{"id":6247,"date":"2023-07-24T16:04:32","date_gmt":"2023-07-24T20:04:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/?p=6247"},"modified":"2023-07-26T16:09:34","modified_gmt":"2023-07-26T20:09:34","slug":"pt-autosport-heads-to-road-america-as-the-team-preps-for-the-second-annual-aspiring-driver-shootout","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/2023\/07\/24\/pt-autosport-heads-to-road-america-as-the-team-preps-for-the-second-annual-aspiring-driver-shootout\/","title":{"rendered":"PT Autosport heads to Road America as the team preps for the second annual Aspiring Driver Shootout"},"content":{"rendered":"

2022 Aspiring Driver Shootout winner captures first podium at New Jersey Motorsports Park<\/em><\/p>\n

MILLVILLE, NJ (24 July 2023) \u2013 PT Autosport has a very busy stretch through the months of July and August, beginning with a pair of Porsche Deluxe Carrera Cup North America races as part of the NASCAR Xfinity weekend at Road America and ending with the team\u2019s second annual Aspiring Driver Shootout.<\/p>\n

And if that wasn\u2019t enough, the team\u2019s inaugural Shootout winner, 22-year-old London-born Tampa, Fla. resident Henry Drury will compete in his third race weekend of the season (a Porsche Club of America event at New Jersey Motorsports Park) in early August, having earned his first podium at an SCCA Majors event one week ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs we head into late July and August, we’re pretty busy,\u201d said PT Autosport team principal Jason Myers. \u201cWe headed straight from Henry’s SCCA Majors weekend right into a Carrera Cup test for Alex, followed by the race at Road America next weekend and then the final stage of the Aspiring Driver Shootout literally two days later – it’s a lot! But we love it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Road America doubleheader for Sedgwick<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cVery fast. Sometimes scary.\u201d<\/p>\n

That was the very first impression of Road America for PT Autosport with JDX Racing\u2019s Alex Sedgwick, who tested with the team at the 14-turn, 4.048-mile road course nestled in the scenic Kettle Moraine region of Wisconsin. Sedgwick, currently fifth in points, is looking for his first Porsche Deluxe Carrera Cup North America win behind the wheel of the No. 98 PT Autosport Porsche 911 GT3 Cup Car \u2013 and the 24-year-old Warwickshire, UK native figures that the racetrack most resembling the European circuits he grew up on would be the perfect spot.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a good test for us, the race pace looks very good,\u201d said Sedgwick. \u201cIf I can improve my qualifying positions, not giving myself so much work to do, we\u2019ll have a strong weekend. I really enjoy Road America, it\u2019s a big and complex racetrack. But the whole area is really nice, very peaceful, very chill. It seems like a good place to live, a bit off the radar.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sedgwick has impressed at every outing as he learns a new continent’s worth of top-grade circuits and will hope that the recent repaving of the racing surface means that his lack of experience at Road America is not the disadvantage it might have been.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe test was the same as every other first session this year \u2013 just learning the track as it is,\u201d said Sedgwick. \u201cI feel as though drivers who have been here really have to adapt. So maybe just learning it from scratch is a good thing! The general consensus among drivers who have been there before is that everything is faster and has more grip except The Kink \u2013 which is, of course, the one place you\u2019d like to have more grip.\u201d<\/p>\n

Plans in place for the second annual Aspiring Driver Shootout<\/strong><\/p>\n

August 1 \u2013 3 will see the 2023 PT Autosport Aspiring Driver Shootout at New Jersey Motorsports Park (NJMP). The 12 finalists are set, the coaches are set, the program is set. All that remains is deciding who joins Drury in the team\u2019s junior racing program.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvent operations are good to go,\u201d said Sedgwick, who is also the driver development director. \u201cI\u2019m impressed with the caliber of candidates we have. We\u2019ve proved that the concept works, in how we assess people, but we\u2019ve also changed a few things up. It\u2019s going to be a difficult process but we\u2019re confident that the right candidate will prevail.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe’re really excited about this year’s pool of candidates – and the four veterans from last year’s competition,\u201d said Myers. \u201cWe’ve added some key people, tweaked some things here and there, but the overall mission remains the same: putting these 12 aspiring drivers through some trials and tribulations and seeing who comes out on top. We always make sure to remind them: this isn’t about who is fastest around the track \u2013 this is about who presents the most competitive, competent, complete package for us to help start and hopefully propel their racing career to heights otherwise unachievable. Everyone is set to arrive on August 1st – and by the end of the day on August 3rd we will have our second Aspiring Driver Shootout\u00a0Winner!\u201d<\/p>\n

2022 Shootout winner captures first podium at NJMP<\/strong><\/p>\n

Drury had all but given up on his childhood dream of becoming a race car driver before he won the Shootout. Now, he has the chance to make that dream a reality. He competed in his second race weekend at NJMP last week, scoring his first podium in the Fay Teal Memorial Jersey Devil Majors event, driving the team\u2019s Porsche Spec Boxster race-car.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt still doesn\u2019t seem real,\u201d said Drury. \u201cWinning the Shootout, scoring my first podium, I\u2019m still waiting for it to kick in! The shootout has been such a huge opportunity for me, my 10-year-old self couldn\u2019t even imagine being in this position and being able to chase this dream.\u201d<\/p>\n

Like last month\u2019s PCA event at Watkins Glen, Drury\u2019s race weekend was more wet than dry, as the schedule was upended by threats of weather that shortened the weekend to just one race. \u201cIt was good to race at my \u201chome\u201d rack, since the team is based here and I\u2019ve tested here before, so we didn\u2019t have so much catching up to do! It was a great weekend as I felt as though I made massive strides in car control and session management, which I\u2019ll carry into my next races,\u201d said Drury.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn Sunday morning\u2019s race, the track started out really wet, with tons of standing water. I got a good start, started experimenting with wet lines and moving forward, but after two laps the track was completely dry \u2013 and I realized it way too late, so our tires were already overheating. In the end, I finished third and experienced a completely new race scenario, so I\u2019m extremely happy with the podium and what I learned over the weekend!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe SCCA Majors are always a fun time – so much competition in so many different forms,\u201d said Myers. \u201cSCCA weekends remind me why so many people jump into this sport and do it all their lives – it’s just a great energy and passion and fun thing for so many people. I am really glad Henry got to experience that – and score a podium – very early in his career. He’s been learning these Boxsters and gets faster and faster every time we get in the car. That’s also thanks to our Boxster track support partners and local NJ race shop PMR \u2013 Will and Matt and the whole team are great and have been very supportive partners on the race support side for Henry’s program, and for our Aspiring Driver Shootout. Henry has exceeded our expectations, further cementing our decision to choose him as our inaugural winner. I am looking forward to seeing where the rest of Henry’s driving career and partnership with\u00a0us\u00a0takes\u00a0him!\u201d<\/p>\n

The Porsche Deluxe Carrera Cup North America series will contest two races at Road America this weekend. Race one takes the green flag Friday at 3:55 p.m. EDT, with race two Saturday at 1:15 p.m. \u2013 just ahead of the NASCAR Xfinity main event. The races will be broadcast live in the U.S., on IMSA.tv, the NBC Peacock streaming app and\u00a0PorscheCarreraCup.us<\/a>.<\/p>\n

PT Autosport would like to thank JDX Racing partners Byers\/Porsche Columbus, Renier Construction, PDCA Inc., and Revamp Marketing.<\/p>\n

About PT Autosport<\/strong><\/p>\n

PT Autosport is a newly formed racing team currently based at New Jersey Motorsports Park in Millville, NJ. The team campaigns rising star Alex Sedgwick (U.K.) in the Porsche Deluxe Carrera Cup North America series for the 2023 season with JDX Racing and 2022 Aspiring Driver Shootout winner Henry Drury (UK) in select PCA, SCCA, and WRL races during the 2023 season.<\/p>\n

PT Autosport is working towards bringing diversity and opportunity to the motorsport industry, hosting their annual Aspiring Driver Shootout, in which aspiring drivers aged 18-23 can compete for a $100,000 racing partnership with the team. Visit PTAutosport.com<\/a>\u00a0for more info.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

2022 Aspiring Driver Shootout winner captures first podium at New Jersey Motorsports Park MILLVILLE, NJ (24 July 2023) \u2013 PT Autosport has a very busy stretch [\u2026]<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":6248,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,65],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6247","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-pt-autosport"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6247","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6247"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6247\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6249,"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6247\/revisions\/6249"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6248"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6247"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6247"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6247"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}