JDX Racing descended on Road Atlanta for Petit Le Mans following their second fourth place finish in as many starts in rounds eight and nine of the American Le Mans Series. The #11 JDX Racing / Hertz Porsche was looking to carry that momentum into the season finale at Road Atlanta  - and the swansong of the American Le Mans itself – prior to the launch of the 2014 Tudor United SportsCar Championship. Joining season regulars Mike Hedlund and Jan Heylen was Grand-Am regular Jon Fogarty for this ten hour endurance race.

Jan Heylen qualified the #11 JDX Racing – Hertz GTC car fourth in class. Strategy played a major factor early and often as Mike Hedlund took the green flag.  The weather played a huge part in the majority of the race as Mike started the all gold Porsche on Yokohama rain tires – with some of the GTC competition on dry weather slicks –  due to a mostly wet track surface.  Following the start of the 16th annual endurance classic, the race surface began to present a dry racing line and forced Mike to pit within the first 5 laps of the race and make a change to slicks.  Unfortunately this put the JDX / Hertz Porsche one lap down early on, forcing the JDX team to get aggressive with race strategy – and pace – from the very beginning.

Mike Hedlund said, “Petit is a special event, we had a long week of prep for the ten hour enduro, but the weather certainly put us to the test throughout the week and especially for the first half of the race.  I could have tossed a coin on whether we should have started on wets or drys.  Traffic is key at Road Atlanta and I managed to hand over a clean car to Jan at the end of my stint as it started to rain again.  It was a crazy day out there.”

The rain showers continued to roll in and out in a very unpredictable way until the mid portion of the race – and more than once, the JDX team got caught on the wrong side of the weather – or a full course caution.  Due to these swings, at one point the JDX / Hertz Porsche was nearly three laps down to the GTC class leader.  But the team never gave up, with the drivers flat out all the way and the pit crew executing perfectly on each of the dozen or so pit stops throughout the race.

“I really enjoyed this race – the rain certainly added to the excitement.  Aside from managing traffic and squeezing all the performance out of the #11 JDX Racing / Hertz Porsche, I had to continuously monitor the race line as we switched from drys to wets.  Making the right call each time came down to seconds a lap and staying in the hunt.  I have to say the second stint was the best, the car really came in and I was able to track down the leaders in GTC.  A late yellow put us in a position to challenge for the win – and we came up only a few seconds short.”, said Jan Heylen.

The addition of Jon Fogarty for this endurance race was a blessing, as Jon has years of endurance racing experience under his belt.  Jon drove a triple stint and managed to get the JDX Racing entry back into contention by regaining two laps on the field during his time behind the wheel.

Jon Fogarty went on to say, “This #11 car is really fun to drive, the team put together a great package and the pit crew performed flawlessly over the nine plus hours.  We certainly kept them busy as we switched out tires as often as the weather dictated – plus making chassis adjustments to the car as the rain was finally gone for good as we needed every bit of dry weather performance.  These GTC Porsches are physically demanding, and the car took almost everything out of me”

Harrison Brix, JDX Racing co-owner went on to say, “What a week at Petit. It was great having Jon back in the driver line-up, he was just as consistent here as he was for us in Sebring.  We gave the guys a good package for the race and with some help in the weather department, we could have given the class winners a run for it – but in the end we only missed the win by a few seconds. The entire team really shined this weekend – and that was capped off by our Crew Chief, Larry Ellert, being awarded the Battery Tender Mechanic of the Year Award at the end of season awards ceremony on Sunday night.  A fitting way to end our season.  We are all looking forward to the 2014 Tudor Championship and can’t wait to get back on track in Daytona at the end of January.”