After a difficult race one, Drury comes back for a solid race two run in his third Toyota GR Cup weekend
AUSTIN, Texas (22 May 2024) – Henry Drury continued his racing progress, posting a solid finish in his third Toyota GR Cup series weekend with Precision Racing LA w/PT Autosport.
Drury, 24, improved in each session through the weekend, posting strong times in his No. 88 PT Autosport Toyota GR86 Cup Car. While GR Cup race one proved difficult, Drury held his ground in race two to finish in 10th position in the 29-car field – earning the series Hard Charger award.
The sheer size of COTA’s 3.426-mile, 20-turn road course presented the first challenge to Drury, with a great deal to learn in just two 30-minute practice sessions on Friday. The Precision Racing LA team set about dialing in the car’s setup as the English born, Tampa, Fla. resident came to terms with the track’s nuances. Drury improved through both practice sessions, setting the 19th fastest time in first practice, and the 15th quickest time in the afternoon’s second session.
In Saturday morning’s race one qualifying, the team gave Drury a car that was “right on the money” as he set his quickest lap of the weekend – a 2:29.299 – that put him P13 on the starting grid.
With ambient temperatures in the low 90s and track temps at a whopping 131F, Drury took the green flag Saturday afternoon. The field had begun to settle in on lap one, but in turn 12, a three-wide entry went awry, with several cars making contact – and Drury deftly splitting the spinning cars and sliding into 10th position. But on lap 10, Drury spun in turn 20, coming back on track near the rear of the field. Drury set himself back into the fight, setting his quickest race lap on lap 13 and recovering to P19 at the checkers.
“It’s always frustrating to make a mistake like that, but all I can do is reset and take the positives from the rest of the race,” said Drury. “But I was running well and in the Top 10, which was the goal for the weekend. I made some nice moves, and had some really good fights. Yes, I made a mistake, and I’m still not quite sure what happened or why, but mistakes are the best way to learn and all I can do is ensure it doesn’t happen again. I spent the rest of the race learning what I could, trying to reset and just make the most out of it. It obviously doesn’t look great on the results sheet but it doesn’t show the experimenting and learning I was able to do in the recovery. So as always, plenty of positives to take from it.”
Drury took the green flag on Sunday in 21st position, holding his ground in the middle of the track as several cars went extremely wide in the iconic first turn. He then tucked to the inside, making smart passes and moving into 16th at the end of lap 1 and into 15th by lap 6. Two late cautions limited the racing, but Drury again slid safely through an incident just ahead, taking the checkered flag in 10th position – and earned the Hard Charger award from the series.
“What a way to end the weekend!,” said Drury. “Completely polar opposites from start to end really. FP1 was horrible for me, the car felt like it wanted to kill me and I was really struggling, but we were able to turn things around. The progression from FP1 to race two was immense – and it really showed how hard the Precision Racing LA w/PT Autosport team works, to have such a massive difference in such a short weekend. So if we can repeat that rate of progression with a stronger start to the weekend, and less mistakes from me, then we should be in a really strong position to start fighting for top fives and podiums. It was awesome to stand on a proper podium for the first time this weekend, and the hard charger award was incredibly rewarding, but it’s time I earned the team some actual trophies instead!
Sedgwick to contest Porsche Endurance Challenge North America race at COTA
PT Autosport’s lead driver, Alex Sedgwick, will join Eric Lapp behind the wheel of the No. 297 Porsche 992 in this weekend’s inaugural Porsche Endurance Challenge North America race. The 60-minute endurance event features a star-studded field, including Patrick Dempsey, Parker Thompson, Tristan Vautier and Ryan Dalziel.
2023 Aspiring Driver Shootout winner set for SCCA debut
Brenna Schubert is set for her first race weekends with the team. First up will be an SCCA weekend at the team’s home track, New Jersey Motorsports Park. Schubert will compete in two classes on the weekend, SMX and STL, in a Flatout Motorsports Spec MX5.
The following weekend, the Pennsylvania native will race at Watkins Glen International in a Spec MX5.
About PT Autosport — Discover Unique Talent. Develop Champions.
PT Autosport, based at New Jersey Motorsports Park in Millville, NJ, campaigns rising star Alex Sedgwick (UK) in the 2024 Porsche Carrera Cup North America series with JDX Racing, 2022 Aspiring Driver Shootout winner Henry Drury (UK) in the Toyota GR Cup North America series with Precision Racing LA, and 2023 Aspiring Driver Shootout winner Brenna Schubert (USA) in a soon-to-be-announced series for the 2024 season.
PT Autosport is dedicated to providing merit-based motorsport industry opportunities for diverse individuals with high integrity, grit, and coach-ability, achieved through a development program for young aspiring drivers, engineers, mechanics, and other professionals. The first step of this process is applying for the annual Aspiring Driver Shootout, in which aspiring drivers aged 18-23 can compete for a team racing partnership with the team.
A rigorous evaluation process of applicants determines the final competitors for the driver shootout. The winner earns financial support of up to $250,000 ($50,000 guaranteed) to pursue their racing career. The review process also provides the team the chance to identify unique talent for other roles in motorsport, including race engineers, mechanics, and professionals.
PT Autosport is building a community that fosters the development of young talent to find a place where they can make an impact in the motorsport community as a career.
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