JDX Racing arrived in the Lone Star State and Circuit of the Americas following their second podium finish of the season in round seven of the American Le Mans Series at the Baltimore Grand Prix. The #11 JDX Racing / Hertz Porsche was looking to carry that momentum into the inaugural Circuit of the Americas race presented by Tequila Patron, claiming a fourth place finish, missing out on the podium by just one second.
Jan Heylen qualified the #11 JDX Racing / Hertz GTC car sixth in class, and as is customary, Mike Hedlund started the race behind the wheel of the brilliant gold Porsche. Mike successfully navigated through what can only be called one of the most ominous first turns anywhere in motorsport, with a rolling start and full speed pursuit up a 133 foot incline to a blind apex with 30 plus other cars makes for intense racing around the 3.4 mile, 20 turn circuit. Mike settled in and worked his way up to fifth during his opening stint after passing the #27 car.
Mike Hedlund said, “The race started smoothly, but I did make light contact with the #27 (Dempsey) early on. I managed to stay on track and the car wasn’t damaged, so I kept on pushing. It took a while, but I did get around the #27 car with a clean pass in turn one about 20 minutes into the race. The GTC field was quite spread out by then, but I was making progress on catching Cooper MacNeil in the #22 car before I was called in for my pitstop about 60 minutes into the race. We got Jan in the car at that point and he drove like a beast, made a few positions, and claimed fourth in GTC. All-in we made no mistakes, had clean stops – but there were no yellows at all during the two hour forty-five minute race – so things stayed a bit strung out right to the end”.
The #11 JDX Racing / Hertz Porsche pitted at the 63 minute mark, Jan got in as the pit crew did a full service stop, full fuel and four fresh Yokohama racing slicks. Jan re-entered the race course fifth in the GTC class and quickly started to reel in the #22 car, turning quicker lap times by almost a second a lap. Working through the 3.4 mile Circuit of the Americas Jan quickly found his way into a fight for third position with the #27 car of Andy Lally, who had rolled the dice and not changed to a fresh set of Yokohama’s on his final stop, thereby jumping past the JDX / Hertz Porsche. Jan got close at the end, as Lally was down to cords, but came up short by one second.
“A great overall effort by the entire team, the best pit stops all season. Mike had a great stint, worked his way through the field and kept the car out of trouble. Mike and I pulled the most performance from the #11 JDX Racing / Hertz Porsche, turning really competitive lap times and bringing the car home in fourth – a very respectable outing, missing the podium by only one second! I’m looking forward to carrying the team’s solid performance to VIR”, said Jan Heylen.
Harrison Brix, JDX Racing co-owner went on to say, “The entire team did a great job this week, we had some challenges, primarily the weather on Friday which washed out critical running time in dry conditions. The COTA track is a purpose built track for Formula 1, so the drivers loved it and it’s a true world class facility. Mike and Jan drove the wheels off the car, but an all green race with no full course yellows is extremely rare for us, which challenges the entire team – and as usual, they did a great job.”
Source : JDX Racing