This past weekend was the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg. This season, the event was scheduled a bit earlier in the year by a couple of weeks, so it felt kind of funny to be in St. Pete in February, but the weather was absolutely stunning. We had sunny, 80-degree weather every day and plenty of intense racing on the track.
My main role at St. Pete was working with the MX-5 Cup Series for rounds three and four of the championship. There are so many rookies new to the series this year—13 of them—and for many of them, this weekend was their first time on a street circuit. I enjoyed spending time with several of these new drivers, helping them with the nuances and dynamic challenges that a street circuit presents.
The practice day was really clean and smooth. Apparently, the drivers were saving all of the action for the races! My role during the races pertains to race control, and we were quite busy sorting it all out: both races saw a lot of excitement. There were some brilliant drives throughout the field, and some of the championship contenders came out of the weekend with strong momentum as we look forward to the next rounds at Mid-Ohio.
Following our second race at St. Pete, which wrapped up on Saturday morning, I headed to the even-warmer Sebring International Raceway, where a client of mine, Reg Williams, was racing in an International GT (IGT) event.
Reg is competing in the IGT series this season, and he is off to a terrific start thanks to a pair of podium finishes during his weekend at Sebring. It was a lot of fun not only to be able to celebrate that with him, but also to see him picking up on the finer points of his driving skills.
Check back next week as I’ll be staying here in Sebring for our test with Forbush Performance in the Supra GT4 as we prepare for the upcoming IMSA 12 Hours of Sebring weekend.
Reg had a great weekend at Sebring!