Earlier this week I was back at Road America to enjoy another couple beautiful days of testing with JDX in preparation for the upcoming Carrera Cup race. Apex had the track reserved, which allowed teams to test and, in the case of two of our JDX drivers, to learn the track while also dialing in the cars’ setup before next weekend’s race.
The event at Road America will be held in conjunction with NASCAR, which is certainly a different series than the Carrera Cup teams are used to running with! Typically, the series runs with IMSA, and Carrera Cup even appeared alongside Formula 1 earlier this year. Being in front of the NASCAR crowd will be a fun change of pace, and it will be interesting to see how the rubber on the track from the NASCAR entries works with the Michelin rubber that the Carrera Cup cars use.
The test gave everyone the chance to come to grips with Road America’s fresh surface, which continues to cure and evolve. The new surface is incredibly smooth, and the grip levels vary depending on whether you’re on- or off-line, which is typical as the pavement goes through its first heat cycle of the summer and rubber continues to be laid down. These fluctuations in the grip level will make the racing really interesting!
We had a gorgeous couple of days of weather during the test, and it allowed us to optimize two full days of on-track activity. The entire team is very excited and encouraged by their progress and pace going into next week.
The JDX team has certainly had a positive shift in momentum coming off Watkins Glen, with its race wins as well as personal best results for 17-year-old driver Elias De La Torre. Hopefully, we’ll continue to have incredible weather and great results when we get back to Road America next week!