Sedgwick & Drury excel in unpredictable weather at VIR
Toyota GR Cup North America program at VIR, Alex Sedgwick would drive the #44 GR86 while Henry Drury was behind the wheel of the #88 entry. Practice one saw the duo deeper in the field than they would have liked, with Drury earning the 23rd position on the results sheet with a time of 2:08.495, just ahead of Sedgwick in 24th with a 2:08.510. A big improvement during the second practice session, Drury was able to lead the Precision Racing LA duo jumping nine positions on the results sheet. Closing the gap to the leader, Drury clocked a lap time that slotted him into the 14th position. Following suit, Sedgwick gained the same number of positions to finish the session 15th as the focus shifted to Saturday’s qualifying and race one.
On Saturday, it was qualifying and race day for the Toyota GR Cup North America program as Henry Drury and Alex Sedgwick would aim to continue their momentum from Friday. With a qualifying session early in the day that set the grid for race one. Both drivers continued their upward trend, with Sedgwick putting his #44 entry in the 12th position with Drury and the #88 machine in 16th. With solid results in the 30-car field, Precision Racing LA drivers lined up on the outside of row six and row eight for the first wheel-to-wheel action of the weekend.
When the green flag flew, it was all business for Sedgwick as he managed to move forward from his P12 starting spot to finish fifth, a strong result for Precision Racing LA. Unfortunately, Henry Drury had a mechanical issue and failed to complete the total race distance.
“It has been a lot of fun. Very different to what I usually do. I am used to high downforce, big power, GT-style cars and have not raced something less than 300 horsepower for several years,” explained Alex Sedgewick. “It’s been going good and we gained time every session and qualified for the 12th this morning. The weather was a bit unpredictable but being from England I was able to use my wet weather experience to move up to fifth in the race.”
It was back to the track Sunday for the second day of competition with Henry Drury and Alex Sedgwick qualifying in the morning to set the grid for race two in the afternoon. Drury was able to earn the team’s best result, qualifying 12th with a lap time of 2:07.008 with Sedgwick in the 21st position and on the outside of row eleven.
Battling hard all weekend long, the duo moved forward early on in the race to fight hard. Closing their weekend in 13th and 14th respectively, Drury led Sedgwick on the results sheets as the pair showed they have what it takes to compete.
“Quite a hectic weekend, quite an up-and-down weekend. Saturday was awesome in that we finally got to show a bit more of our true pace and where we can be in a more equalized field,” explained Henry Drury. “Alex and I were able to fight up to P5 and P6 and as high as P4 for Alex. So, it really shows that there's still quite a lot of potential that we haven't quite unlocked so tons of positives there. It was so much fun just fighting through the field, making moves left and right. It was awesome.”
Drury continued, “It was some of the most exciting times I've ever had in a race car, a really strong day, Saturday. Unfortunately, my day ended early with a mechanical issue, but the Precision Racing LA team with PT AutoSport were absolutely incredible and worked through the night to get me back out for Sunday morning. I think we just don't quite have the pace in the dry that some of the top teams have. We spent too long fighting too hard for every inch in the midfield, we really didn't have time to keep moving forward. Lots of positives to take, and we will do everything we can to come back stronger and find another step forward at the next race.”
Next up for the Toyota GR Cup North America program will be a trip to Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, and Road America over the August 16 – 18 weekend.