“Zero Downside” to Double Duty for WTR’s Hindman, Formal

Trent Hindman said there is “zero downside” to he and Danny Formal’s double duty program at the Motul SportsCar Grand Prix at Road America, with the pair competing in both the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and in Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America this weekend.

Hindman and Formal co-drive the No. 45 WTR Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2, with fellow Super Trofeo competitor and WTR teammate Graham Doyle completing the team’s Michelin Endurance Cup lineup.

While Formal is no stranger to a dual IMSA program, this weekend at Road America marks the first time both of WTR’s full-season GTD drivers are double-dipping across the Super Trofeo and WeatherTech Championship paddocks this year, with Hindman, who last competed in Super Trofeo machinery at Vallelunga in 2018, deputizing for an absent Anthony McIntosh in the team’s No. 69 Pro-Am Lamborghini alongside Jackson Lee.

Both drivers cited continuity, in terms of team, personnel, and car platform under the WTR umbrella, as reasons for the success and possibility of their multi-series campaigns.

“There’s zero downside to more seat time for any of us,” Hindman told Sportscar365. “Especially when we have such an integrated team platform to begin with.

“We have some additional personnel crossover between both programs.

“Dave Wagner, our lead engineer on the GTD car, is also on this side, overseeing engineering staff. Matt Brogan, our car chief on the GTD side, is over here sort of in a management role, overseeing the team and everything that’s going on with the mechanical side.

“So it’s not just drivers, it’s the team as well.

“The fact that it’s the same team going back and forth between these two platforms is very important. And the fact that it is, in essence, the same platform race car. Yes, they’re different, but they’re both Lamborghini Huracans.

“I don’t know how you’re not going to be able to enjoy driving a 600-horsepower Lamborghini around one of the best racetracks in the world. It’s pretty damn fortunate to be doing what we’re doing here.”

Formal, who is now in his second season of joint GTD and Super Trofeo competition, is a two-time and reigning Pro class champion in the single-make series and recently took his maiden WeatherTech Championship class win at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park.

“I’ve been doing it full season now for two seasons now and it’s it’s incredible,” said Formal. “Sometimes, before Trent jumps in the car and the GTD, he’ll ask me, ‘Hey, how’s the track? How do the curbs look?’ Because I got to do it before.

“This will be the first weekend this year he gets to do it, also and he’ll see the benefits of being able to drive in both series. Even though the cars are different, different tires, different downforce.

“The track time is vital. I know we have two hour-and-a-half sessions in WeatherTech, but with red flags, yellow flags, doing this, doing changes, it’s really not that much track time.

“People think it’s a lot, but it’s really not.
 Not only for the drivers, but for the engineering group.

“Like Dave, he’s the main engineer on the GTD side, and Russell, the main engineer here. They talk to each other because they’re both working down here, and it could really help us start at a better window in our WeatherTech program.”

Formal added that while WTR’s Super Trofeo program serves as a proving ground for driving talent, it also helps team mechanics and engineers aiming to advance their careers in the IMSA paddock by allowing them to participate in dual weekends, just like the drivers do.

“There’s a lot of teams that try to create a ladder system,” said Formal.

“But sometimes they forget to look at the fact that the mechanics also have a ladder system. Our engineers also have a ladder system. Everyone here has a ladder system, and we’re all in this together.

“Most of the [crew] guys that are over here on Super Trofeo also get the opportunity to show their skills on the GTD side, and for us as drivers. It’s the same.

“It’s a heavy workload. It’s a heavy workload for all involved, but in the end, that direct hands-on track time, experience, is super, super beneficial.

“It’s an incredible program and I would love to do it until I can’t anymore, or until they don’t allow me to do it anymore. It really helps with driving and not only driving, but also track experience, and not only for us, but for the mechanics and engineers.”