PT Autosport Junior driver scores 3 podiums from 3 races at NJMP
Millville, NJ (17 August 2023)
After scoring his first podium just weeks earlier at the SCCA Fay Teal Memorial Majors race, Henry Drury had high hopes going into the Porsche Club of America triple header race weekend at the same track. With newfound confidence, a new sponsor in Wine Country Motorsports, and team coach Alex Sedgwick on-site coaching, was this the weekend Drury took his first win?
“What a weekend. That’s all I have to say really! I came into this race with a lot of confidence. I feel great, I’m improving every time I’m on track, and I feel more and more ready to try and challenge at the front in PCA. I can’t thank Alex for his coaching and the entire crew at PMR for helping me learn with every lap, and giving me the best equipment possible to do the team proud.”
Unlike Henry’s previous races, the PCA NJMP weekend was dry all the way through, and the pace was strong from the start.
“From day 1 we hit the ground running really, we’ve tested here before and we held our shootout here just a week ago, so I know the track well and I’ve driven here a few times. I was hoping to at least be near the top-5 from the start so we could build off of that and try to work our way up towards the top-3, which we achieved as we worked our way through practice.”
Henry started the weekend with a P6 in first practice, building up to P4 in Practice 2, and finally P3 in Practice 3. With team, car, and driver all feeling strong before Qualifying, hopes were high.
“I’ve been really struggling with Qualifying in PCA, you have so many cars and so many different classes on track together, which presents a massive challenge at a shorter track like NJMP.
It felt like every time I had a clean lap, I’d get stuck behind a car with slower cornering speed, but more horsepower. So every time I tried to overtake them they’d run off into the distance as soon as we got to the straight! Luckily I got one shot at a clean lap right at the end of the session, and that put us P2 for Race 1 – my first front row start!”
Taking the green flag from his highest ever starting position, Henry immediately took the initiative, fighting with longtime PCA stalwart and 2 time champion, Robbie Wilson.
With a great run out of Turn 3, Henry grabbed the lead on Lap 3, but with a dive to the outside at Turn 1 Wilson retook the lead and their battle continued. Eventually the two came across slower-class traffic, which ultimately separated the two, with Wilson taking the chequered flag just ahead of Henry. Still, a best ever result of P2 was strong momentum to take into the next race.
That afternoon, Race 2 kicked off in absolute chaos as the various classes and cars tried to sort themselves out before Turn 1. Getting a good start, Henry immediately found himself boxed in behind Wilson and the faster class 911Cup cars. At the exit Henry had to take the outside line next to a 911Cup, but the car alongside didn’t see him, drifting wide and pushing him off-track.
Fighting his way back on-track, Henry rejoined behind the car he’d been alongside, with his rivals already building a lead. Henry had to close the gap, and fast.
But competing with the 911Cup class is no easy feat, as the Cup cars have more than 100 extra horsepower than the Spec Boxster. Lap after lap, Henry tried the outside line, the inside line, switchbacks, dives, everything he could to get past the 911Cup and chase down the leaders.
No matter what he tried, he couldn’t overcome the extra power and blocking of the faster-class car, and had to settle for finishing third in class – rueing a missed opportunity to fight for a win.
“Race 2 was incredibly frustrating from my point of view, as we lost the chance to show our real pace and fight with the leaders due to a slower driver deciding to spend the race blocking and fighting us, even though we’re in different classes. But that’s part of racing, you have to deal with different class cars, and sometimes they’re more aggressive in their defence than others. If nothing else, I learnt a lot from being stuck behind someone for so long, and I got to try some more unorthodox moves which typically I wouldn’t have to make. It was fun to pick apart and find the weaknesses in his defence. I’ll learn from this, and next time it won’t take me so long to get past! Other than that, I feel fast, the car feels fast, and we showed we have some good pace in Race 1, so hopefully we can build on that and have a fresh start for Race 3 tomorrow.” said Drury.
Come Sunday morning it was time for the 90 minute Endurance race, the final race of the weekend and Henry’s last chance to grab that elusive win. Starting from P5, Henry got a strong start, suddenly finding himself four-wide with rivals Robbie Wilson and James Counterman, plus a slower-class car. Taking evasive action over the inside kerb, Henry avoided an incident and dropped in behind Wilson. Getting a better exit out of Turn 2, Henry carried extra speed through the almost flat right hander of Turn 3, feinting to the inside before switching back to the Outside of Turn 4. As they entered the Turn 5 hairpin, Henry dived to the inside, just barely squeezing past Wilson to take the lead of the race!
But his joy was short-lived. Leading the battling duo of Wilson and Counterman, Henry watched as his engine temperature climbed rapidly in the 95º heat of the New Jersey Summer. Short shifting to keep the temperature down, and searching for cooler pockets of air out of the slipstream, the two PCA veterans began to close in from behind.
In the stifling cockpit of the #88 Spec Boxster, Henry was besieged with Engine temperature warnings, and desperately trying to get the engine back into a manageable window. As the cars behind closed in, Henry could do nothing to fight them, with both cars making quick work of the #88 down the straight. Eventually Henry got the temperature back down into the right window, and rapidly started reeling back in the leader.
As soon as he got into the slipstream of the car in front, the engine temp came rocketing back up, and though he hung on for as long as he dared with the temp climbing towards it’s maximum, eventually he had to yield, and settled into a relaxed pace, just hanging onto third place at the finish.
Drury: “Race 3 was exhausting. The Boxster’s mid-engine setup means that we get very high cockpit temperatures, and with a day as hot as today it was brutal in there! Unfortunately I wasn’t the only one suffering, as I spent the entire race having to slow down to manage the engine temperature. It’s heartbreaking, as we led the race for a bit there, and I truly think we could have held on and fought for the win if it wasn’t for the temp. It sucks, but that’s another lesson learnt. You never have a perfect situation I suppose, and managing issues is part of being a race car driver. Another learning experience, and I’ll be back for that first win at Road America.”
Henry and the PT Autosport team will be back in action at Road America for their last race weekend of the season in just three weeks time, on September 1. Live timing from the race will again be available on RaceHero, and limited coverage will be shown on the Porsche Club of America Social Media channels.
Henry would like to thank PT Autosport, Precision Motorsports Racing (PMR), and Wine Country Motorsports for their continued support.
