Mirachi on Racers Edge’s Road America “Strategic Decision”

Photo: Jake Galstad/IMSA

Racers Edge Motorsports team principal Jon Mirachi said it was a “strategic decision” to take part in the recent IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship round at Road America in order to be better prepared for this weekend’s Fanatec GT World Challenge America powered by AWS round at the four-mile recently repaved circuit.

Ashton Harrison and Mario Farnbacher drove the team’s Acura NSX GT3 Evo22 to an eighth place class less than two weeks ago at Road America, after initially being in GTD class podium contention while on an alternate race strategy.

The race came in addition to the team’s IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup program, with Racers Edge with WTR Andretti also set to undertake next month’s Battle on the Bricks at Indianapolis Motor Speedway prior to the Fanatec GT season-ending Indianapolis 8 Hour, with the same purpose in mind.

“One of the things is that we’re not doing the test day today [at Road America] because we feel like we were just here, we spent all that time,” Mirachi told Sportscar365.

“It’s the same drivers, same car. The only thing different is the tire and we have years of experience with the tire and at this track, so we didn’t feel like there was any real benefit to it.

“We feel very comfortable taking what we just did. It’s the same people, the same crew, the same everything and just going right back out again.

“It makes it so that you can think about, ‘Maybe this is some money we can save here to use for something else.’ I sort of think about it that way.

“Is it really going to be any benefit to any real purpose. If there isn’t, then there no sense in risking the car, running the tires. It’s a strategic decision.”

Mirachi said that the team would have taken part in the pair of one-hour test sessions had they needed to diagnose or solve issues with the car, which is a separate chassis to what they run in the WeatherTech Championship.

“If we had some situation or a problem at the previous Road America race, where we’ve got to work on it, then of course we would have come and done the test day and worked on it,” he said.

“But everything went well there and we ran competitively. It was good. It felt like all we’ve got to do is do that again here this weekend and we’ll be fine.”

Racers Edge Coming to Grips With Pro Class “Learning Curve”

Mirachi said one of the biggest challenges in this season’s switch from Pro-Am to Pro in Fanatec GT has been getting Harrison up to the level of seasoned pro drivers in the class.

The HPD Academy graduate, who won the Pro-Am title alongside Farnbacher last year, is only in her second full season of GT3 competition and her first as a fully fledged Silver-rated driver.

“It’s been very challenging for Ashton, honestly, to be racing against faster level people,” Mirachi said. “I think that’s been the biggest learning curve for her, in addressing that.

“[The extra seat time in IMSA] helps her to recognize what it’s going to take and what she needs to do.

“The more seat time, again being out there with the competition, I think is beneficial for sure.”

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