HAND: High Flying at Road America

Road America is my favorite racetrack in the world, especially with the success that Dirk (Müller) and I have had through the years – together and separately. I’ve been on the podium more times than not. I get this “home track advantage” feeling there just on the success alone and though neither of us grew up there.

It set such a strong and positive outlook for the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship weekend. We were excited to show off the strengths of Mustang GT3.

I didn’t even make it halfway to Road America before stopping to get my favorite cheese curds, which believe it or not, are at a random gas station… the “The Curd Nurd,” so how can you not when they’re hot and fresh in the bag? That gets it started for me.

From there, I worked them off with the longest track walk we have all year – just over four miles for the racetrack, and it’s a sight to see with everyone camping on the outskirts.

There were a ton of people, even on Thursday. I was telling my crew that if I was going to a racetrack as a fan, it would be Road America. You can be down in the trees, and it feels like actual camping – right up until you hear the engines fire up and then it’s race day.

Friday’s practice felt like past race days there with how many people were there, and it’s incredible how the series broke its attendance record, setting a new bar at Road America. You just felt the energy, and the fans there are so knowledgeable and enthusiastic about the sport.

We were quick in practice, made some good changes and felt decent about the car. Qualifying is not our strength, but we’re noticing that it’s more about the mentality Dirk and I have going into the weekend.

While qualifying is important, especially for these shorter races, it’s still not as important as having a great race car – or as I say, a “racey” car. We focus on having a car that we can do longer stints in comfortably, and we’ve seen throughout the year that we’re much closer on race pace than in qualifying.

That did not change this weekend. By the numbers, we were a bit off in qualifying but right there during the race. Dirk did a really good job fighting, and when we got to pit road for me to get into the car, we were in second place (there was a bit of cycling going on).

When it all cycled out, we came out behind a few GTD and Pro cars, but taking what I’ve learned from Mosport (Canadian Tire Motorsport Park), we had a car that could pass. We knew that we could get through some people, and I felt good about our chances in battling for a podium.

You could tell right away that it was going to be a spicy race – people getting into each other and just some hard racing. I wasn’t too far into my stint when a GTD car fought with one of our class competitors and sent him wide. I tucked underneath him and had a good run going up the hill into Turn 13, but we made door-to-door contact.

Unfortunately for how the bodies of our cars are shaped, that contact pulled the rear bumper off.

We were forced to pit for a new bumper and quarter panel, and I thought from it that we were going to be a lap down.

The crew did such a good job in putting basically four pieces of new body panels back on the car in about 50 seconds. We returned well ahead of the pack and on the lead lap. A yellow flag helped us file back in, but it was challenging in the draft and chaotic.

We couldn’t make it any higher than eighth place, which is tough to swallow. I felt like this was a good chance for a podium, and we were truly showing the potential to be up there fighting for a podium.

Moving forward, we’re going to another one of those “Great American Tracks.” Dirk and I have also had great success at Virginia International Raceway.

I was on the Michelin Pilot Challenge podium there last year, and the year before that I subbed in and won.

I feel like I have some solid track knowledge here and this race is particularly exciting because it is “GT Only” – we can go for the overall win. It’s a place where we’ve tested, and we hope we have a good race car right off the truck.