Last week was a great time at Circuit of the Americas with Apex Driving Events. It’s a unique event Apex hosts annually called The Pre Grid, which is not only for new racers but also for experienced ones looking for extra seat time with a focus of racecraft in mind, including things such as practice starts, mock qualifying sessions and even mock races.
I enjoyed the opportunity to work with a new client who’s with a team I’ve worked with for a couple of years now, JDX Racing. Joel Johnson is an experienced Sprint Challenge competitor who was looking for some winter seat time, and there’s nowhere better to get that than at an Apex Pre Grid event!
Not only did Joel get lots of seat time, but we were also able to really dive into the nuances of race craft with the additional practice starts and races. There were also a couple of prescribed full-course yellows, which allowed for practice on restarts.
The advantage of practicing restarts is the fact that you hardly ever get the opportunity to “practice” something like this, as it usually only occurs live during an actual race. Being able to get the experience, as well as the chance to review and analyze it after the fact, really helps a driver optimize their restart craft.
Joel achieved his best lap time ever at Circuit of the Americas, and he left Austin tuned up and ready for the upcoming season, which starts in February at Sebring International Raceway.
And speaking of Sebring, I’m excited to be heading south next month for Apex’s next event, which will be at that track January 13-14.