PT Autosport’s Stallone ready to shine in Barber GR Cup races

MILLVILLE, NJ (September 3, 2025) – PT Autosport with Copeland Motorsports’ Max Stallone has scored four straight top 10 finishes through his Toyota GR Cup learning curve. Now, the 19-year-old Austin, Texas native is ready to move to the front in the season’s penultimate pair of races at Barber Motorsports Park.

Stallone took over the wheel of the No. 88 PT Autosport/Race Brew 0.0% Toyota GR86 Cup Car at mid-season, and with a steep learning curve ahead, impressed both the team and his fellow competitors with his poise and confidence. But Barber presents a new challenge: for the first time, he will race the Toyota GR86 at a track he has never seen before – though with a great deal of prep ahead of the race weekend.

“I do a lot of iRacing, that’s probably the number one thing you can do to get a feel for the flow of the track,” said Stallone. “The Toyota GR86 is on iRacing so you can get a pretty good idea of what to expect. From there, it’s talking to other drivers on the team, or Dean Copeland, or (PT Autosport driver) Henry Drury, since he’s been there and driven it. Add a great deal of simulator work – no, it can’t replicate the G-forces at Barber, but it gives you a good idea of how the corners flow together. That helps you get up to speed much more quickly.”

Focusing on learning the Toyota GR86 through his first two race weekends in the series, Stallone now understands many of the car’s nuances, which means that the focus now turns to fine tuning – and to his current nemesis, qualifying. With two Hard Charger awards and four straight top 10 finishes, Stallone knows that his pace is there, it’s just a matter of starting closer to the front.

“Right out of the box, it’s going to be about set up, making sure I’m focusing on understanding what the car is doing under me so we can get it in a good spot for Saturday and Sunday – rather than just running a bunch of laps on Thursday and Friday so that I can learn the track and continue to learn the car, and then all of a sudden realizing I’m a little bit off the pace on Saturday. Though that said, it’s a high commitment track so I’m definitely going to need at least a session to get comfortable with carrying that kind of speed.

“From there, it’s about refining the finer points because now I’m comfortable enough with the car, I have the mental bandwidth to recognize, for example, whether the car is giving me enough rotation or not. If not, it’s too unstable under braking, so if I can focus on those things and then bring that back to the team, that will ultimately help the car get in a better spot. But the biggest thing for me will be just driving my own car, driving my own lap and not getting so distracted with what other drivers are doing. If I’m focusing on what I can control and putting my full energy into running my lap, the rest should take care of itself.”

PT Autosport team principal Jason Myers has watched Stallone’s efforts closely and continues to be impressed with the speed of his progress.

“Coming off two super solid race weekends and qualifying efforts, we’re so proud of Max heading into this penultimate round,” said Myers. “His ability to take our call and hop into a GR Cup car with zero prior experience, and consistently be comfortably in the top 10, is nothing short of impressive. He’s shown just what a solid team player he is – positive, enthusiastic, and always happy to help his teammates. He is a real asset to any team he’s a part of. While he only got a partial season of GR Cup this year, we’re working to ensure he gets a better shot next season. I’m hoping we can help him truly fight for the championship with a season-long effort.”

The Toyota GR Cup series will contest two 45-minute races at Barber Motorsports Park – race one will take the green flag Saturday at 2:40 p.m. ET, with race two Sunday at 11:05 a.m. Both races will be broadcast live at www.grcup.com.