Hardwick on “Super Tight” GTD Title Battle Entering VIR

Photo: Jake Galstad/IMSA

Ryan Hardwick says he’s looking to leave this weekend’s Michelin GT Challenge at Virginia International Raceway with a “clear shot” of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship GTD title.

Hardwick and Wright Motorsports co-driver Jan Heylen enter the penultimate round of the season second in the championship standings, only 36 points behind Team Korthoff Motorsports’ Stevan McAleer.

While there’s a narrow gap between the top two teams, the No. 16 Porsche 911 GT3 R team is only 8 points ahead of third-placed Roman De Angelis and 62 ahead of CarBahn with Peregrine Racing’s Jeff Westphal and Robert Megennis, in what’s turned into an ultra-close title fight.

“This year is like all others in this category,” said Hardwick. “It’s just super tight. Not many cars or teams are fortunate to win more than once. We’ve been fortunate to find the top step a couple of times and what’s really helped us to be at this point.

“It’s not just the 32 car. There’s four cars extremely tight in the championship. Even the 96 [Turner Motorsport BMW] could have an outside shot at it.

“That’s what’s so great about GTD racing. It’s super competitive amongst the teams and the drivers.”

Hardwick and Heylen have yet to return to the podium since the fourth round of the season at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, where the duo picked up their second win of the season following top honors at the Rolex 24 at Daytona.

“We need a bit more consistency,” he said. “We’ve had some peaks and valleys this season it seems like. We’ve been a bit more consistent these last few rounds but our focus for Virginia is to have a strong, consistent race.

“Our team had a very fast car there last year for Trent [Hindman] and Patrick [Long]. We had a good car when I raced there in 2020 with Patrick. It was one of my best qualifying sessions that season.

“Jan and I both love VIR. We won the Michelin Pilot Challenge race last year. I personally probably have more laps around VIR than any other circuit on the schedule. I’ve raced between Super Trofeo and Pilot Challenge there since 2015.

“I love the track; it’s one of my favorites. We are just looking to be consistent and put ourselves in a position where we could go to Petit with a clear shot of the championship. That’s all you can do.”

Westphal, meanwhile, echoed Hardwick’s comments on the super-competitive nature of the GTD class.

CarBahn with Peregine Racing enter VIR on the string of two podiums with its Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo, which has yet to break through for a win this season.

“The difference between a podium and eighth is oftentimes one decision that’s less than a second during a race,” said Westphal.

“It’s extremely tight. I think qualifying has shown that over the last few rounds where most of the top-ten are separated by less than a half-second.

“We’re coming into it knowing that it’s mathematically possible [for the championship]. We’ve had a bit of momentum. We had a rocky start to the year so the momentum has been welcomed.

“The consistency towards the front of the field has been good. The beginning of our year did not start out well.

“We were a pinball at Daytona; all four drivers got hit or bounced off somebody or got doored at some point, so the car took a beating.

“Watkins Glen, I was ushered into a pretty massive crash by two prototypes that were playing bumper cars, which wrote off our chassis and we had to find a new car.

“So it’s been anything but easy and calm. But with that we’re trying to be easy and calm and just dot the i’s and cross the t’s and obviously maximize every little avenue or angle of performance that we can.”

John Dagys

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John