Robert Sabato Enters the Record Books on His Way to the Lites 2 Title

As Toronto native Robert Sabato entered the 2011 Cooper Tires Prototype Lites Powered by Mazda season, he could not have envisioned that in his first full season as a Lites 2 driver he would deliver such a dominating performance, as a record setting nine-race winning streak put Sabato in the history books and earned him his first series title.

Sabato, 49, drives for the Mosport based 6^thGear Racing, with teammates Max De Angelis and Michal Chlumecky . The trio has been racing and driving together for years, forming a team when Sabato got his West WR1000 in 2009 and consolidating the team this year under the 6^th Gear banner (which includes Sabato’s cousin, IMSA GT3 Cup Challenge competitor Marco Cirone). That Sabato won the championship in only his third year in prototype racing is a testament to his affinity for the car.

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“I started racing Corvettes in 2007,” explains Sabato, “then Michal Chlumecky let me try his car and that was it. In 2009, I got stuck in an airport for four hours, got on my computer and found the West on sale. I turned to my wife and said ‘I just bought a car and I’m going to go racing with Max and Mike.’ If it wasn’t for that airport delay, I’d have never found that car.”

He competed in three races in 2009, finishing third in the first race of the year at Sebring and taking a second and the victory in the season-ender at Road Atlanta. In 2010, Sabato was only able to run the two events at his home track of Mosport, where he started on the pole but finished back in the pack. He quickly put 2010 behind him, focusing on a full-time campaign this season.

Sabato arrived at the first race of 2011 at Sebring with high expectations, but ran into his share of difficulties in the first race, tangling with a Lites 1 car that threw his car out of alignment and put him back in fifth spot.

It was the last time Sabato would finish off the podium all year, as he won the second race of the weekend and began his record-setting charge.

At Lime Rock in June, Sabato took both races, run on Saturday before the American Le Mans Series race. An early spin in race one kept his competitors close, but in race two, a car that Sabato described as “the closest I’ve come to a perfect car” allowed him to lap the Lites 2 field while setting a new track record.

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His winning ways continued at his home track of Mosport, as Sabato earn both race victories of the weekend. But instead of an easy ride, Sabato, fighting shifting issues, had his mirrors full of teammate Michal Chlumecky, joining the team at Mosport for the remainder of the year. It would become a recurring theme – Sabato taking the win with Chlumecky right behind.

 “It was nice to have him there as a teammate. We can compare each others’ data – on many race weekends, he was faster than I was. It was interesting to compare – there were places he went faster than me and other places I went faster than him. So it helped both of us go faster.

“It may sound strange, but we just don’t take it that seriously. We would never not compare data just because we’re worried about one of our teammates beating the other one. We all want to see each other do well. So as long as we’ve driven well, even if we don’t win, then you’ve done a good job. The worst thing is winning and not having done well – if there was anything we could do to help each other go faster, we would do it. It makes for better racing!”

That the 6^th Gear Racing team is a tightly knit group is an understatement; they are close friends off the track as much as they are close competitors during the race. Sabato would not think twice about sharing information with his teammates – and his teammates return the sentiments regarding his famously good nature.

“Robert can be summed up by his smile, really,” relates Max De Angelis. “When you get to know him you realize that there is a bundle of light and positive energy in him. It is written all over his face.

“He always looks at the glass half full rather than half empty - and he brings the energy of an 18 year old with the confidence and knowledge of an old pro. He has become a brother to Michal and me both on and off the track and constantly keeps us motivated with his positive energy - he always finds a way to put a positive spin on a negative moment. A funny example that I tell people is when I tapped the wall (very lightly mind you) at Laguna, when I got back into the paddock everyone was making sure I was ok and that the car was fine. Along comes Rob with his million dollar smile all happy and excited, I said Rob why are you so happy, his response was "Maxie, that's awesome you hit the wall, it just means you were pushing hard, that's great, that's awesome" and so and on so forth. 

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"His talents may make him a champion on the track, but off track he is equally a champion, a true competitor, a great friend and really the nicest guy you can ever meet.”

With his hometown race behind him, Sabato and the rest of the Lites teams began the rapid succession of races that would take the season to its conclusion – at some of the most famous road courses in the US;  Road America, Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca and Road Atlanta. Sabato kept up the pace, taking both races at Road America, but race two was marred by a tangle with several Lites One cars that caused Sabato to punt teammate Chlumecky – his reaction gives one more insight into Sabato’s character.

“I should have backed away,” said Sabato. “I should have let the three L1s do what they wanted to do. I saw them coming up behind me and tucked back in behind Mike, but as the four of us approached the corner, they locked up a little bit and I squeezed in the middle – and it was either the back of Mike or the middle. I tried to give him the winning trophy! Mike is an unbelievable teammate and an unbelievably good sport. He just said “that’s racing.” It was a win, but it was a lousy win.”

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Sabato had passed Level 5 Motorsports’ Scott Tucker for the first win at Road America, but wasn’t so lucky at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, as he finished second to Tucker in both races. It was enough to clinch the Lites 2 championship before the Road Atlanta weekend even began – which ended up being a good thing, as a crash in the very first session on Tuesday ahead of the race weekend left Sabato with a badly damaged race car and a broken left hand.

“I had a great car but I didn’t follow my usual routine on a race weekend. I diverted from my routine and tried to go too fast far too soon for me and my style of driving and I paid the price. I’ve looked at the video and I can’t look at it anymore, it just makes me angry. An objective viewer who looked at that video would say “this guy’s gonna go off.” And I did, three and a half laps later. It’s an awful way to end up a good season, not to participate with your teammates and everyone else.”

But with time comes perspective and Sabato has enjoyed the chance to look back on his incredible season.

“It was good and just kept getting better. We had talked about it for so long – many times on many weekends, we had to pinch ourselves to actually believe that we were all there doing it. Like at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca - we shared a tent with my cousin Marco and it was fantastic to have the GT3 car and the three Lites cars in one tent. We take it seriously – we all want to do well – but we don’t take it so seriously that we would purposely hurt ourselves or regret if one of us beat the other. If anything, the team grew stronger as the year went on. It was pretty incredible to watch the team grow – early on, we were feeling each other out, being really careful about what we’d say or how they would ask someone to do something. By the end of the season, it was just perfect. Everyone had gelled and every weekend went smoothly. It was like a second family.

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“This was our first year, so we’re still getting there. We’re almost there! Next year will be better and the year after that, even better still.

“But I feel that this year was a little bit lucky. Everything was aligned for that to happen so I just think it’s very lucky. But as someone once said, next season starts the day after this season, so I’ve already put this season behind me and am thinking about next year.

“And I love Lites 2 – I love the speed, the economics, the cost of going racing, the venues are beautiful, IMSA’s fantastic, Cooper is great, everybody is just great. I think more people should race in Lites 2! I can’t think of a better avenue to go racing.”