Lexus Drivers Rue Dashed Podiums in “Controversial” Finish

Photo: Geoff Miller/IMSA

Vasser Sullivan drivers Jack Hawksworth and Aaron Telitz believed they both should have had podium finishes in Saturday’s Chevrolet Detroit Sports Car Classic had there not been ‘external factors’ that got in the way of the Nos. 14 and 15 Lexus RC F GT3’s races.

The pair of GTD Pro entries ended up with sixth and ninth place class results following a chaotic final stanza to the 100-minute street race that was marred by multiple incidents and penalties.

Hawksworth, in the No. 14 Lexus, was handed a drive-through penalty for incident responsibility after he made contact and passed the class-leading No. 3 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R of Antonio Garcia during what was deemed to have been during a full-course caution with 12 minutes to go.

While initially ordered by race control to surrender his position to Garcia, who along with co-driver Alexander Sims had dominated the race up until that point, Hawksworth’s hopes of a podium were dashed when he received the penalty on the subsequent restart.

“We had a really good race car,” said Hawksworth. “It was a wild race. I felt like we were racing really well and I thought Ben [Barnicoat] had a really good stint. The strategy seemed good.

“I don’t know what happened at the end. I tried my best to win the race and they gave us a drive through.”

Barnicoat added: “I thought he did an excellent move to get past the 3 car and I then think it’s controversial what happened from there.

“I’d tell Jack to do the same thing again next time…We deserved to win today. We did everything to win today, and external factors took it away from us.”

Recalling the incident, Garcia said he slowed as soon as he saw the yellow come out.

“Out of Turn 9, he had a good run, but as soon as we went across the line, I saw the yellow flags in my dash, the flag, too,” he said.

“He probably was super close to me and maybe he didn’t know that it was yellow so he just rammed me, basically and made it through.

“I didn’t know how our car was, and that was something I didn’t know also on the next restart, how the car would behave after pretty heavy contact we had on that situation.”

While Garcia went on to take the class win, Corvette’s first in Detroit since 2008, the two cars battling for second, the No. 4 Corvette of Nicky Catsburg and Telitz’s No. 15 Lexus, were eliminated after coming together with three minutes to go.

“I thought we made a great move on the No. 4 Corvette, but he decided it wasn’t going to be a great move and moved over in the brake zone and we had some big contact and eventually led to a flat tire,” said Telitz.

“That ended our day. It would’ve been a P2 – a great result here for the 15 team, Vasser Sullivan and Lexus.

“It feels bad to end this way, but everyone knew we were here.”

When asked what he saw in his mirror behind, Garcia said: “It was a bit of a Mario Kart scene [in] my rear-view camera.”

The final two podium positions, in unlikely fashion, ultimately went to the No. 9 Pfaff Motorsports Lamborghini Temerario GT3 of Andrea Caldarelli and Chris Mies’ No. 65 Multimatic Motorsports Ford Mustang GT3 EVO.

Mies fought back from an incident between himself and Catsburg and Hawksworth that resulted in a right-front tire issue with 45 minutes to go and prompted an unscheduled stop under green flag conditions.

The German driver was running second in class at the time.

“It was a bit of survival into the last 20 minutes, where we did good managing big battles throughout the field,” said Mies.

“We had to be smart and patient, letting all the mayhem play out in the end.

“It’s great to come back and earn a podium, especially after last year’s performance and our race at Laguna earlier this month.”

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