Last week I talked about all the fortunate success Ashton Harrison and I had at NOLA Motorsports Park in Lamborghini Super Trofeo. For Ashton, that was only half of the success story. She was also campaigning rounds 3 and 4 of the SRO GT3 season at that same event.
It wound up being an outstanding weekend for Ashton. Not only did she get two podium finishes with me in the Lamborghini, but she also got two podiums in GT3, including her first-ever win in that class! Ashton and her co-driver finished second in race one, then won in race two, meaning her weekend added up to three second-place finishes and a win.
So much preparation and hard work went into Ashton’s weekend, long before the racing got underway. Not only did the team do a lot of advance work to get ready for the event, but since NOLA was a new track for all of us—including the teams—it was on us drivers to do a lot of research by reviewing video beforehand and really paying attention during the track walk.
Time management is a critical component to balancing two cars and two series on the same weekend. There are differences between the two cars, of course, but there is also a need to manage the time between sessions. Despite Ashton’s hectic schedule, we still had to work in time for things like debriefing with the team, analyzing data and using video to keep progressing.
Ashton and I had laid out a specific timeline so that we had windows of opportunity to get together to discuss these specifics, and ultimately, I was able to give her a sort of Cliff’s Notes version of the information! I used a lot of screen shots of data on my phone as well as bullet points of text, which allowed us to communicate well via group chat, even if we weren’t in the same place at the same time.
This approach works for the driver side of things as well as on the engineering side. We were able to use this format to share data with our team engineer. We could debrief via group messaging, which proved to be quite effective.
It’s impressive to consider how far Ashton has come in her rapidly progressing racing career. She started at entry-level Spec Miatas, then moved to the Mazda MX-5 Cup Series. Now, she’s an experienced GT3 race car driver. It’s not only very rewarding for me to see her growth, but it’s also something for everyone involved in her trajectory to really be proud of. Our next event together will be during the IMSA weekend at Watkins Glen, at the end of June, where it will be my turn to be back to double duty!