First Podium for Henry Drury created an exciting weekend for PRLA along with hosting Toyota’s Kazuhisa Urabe’s first GR Cup races on American soil
It was a podium-winning weekend for Precision Racing LA at the famed Road America. Taking on the 4.048-mile, 14-turn facility, Henry Drury earned the team's best finish and a pair of top ten results as Kazuhisa Urabe made his North American debut in the Toyota GR Cup North America program.
After a weather-filled test day on Friday, it was back to the track Saturday for some wheel-to-wheel racing, for the Precision Racing LA duo of Kazuhisa Urabe and Henry Drury. Hitting the Road America track early in the morning to set the grid for race one, Drury qualified on the outside of row eight with a lap time of 2:32.963 as Kazuhisa Urabe was just behind and would start on the outside of row nine with a time of 2:33.161.
Taking the green flag early in the afternoon, it was a hard-fought battle for the GR Cup Series competitors that featured a lot of rain, and a lot of drama. The #44 machine of Henry Drury managed to find his way to the podium, standing on the third step of the box while Kazuhisa Urabe moved forward throughout the thirteen-lap affair to finish eleventh. Henry Drury also claimed the Hard Charger Award.
“Not a half-bad afternoon! Obviously, we really struggled in the dry in qualifying, but the #44 SEGRA Precision racing LA w/ PT Autosport car seemed to come alive a bit more in the wet. And I had a heck of a lot of fun working my way through the chaos from P16 to P3 for my first podium,” explained Henry Drury. “That was probably the most fun I’ve ever had in a race car, and I can’t thank SEGRA, Precision Racing LA, and PT Autosport enough for this weekend!”
Kazuhisa Urabe added, “It was disappointing to get the penalty, but I was happy with our pace in the race. Tomorrow will be better for us.”
Building from his podium result on Saturday, Henry Drury had a solid GR Cup Series qualifying effort for Sunday’s race two as he clocked the eleventh fastest lap time of the session. Set to line up on the inside of row six, Drury was just five positions ahead of Kazuhisa Urabe, who had his best qualifying result for the weekend of 16th.
Earning the team’s best-combined effort of the season, the Precision Racing LA duo of Drury and Urabe scored a pair of top-ten results, finishing eighth and tenth, respectively.
“What a weekend. I have said that just about every weekend, but it explains how chaotic this series is,” explained Drury after finishing eighth. “Not maybe the result in terms of finishing position that we wanted today but in terms of where we started and considering we have had only two laps of dry running, we can be proud of this weekend. Yesterday we were on the podium, and the Precision Racing LA with PT Autosport Toyota came alive in the wet. I had the absolute time of my life fighting my way through the field and to the podium and some great racing. I am proud of how far we have come and what we have done on limited dry running.”
Coach Ryan Eversley explained, “It was probably one of the best weekends we have had in the GR Cup program. Henry earned his first professional podium and doing it with the Segra-branded car is awesome as they are a great partner of ours, and we are proud of that. He has had a great year with a podium, and a front-row start, and if you asked him back in February when we went testing, his goal was a top ten. And he managed to get another one today in race two. They say rain is the great equalizer, and in yesterday's race he drove from the middle of the pack up to third in tricky conditions. To be able to do that, he showed that he has what it takes to do this. These are big steps he has taken. For the PT Autosport Young Drivers Shootout, what a great accolade to take a kid from nowhere, put him into club racing, some coaching, and have him on the podium in national-level racing. Kazuhisa had a great weekend for his first time in North America. For the first session, it was pouring rain, and he was the fastest driver at one of the scariest places we race. Our GR Cup program went very well this weekend.”
Precision Racing LA was honored to host Kazuhisa Urabe for the weekend at Road America. Urabe, 19, is a member of the Toyota Gazoo Racing Driver Challenge (TGR-DC) training program for young Japanese racing drivers and was accompanied by his driving coach Tatsuya Kataoka, a three-time SUPER GT and reigning Super Taikyu GT3 champion.
With just over two weeks until the next event, the Precision Racing LA program will regroup and shift their focus to the next one. Set to take on the picturesque Barber Motorsports Park over the September 6 – 8 weekend; team drivers will aim high in the penultimate Toyota GR Cup North America event of the 2024 season.