The Utah desert and mountains are the backdrop for this weekend’s finale of the Pirelli World Challenge at Miller Motorsports Park, with all three GT-class titles still up for grabs. Sweden’s Henrik Hedman and his DragonSpeed team have their sights on overtaking Michael Mills for the GT-A (amateur) crown while defending a narrow lead in the rookie standings against Viper pilot Dan Knox.

Hedman endured a trying time in the races at Sonoma two weeks ago after starting on a strong note, setting the fastest non-Lamborghini time and heading GT-A rival Mills in both practice sessions, and lining up fourth in GT-A for the first race, right behind Mills. Henrik was soon up to third in class only to be punted off by series debutante Christina Neilsen’s Aston Martin on lap 10, leaving him to struggle home eighth at the checkered flag. He did well to overcome the resulting low grid position for Sunday’s second race, finishing fifth to maintain his second spot in the GT-A standings.

Yesterday’s test day at Miller saw a foretaste of 2015, when DragonSpeed adds a European Blancpain Endurance Series campaign to its PWC program with Hedman and team principal Elton Julian as co-drivers. Elton took the wheel for two short runs to gain insight into the set up of the team’s Swedish flag-bedecked Ferrari 458 GT3 for Miller’s serpentine, highly technical Outer Course.

Henrik Hedman: “We have plenty at stake this weekend as far the final standings are concerned, but what I really want is to add a win or two to my record for this season. If we can do that, the rest will follow.”

Elton Julian: “I tried out my ‘player-manager’ chops a bit in testing today and hopefully it will help our preparations this weekend. We have an opportunity to capitalise on all the hard work put in by Henrik and the team this season to leave here with a trophy or two, and intend to make the most of it.”