Team player Cosmo Posts Competitive seventh in Nashville TA2

NASHVILLE (9 August 2022) – Guy Cosmo ran his second race in the Trans Am Series presented by Pirelli, placing seventh on the streets of Nashville on Saturday in the Big Machine Music City Grand Prix TA2® race.

Cosmo was at the wheel of the No. 89 3-Dimensional Services Group Ford Mustang for the 70-minute race, crossing the finish line as the third Peterson Racing entry following teammates Adam Andretti and Rafa Matos.

“All in all, I’m pleased for my first time here,” Cosmo said. “I had a good start, but I really didn’t have the pace to drive to the front. Unless I had a chance to drive to the lead, there was no reason to be messing with Rafa and Adam. They’re in a championship hunt, so I was there in a supporting role and wasn’t going to mix it up with them.

“The Trans Am cars are unique compared to everything else that I’ve raced, so I feel I’m at a big disadvantage for getting the most out of these cars,” Cosmo added. “But I’m still performing pretty well, and I’m grateful for the opportunity. I’ve had a lot of fun. They’re a great bunch of guys, and they’re hard working. It was nice to find the performance we needed to be in the mix.”

Cosmo’s race-day showing was a turnaround from Friday, when he was 20th in testing and 15th in practice.

“In practice, I was out of sorts with the car,” Cosmo said. “Obviously, I’m not familiar with the TA2 cars, having only been in one race before, at Mid-Ohio. Also, I was learning the street circuit here. So, I knew there was a lot of time that I was leaving on the table. So I scoured the data and video and all of that really paid off. I needed to bring the pace and get the job done. And I did – so I’m really pleased.”

Cosmo timed in eighth-fastest in a 15-minute qualifying session shortened by a lengthy black flag.

“I was fourth until the very last lap, and got bumped down to eighth, but I was in between my two Peterson Racing teammates, Rafa and Adam, and they’ve been racing these cars for years. I was able to turn it around, and find the pace I needed.”

Ninth after an early restart, Cosmo took eighth two laps later and then gained seventh following a restart with 24 minutes remaining. An incident with nine minutes remaining caused the event to end under caution.

“In the race, my pace was good, and I was right there with Adam and Rafa,” Cosmo said.

It was a busy weekend as Cosmo was also at work as a coach, working with his occasional co-driver Chris Cagnazzi in the GT America powered by AWS. Cagnazzi was fastest in practice and third in qualifying in the No. 39 Cameron Racing Presidio /Hero Life Mercedes-AMG GT4.

However, his chances of defending his 2021 victory were dashed when he had a heavy impact on the final lap of qualifying. The team rushed to prepare a backup car. Cagnazzi started at the back of the 26-car field, and he managed to gain eight positions to finish 18th overall and ninth in the Saturday evening race, that ended under darkness.  On Sunday, Cagnazzi charged through the field, driving to an impressive 2nd place finish after an early incident set him back several positions.

With Cagnazzi sitting out the next two Pirelli GT4 America races due to schedule conflicts, Cosmo’s next scheduled race is the season finale at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Oct. 8-9.