HARRISON: Podium Party for Acura

Midway through the Fanatec GT World Challenge America powered by AWS season, Racers Edge Motorsports with Wayne Taylor Racing Andretti Autosport made the trip to Virginia International Raceway.

We had unfinished business there after our disappointing results last season. The team was coming off an overall win at COTA with the No. 93 Harrison Contracting Acura NSX GT3 Evo22 and Mario and I were ready to push for much needed Pro championship points. With only three weekends left, every single point counts.

We arrived at VIR on Thursday for the track walk (aka track ride because it’s VIR and 200 degrees outside. Kudos to everyone exercising! Haha!) After taking some key notes for Friday’s practice sessions, we left feeling prepared.

VIR is not my strongest track, but I do enjoy the flow. It’s a high-speed, high-risk track with a lot of grip which means we’re really hustling our No. 93 Harrison Contracting Acura NSX GT3 Evo22 around the hills and corners.

Our first practice session set a good starting point with data and video for practice two, where I planned to do a ‘mock qual’ run, just to see how the car would handle on a sticker tire with our current set up.

I took the first few laps of practice 2 with our Acura NSX on a scrub tire and felt pretty confident for my mock qual run. Unfortunately, a brake issue caused an off-road excursion which sent us behind the wall for repairs. On top of that, rain started to pour heavily and the session was red-flagged due to the weather. As a result, Mario and I were headed into qualifying with only the 6-7 laps we turned in practice 1.

By choice, most of our championship competitors had been testing in the days prior to official series sessions, so with that head start, Mario and I really needed to be on our game right away for qualifying and the race.

Last year, despite the timing sheet results, the Racers Edge Motorsports with WTR Andretti team was solid in the pits and with strategy and our Acura NSX GT3 was very fast, so even with limited track time, we were confident heading into Saturday.

I qualified P6 in class for race 1 and Mario earned class pole for race 2. I was very upset with my performance and really disappointed for my team, Honda/HPD Racing and Acura Motorsports. They deserve so much more than what I’ve been giving them lately in qualifying. Either way, we had a job to do, and I was up first.

When the green flag flew for race 1, I put my head down and charged through the field. I gained a few spots in our Harrison Contracting Acura NSX over out of class cars, but quickly realized that the car was feeling very ‘off’ and something wasn’t right. Driving a two-thousand plus pound car is never easy but sometimes the conditions become even more challenging than usual.

I radioed my feedback into the pits regarding the rear balance but knew I needed to keep pushing the best I could until the end of my stint. After our driver change, Mario had the same input about the car’s handling a few laps later, so with our comments and telemetry data, we had a baseline to make adjustments for the next race.

Mario quickly closed in on P4, laying down super-fast times in the NSX until we had a left rear tire go down. He pitted for another left rear (from my stint) and went back out. A few laps later, we lost another left rear tire. Rinse and repeat. At this point, our goal was solely to finish the race without damage to the car.

As Mario took the checker, he grew concerned about instability in the rear and nursed the car back to the trailer. We discussed the tire issues amongst ourselves while the tire manufacturer took our damaged tires, took notes, photos and data and provided suggestions on how to avoid the problem moving forward.

Sometimes in racing, you get dealt a bad hand or just have bad luck or maybe a little bit of both at the same time- even while doing everything right. Regardless of the reason, we collectively agreed on the changes we wanted to make for Sunday and focused on the elements we could control. We also acknowledged some of the highlights, including a challenging race for our closest competitors that kept the PRO championship battle tight.

Mario took the green from the class pole in race 2, in third overall. In typical Mario fashion, he started making moves right away in our RELY on RED Acura and built a solid lead for me to take over.

We’ve gotten pretty consistent with our driver change procedure, which gives us an additional advantage to our competitors, but our biggest weapon is the precision timing of our pit stops.  The pit window in each race gives us a 10-minute margin, but our engineer narrows that timing down to mere hundredths of a second.

Our crew nailed the full service stop, and I rejoined the race in P1- now that’s more like it!

About 15 minutes into my stint, the second-place Pro class car started creeping closer and closer. A few laps later, he made contact while trying to take the lead and forced me off track. Double whammy: we lost the lead and some ground on the rest of the field that was quickly approaching. The heat was on – literally and figuratively.

We were full PUSH for the last 30+ minutes to the checker. We crossed the line P2 in class, gaining precious championship points and beating our closest competitors. We wanted to win, but in this case, taking second was a win in itself.

The driver who made contact apologized and took full responsibility, and, hey, that’s racing. I respect him for acknowledging the situation.

After some much-needed water and cold towels, Mario and I took a celebratory champagne shower on the podium.

We had some great fans that really made the weekend special- one even made her own shirt! The Racers Edge Motorsports with WTR Andretti team did an amazing job all weekend and I’m so proud to drive the No. 93 Harrison Contracting Acura NSX GT3 Evo22 for our crew and Honda/HPD Racing. Every race, we continue to showcase the talent of this team and the power and performance of the red Acura machine.

Next up, my favorite track in the United States: Road America!