Hedman Stands Down from Driving for Majority of Season

Photo: Brandon Badraoui/IMSA

Henrik Hedman is set to sit out the majority of the remaining IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship races in DragonSpeed’s Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R according to team owner Elton Julian, who explained the “two-fold” situation.

The FIA Bronze-rated driver, who entered the season seeking the Bob Akin Award and automatic invite to next year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans, currently sits fourth out of the four full season eligible drivers, following a string of accidents induced by other competitors this year.

The latest incident came in last month’s Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen, where Hedman’s GTD class Corvette was hit while under safety car conditions by the No. 60 Meyer Shank Racing Acura ARX-06 of Colin Braun, who was pushed into Hedman by the No. 23 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Valkyrie of Roman De Angelis.

“Getting taken out three times in five races the way we did was not good,” Julian told Sportscar365.

“It put us in a position, with the amount Bronzes left in the field, to the close the gap, even if we win out, we’re not going to get there.

“We kept trying, we kept getting taken out. So the [Akin Award] is out of the window.

“So we’ve sent the boys to play at CTMP while Henrik is on the beach at Saint-Tropez, but he’ll be back for Road America.

“Then after that, I think he’ll probably pack it in for the season and we’ll field a car with the best potential customers, keeping Giacomo and keeping Casper.”

Silver-rated Stevenson, who serves as DragonSpeed’s third driver for the Michelin Endurance Cup races, is making his first sprint race start of the season in the car this weekend at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park alongside full season pilot Giacomo Altoe.

While Altoe will complete the season, and Stevenson will be back in his normal role for Motul Petit Le Mans, Julian said he’s seeking a funded driver, ideally of Silver grading, for the rounds at Indianapolis Motor Speedway and Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta.

Julian also revealed that Hedman’s accident at the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring, which was triggered by the No. 52 Bryan Herta Autosport with PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports Oreca 07 Gibson of Parker Thompson, has left the 58-year-old U.S.-based Swede with an undisclosed injury that the the team has remained “very quiet” about.

“Henrik did get an injury out of Sebring,” said Julian. “We don’t want to disclose what it is but he tried and tried again to drive the car and was never able to get anywhere near his ultimate pace, by five seconds off the pace.

“Henrik at Long Beach and Laguna and Watkins Glen… What the hell was that? Even in his worst day he was still in the mix.

“The crash at Sebring has a longer-lasting effect than we thought and has put him out of a competitive position and that’s not fun.

“That error made by another driver has not only caused an infinite amount of damage at that event but, in what I feared, a knock-on effect.

“We’re standing here today, in part, because of that shunt.”

Julian estimates that the crash damage bill has exceeded $1.5 million so far this year.

“I still haven’t seen appropriate penalties for the things that have happened to us over these three incidents,” he added.

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