8 hour and 3rd in Sunday’s 8 hour race. With a 20+ GP1 field of strong entries and 80+ in the overall entry between all five classes, it was a job well done for Palomar Racing.

Saturday’s result was looking to be a 2nd place, or even the win, until the sixth hour. The throttle pedal had broken under Million as he had to limp back to the pits and spend 5 minutes with the crew repairing. They dropped from 2nd to 4th because of it.

However, it was an important discovery. The car had begun loosing horsepower throughout the day on Saturday to the tune of 10mph on COTA’s long back straight. When Million returned in the final hour, lap times dropped significantly from 2:36 average to 2:32 average. It is believed the throttle began failing in the second or third hour and progressively worsened, as well as raise water temperature by 20 degrees.

With this issue now solved, along with a host of other mechanical and aerodynamic improvements overnight, the #14 was set on a podium charge for Sunday.

Million started the opening few hours Sunday and moved from 6th on the grid to 4th and eventually the podium places. With a new PB of 2:30:1, consistency in traffic, and thoughtful strategy calls, the #14 was fighting amongst the podium for the last four hours with drivers Ryan Keeley and Nik Romano.

Unfortunately, an ill-timed full-course yellow came out with about two hours remaining that would snap the team’s strategy play for the win. Amongst the front runners, what would’ve been one more fuel stop for only the #14 instead of two turned out to be a single fuel stop for the others as well. This locked the #14 into 3rd, approximately four minutes behind the win and one lap behind second place.

Overall, it was a very impressive performance by everyone at Palomar Racing and one that should be held highly. At our first WRL event this season at Barber Motorsport Park back in March, we finished 6-7 laps behind the leader on both days. At our last event in Austin, we finished within 1-2 laps. We’ve learned a lot throughout our 8-event season through tireless failures, updates, and effort to be better.

Matt wants to thank his co-driver Ryan Keeley and Nik Romano for an incredible season 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, Rugged Radios, SignArt Graphix, and others.

Visit ‘Photos’ to view more pictures from the event and other pages on mattmillionracing.com.

Photography by Chance Hales.

Race Recap: Hallett WRL Ends Early After Hard Fought 4th in Saturday 8h

Race Recap: Hallett WRL Ends in Misfortune After Hard Fought 4th in Saturday 8h

Jennings, OK | October 20-22nd, 2023

A run to 4th place in GP1 (from 12) in World Racing League’s trip to Hallett marked stable progression for the team after 8 hours of racing on Saturday. However, an issue with brakes took the #14 Palomar Racing E36 M3 out of contention early in Sunday’s 8 hour.

Team regulars Matt Million, Nik Romano, and Ryan Keeley piloted the #14 in GP1. The team’s second entry was not entered.

Qualifying 7th, Romano started the Saturday race off to a fairly smooth start. During his double stint, a red flag was briefly thrown for a GP2 entry which caught fire. The #14 gained a position or two through good pitwork and stable pace every few hours. Keeley took the middle stint of the race and held position for Million to take over the final 3.5 hours.

“Although we just missed out on a podium, I’m quite happy with how we performed overall today. The pace of the top three was something we haven’t been able to compete with all season, so to refine our pit stops and run a mostly error-free race was our goal to be there at the end. Whenever we can come away with 4th behind some truly well developed teams and cars, it feels like a win for our first WRL season.”

“This might’ve been the most physically exhausted I’ve been after a pair of stints all season! This 1.8 mile bullring gives you no time to rest, combined with the warm ambient and no ‘cooling’ driver aids. Lots of constant, fast corners with consequences combined with a busy multi-class grid to tax the brain. I thought I was ‘in the green’ on my fluid intake but I could hardly stand when I got out of the car! It took me two hours to finally feel normal. I gave my all to be on top of my game fighting in those stints. I’m proud of my performance for sure!”

“Again, what a unique circuit. So many small (and large) bumps and cambers and patches to master in order to be fast around here. Definitely took me back to my club racing roots. I felt like our #14 was suited very well to the circuit, soaking up all the imperfections well without upsetting the balance.”

“Sunday was a massive disappointment for all of us. None of us wanted what happened and we’ve all worked hard to try and figure out what went wrong and make sure it can never happen again.”

“I noticed something was wrong with the brakes during my opening pace laps on Sunday morning. As it warmed up, it seemed to get better but still never truly felt right or gave me the normal confidence in them. I trusted that the crew had done their job correctly and it would come to me. It didn’t. Even though I had backed off and prepared to brake far earlier than normal, I got no brake pressure entering T2 on the opening green flag lap at over 100mph. I had no time to react and attempted to split a gap through the field but failed, hitting another competitor and ending our race in the process. It’s a massive shame and one all of us on the team could look back on elements we could’ve done differently. I’m grateful to be physically ok and for the car to be fully repaired in time for COTA. We’ll reflect and make the necessary adjustments.”

Million will next compete at Circuit of the America’s for World Racing League’s 8 + 8 Hour finale on December 1-3rd.

Matt Million 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, Rugged Radios, 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 Photography.

Race Recap: High Plains WRL Provides 2nd in GP1 for Million, Palomar Racing in Colorado

Race Recap: High Plains WRL Provides 2nd in GP1 for Million, Palomar Racing

Deer Trail, CO | September 1-3rd, 2023

After an electrical issue on Saturday, Palomar Racing’s sixth weekend of their 2023 World Racing League campaign saw a return to the GP1 podium for Matt and the #14 BMW E36 M3 on Sunday.

Team regulars Matt Million and Nik Romano were joined by Lucas Weisenberg in the #14. Weisenberg, current Toyota GR Cup driver, is a welcome addition with his past experience working with the group. The team’s second entry, the #15 BMW E36, was driven by team regular Ryan Keeley as well as Andrew Gardner and Alan Leukhardt.

The #14 finished 7th of 11 in Saturday’s 8-hour and 2nd of 11 in Sunday’s 8-hour.

Qualifying 3rd, Matt took the #14 to an early run in 2nd place for the opening stint. During the first pit stop, the car failed to refire. After an hour of diagnosis and repair, it was discovered part of the AIM PDU computer module failed and wouldn’t allow the car to restart. Weisenberg and Romano brought the car to the finish without trouble afterwards. For Sunday’s 8-hour, Weisenberg started in 4th and maintained position for his stints. Romano continued for his stints and handed off to Million to close the race. Through clean pit stops and stints, the #14 found itself firmly in 2nd with 219 laps complete, three laps behind the winning #147 Morehead Speed Works BMW E46.

The story of #15 was more unfortunate. An 8th place finish on Saturday and 7th place on Sunday after the car struggled to maintain proper voltage, amongst other issues. A gearbox failure took the car out of Sunday’s race past half-distance.

“It’s an awesome feeling to get the #14 back onto the podium! We got 3rd in our very first race of the season, way back in March at Barber Motorsports Park. Since then, this car has seen a lot of revisions to make it more competitive in GP1. Through development of springs, tires, engines, aero, and a lot of small things, it’s a been an exhausting season to find small bits of speed but suffer frequent mechanical and electrical gremlins. After our 4th of 15 at Road Atlanta, it was clear we’ve developed into a podium-contending package. Still with gains to be made in ultimate pace, but a lot more potential than early in the season. This 2nd helps confirm that when all goes well on our side, we are nearing closer to our ultimate goal in World Racing League.

“”I’m really proud of what I could extract in qualifying to put us 3rd in class. I’ve never been to High Plains Raceway before and only had a handful of laps before true ‘go time’. It was the best position we were going to start from, with the top two on a different level of speed than where we are in our development.”

“High Plains is a sneakily fun circuit! 15 corners, 2.5 miles. Only one real straightaway, lots of heavily cambered and off-camber corners with elevation. Besides the utterly tight hairpins, it’s a wonderful ‘flow’ circuit. There isn’t much in the way of sights though… a lot of dead grass!”

“I’m truly proud of my start and opening stint on Saturday. We remained within touching distance of the leader (15-30 seconds) for the entire hour and a half. I have to especially thank Ryan Lindsley and Pete Bush of BIMMERSPEED for their tireless hours of car preparation ahead of this event. The #14 felt like an entirely new race car, giving me the confidence to set some seriously quick laps time after time and keep us close.”

“It’s a shame about our relatively small issue on Saturday. We would’ve been on for a podium both days, which is what this group deserves after all the hard work this season. It did feel good though to bring the car across the finish on Sunday and secure the result. My job Sunday was a lot more tame; keep the car on the road and hold onto the position with no close threat in either direction. Definitely a team-earned podium all-around. Proud to be a part of their journey and chip away at the milestones, despite the difficulties we’ve faced on multiple levels in 2023. Thank you Andy and the rest of Palomar Solar for the continued hard work, belief in me, and backing for this program. Thank you Blair, Grant, Kaylyn, and the drivers for the long days to make sure we succeed.”

Million will next compete for Palomar Racing at Hallett Motor Racing Circuit in Oklahoma for the WRL’s 8 + 8 Hour event in mid-October. He is scheduled to drive the #14 BMW E36 M3 in GP1 for the rest of the season.

Matt Million 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, Rugged Radios, 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 Photography.

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