Team Hardpoint drivers Rob Ferriol and Spencer Pumpelly battled during the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge race on Saturday at Road America to bring home a ninth-place finish, equaling the team’s best result of the season in Grand Sport (GS) class competition.
Ferriol began the Road America 120 11th on the grid and spent the opening stint marching forward, climbing to eighth place in a battle with competitors around him. Ferriol went wheel to wheel through traffic without a mistake, netting three positions and cleanly passing four cars on the track before the opening pit stop in the No. 31 Team Hardpoint/GridRival.com Audi R8 GT4 after his 43-minute stint.
“You become a racing driver because you want to go race other cars,” Ferriol said. “It’s been an up and down weekend, we’ve struggled with both cars in practice trying to find pace. It’s easy to get down on that, but once we got in the race, you forget about lap times and just fight the other cars. That’s where the fun is at. Within the first five laps, the tire pressures started climbing pretty high. I don’t know if it was the heat, or track temp, but we were almost four pounds over where we wanted to be by 20 minutes in. From there, it’s about adjusting your driving style to the car you’ve got and just try to work our way through.”
The net gain allowed Pumpelly to climb behind the wheel and close out the race. The team made their final pit stop 42 minutes remaining, making a clean stop and remaining in ninth position.
Saturday’s finish was a true team effort for Team Hardpoint, whose fastest lap of the race was a 2:19.818 (104.266 mph) around the four-mile circuit. Fifteen cars in the class turned a faster lap than Team Hardpoint, whose best lap was set by Pumpelly.
“Rob did an awesome job at the start,” Pumpelly said at the finish. “He was really competitive and was in the hunt there with the front runners. That was fun to watch. I thought the team did a great job in the pits and with strategy. We executed very well today, but I still think we’ve got a little bit of work to do on getting that car up to speed and what it can do. I’m really proud of the guys and their work today. This is a learning process, and this was a good step.”
Team Hardpoint returns to IMSA Michelin Pilot GS action at the Michelin GT Challenge at VIRginia International Raceway, August 21-23. But before that, the team shifts its attention to Sunday’s IMSA WeatherTech Championship race.
Ferriol qualified the No. 30 Team Hardpoint/GridRival.com Audi R8 LMS GT3 in 13th position for Sunday’s race with a time of 2:10.474 (111.690 mph). Sunday’s two-hour, 45-minute race can be seen live, over the air on NBC beginning at noon ET.