It’s race week! I’m excited to be on my way down to Sebring, Florida, for the second IMSA round of the season. The busy schedule of events and having the main race on Saturday means we get on track early in the week.
Our Michelin Pilot Challenge Series race is Thursday afternoon, and the 12 Hours of Sebring will be all day Saturday. Of course, I’m excited to be racing in both! It’s a “Super Sebring” this year since not only are these happening, but WEC has their first event of the year on Friday with an eight-hour race, too. Fans will truly have an action-packed week of racing! You can watch both races live on IMSA.com/tvlive or on the NBCSports Peacock app.
What my Thursday is going to look like…
Beyond all the excitement and anticipation, there has also been a tremendous amount of effort going into the preparation with both teams for things like the cars, equipment, and logistics. For me personally, I’ve been training a lot, physically and mentally. I’ve been fortunate enough to spend days testing with the teams at Sebring during the past month, and I’ve even been doing work on the driving simulator.
In fact, I joined Ashton Harrison and Kyle Marcelli—my co-drivers for the 12 Hours—at Wayne Taylor Racing in Indianapolis last week to drive the Acura on the simulator. While we were there, we also discussed our season plans for the Lamborghini Super Trofeo season that starts next month. It’s always inspiring to see a proper race team’s facility, especially a team like three-time Rolex 24 at Daytona champions Wayne Taylor Racing! They have such an impressive organization, and working with them gives us a lot of insight.
…and what my Saturday will look like!
With all of this going on, it means I’ve got a lot of responsibilities and a lot to accomplish this coming week. Driving two different cars on the same weekend always takes extra focus. I have to be cognizant of which car I’m stepping into and what the goals are for each particular session. It also means I have to do twice the studying both before the event and during it.
Not only is driving two different cars a nuanced task, but so is driving in two very different racing environments. The Supra GT4 car is in the fastest class in the Michelin Pilot Series, whereas the GTD Acura NSX is dealing with faster prototype traffic all the time. With 53 cars entered, it will be one of the busiest 12 Hours of Sebring races in recent history.
Ultimately, it’s going to be an extremely exciting week, and it’s one that I feel prepared for. I’m looking forward to every minute of it!