Mechanical Setback for Hero Life at Indy

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. (10 Oct. 2022) – The debut outing for the Hero Life Mercedes-AMG GT3 showed promise during the prestigious Indianapolis 8 Hour event this weekend, but the race unfortunately ended early after a mechanical issue sidelined the effort midway through the race.

The Hero Life driver line up for the Fanatec GT World Challenge America powered by AWS season finale included Guy Cosmo, the defending Pro-Am GT4 class winner of the event as well as his regular co-driver Chris Cagnazzi. The pair were joined by Shane Lewis in the red, white and blue No. 39 Hero Life / Kids for Kids NYC Mercedes.

Cagnazzi qualified eighth in Pro-Am in the opening group, with a red flag ending the session before he got to record a fast lap. Lewis then took over in the second group, but was tagged from behind, damaging the diffuser and differential cooler. Cosmo did not have the opportunity to qualify. With the field set based on average speeds among the three drivers, the team was forced to start from near the back of the grid.

“Qualifying was disappointing,” Cosmo said. “The car was feeling great, but we didn’t get to show what we had.”

Lewis started 18th – eighth in Pro-Am – and was running 19th when he turned the car over to Cagnazzi at the 65-minute mark. Cagnazzi then ran a 65-minute stint, turning the Mercedes over to Cosmo in 20th position.

“Unfortunately, we broke the oil pan, and that put us out,” Cosmo said. “Chris was behind another car and had a big aero push, and he got up on the curb in Turn 5 by accident and really hit it. It was two laps before I got in the car, and when I left the pits, there already was a big puddle of oil. I only ran a handful of laps, and it kept getting more and more slippery, and at first, I didn’t understand what was going on. Then I started smelling the smoke, saw that we were losing oil pressure, so we had to park it.”

At the end of the day, the team was listed in 11th in Pro-Am and 24th overall.

“We were the fourth Mercedes to have that problem this weekend,” Cosmo said. “But, we had a great experience this week, a lot of fun together and really learned a lot about this car . We just didn’t get to show what we felt we could have done, so we’re disappointed that we couldn’t have gotten a better finish for Hero Life.”

Up next for Cosmo are a pair of historic sports car races, the Classic 24 at Daytona International Speedway and the Classic 12 at Sebring International Raceway, driving a Porsche GT3 R.  He is in the process of finalizing his plans for 2023.