Although the race season is already in full swing, there is still a lot of testing to be done in preparation for the busy part of the season ahead of us. I had two great tests this past week with teams who were preparing for upcoming races at Road Atlanta and Barber Motorsports Park.
I started the week at Road Atlanta, where we were greeted with beautiful spring weather. I was there working with Forbush Performance and their LMP3 prototype. I’ve been enjoying co-driving with Matt Forbush in the HSR Prototype Challenge series, and we have an exciting schedule of events coming up this season.
The next race for the series is the famed Mitty Classic at Road Atlanta in just a couple of short weeks. The test was the perfect opportunity to get some quality seat time and to dial in the car setup before the race.
It was so much fun getting to put the LMP3 car through its paces at that track, and it brought back incredible memories of my time at Petit LeMans in the Mazda Prototype. Ripping around the circuit in just over 75 seconds makes for a busy and challenging lap!
It was an extremely successful test, and we fine-tuned the LMP3’s setup since there are so many nuances to all the adjustments this car offers. Matt also got in a tremendous amount of seat time, which is a big advantage in helping him come to grips with this fast race car—his sore neck can attest to just how much time he was on the track!
Later in the week, I made a trip just a bit farther south to Barber Motorsports Park outside Birmingham, Alabama. We were there prepping for the upcoming MX-5 Cup round, which will be held in conjunction with IndyCar’s visit to Barber. Getting back to that track is always such a pleasure: the grounds are immaculate, and the track is very challenging with all its undulating corner complexes.
There were over 20 MX-5 Cup cars at the test, and although it wasn’t an official series test, it sure felt like it. I had a bunch of fun working with teams to get them dialed in and comfortable with the circuit since the series hasn’t visited this venue since 2019.
It will be another busy week for me as I head to Circuit of the Americas for yet another pre-event test in preparation for the upcoming SRO race there. I’ll also be at Virginia International Raceway later in the week for Ingram Experience’s first event of the year.