New Papaya Cup Offers “Something More to Fight For”

McLaren Trophy America’s new Papaya Cup offers older and less experienced Pro-Am and Am class competitors “something more to fight for” during race weekends, according to McLaren one-make racing manager Darioush Gheissari.

The new Cup makes its debut in North America this weekend at Virginia International Raceway after its implementation on the McLaren Trophy Europe grid since the beginning of the season, and is open to Pro-Am and Am class competitors who are either over the age of 60 or younger than 60 with less on-track experience.

“This is our first weekend doing it [in North America],” Ghereissari told Sportscar365. “So far, all the drivers have been welcoming of it. Ultimately, it gives them something more to fight for, which makes it a bit more exciting.

“The concept behind Papaya Cup is having something that allows us to recognize the achievements of all of our drivers. Particularly, with the term ‘amateur’ and the FIA’s Bronze rating, it’s quite a broad spectrum.

“You can have some amateurs, which will still be quite experienced and quite accomplished racing drivers, who may have raced for many, many, many years at quite a high level. And then you can also have some amateurs who are completely new to this sport.

“The Papaya Cup allows us to differentiate so the experienced guys can be racing for that all-out category win.

“The reality is that our Pro-Am and Am categories are so competitive that it’s unrealistic to expect some of our older drivers and less experienced drivers to be able to get on the podium of their outright categories, where this gives them a shot at getting that recognition. ”

Within this weekend’s field of drivers at VIR, George Lawrence, Bob Stockard, Deniz Teoman, Tom Kopczynski, Brandon Kreutz, Stephen Sorbaro, and Neil Langberg are all eligible for Papaya Cup honors.

Pro-Am competitor Lawrence welcomed the new Papaya Cup as “another goal” to work towards in his first season of professional sports car racing. He shares the No. 3 Flying Lizard Motorsports McLaren Artura Trophy Evo with Silver-rated Spencer Bucknum.

“I’m goal-oriented,” Lawrence told Sportscar365. “That’s how I got here. If I can work towards something else and enhance my craft, that’s awesome.

“It’s good because my challenge is that I’m 63 and I’m racing against 25-year-olds, so there is a deficit there no matter what. But I don’t like to focus on that because I like to think young all the time anyway.

“So the Papaya Cup is another cool task to try to accomplish. I’m going to look at it that way.

“It’s another cool task to try to accomplish. And hardware is important. My goal is not always to just beat out my Pro-Am class, but to see how far up the grid I can get. I like overall numbers too.”

Lawrence has not taken the challenge of his first year in professional sports car racing lightly.

He purchased a 2017 McLaren 570S GT4 car to use to gain more seat time, including at a recent test at Portland International Raceway.

He told Sportscar365 that he has also installed racing simulators in both of his residential properties to spend as much time behind the wheel as he can virtually when not at the race track.

“My team says I’m doing great, but I always feel like I’m falling short,” said Lawrence. “For me, I always do everything wholeheartedly, so I’m trying to get as many hours in as I can.

“Seat time, seat times, seat time. Every time I get in the seat, I can better my ability, so I’ve got to just spend more time in the seat. But I’m getting there. Every time I go out, I shave off another second.”

Alongside custom medals and separate Pro-Am and Am Papaya Cup podium celebrations each race weekend, class winners of the new sub-championship will be honored at the McLaren Technology Center in the UK at the end of the season, something Ghereissari said raises the stakes for winning the Papaya Cup.

“The cup just allows us to recognize [these drivers’] achievements,” Ghereissari said. “If they’ve done their best in a race weekend and gotten on the Papaya Cup podium, they get their recognition, they get their reward, they get to enjoy the moment.”

“We want to give drivers the opportunity to write themselves into McLaren’s history. We have what’s called the McLaren Trophy. It’s a trophy that lives in the MTC trophy cabinet.

“So if you win the championship, you get your name engraved on it. So it means that your name is on a trophy next to trophies won by the all-time greats like Senna and Hakkinen, and that’s quite cool.

“When you know there’s a trophy on the line, you want to want to step up and put your best foot forward.”