Unfamiliar territory at Barber Motorsports Park for Drury & Gr Cup
It was a cross-country trip to the picturesque Leeds, Alabama Barber Motorsports Park as Precision Racing LA would have a lighter-than-normal driver schedule. Taking on the Toyota GR Cup North America program with recent podium winner Henry Drury, the weekend would feature two races, and a pair of chances to climb to the top step of the podium at the 2.38-mile facility.
Practice one on Friday saw Henry Drury, driver of the #88 Precision Racing with PT Autosport entry, clock the 17th fastest session time at 1:38.471. Practice two saw an improvement to 13th in the classification, with the focus shifting to Saturday’s qualifying and wheel-to-wheel action.
Saturday saw a pair of on-track sessions for the #88 Precision Racing with PT Autosport entry of Henry Drury. Saturday opened with qualifying in the morning before the first wheel-to-wheel action in the afternoon. Rolling off the grid at 9:55am for qualifying, the recent podium winner nabbed the 13th quickest lap time and the inside row starting spot for race one. The lap time of 1:38.553 was just over three-tenths of a second outside a top-ten starting spot, a position that Drury would strive for when the green flag flew.
Pushing hard to move forward and fight at the front of the field in race one, Drury had a minor off-track excursion on the second lap of the race that caused damage to his Toyota GR86. While the run-off track was minor, the elevation change damaged the splitter and broke quite a few other small pieces at the front of the car that forced the #88 to the sidelines.
“Short race for us today. I made a mistake and ran a little wide into the grass on lap two, where the splitter just dug into the ground and sent me for a spin,” explained Drury post-race. “Unfortunately, it ripped the splitter off, and we had to retire the car as we couldn’t risk the splitter going under the car at high speed. Sorry to the team. I’m going to make mistakes in my career, and I’ll make plenty more in the future, but it hurts at the moment, and I hate to give them extra repair work. I’ll learn from this and make up for it tomorrow!”
Sunday’s schedule at Barber Motorsports Park was a carbon copy of Saturday’s on-track action as Henry Drury took to the track early in the day for qualifying. As the first group to tackle the facility on the day, a slick surface provided difficulties for some as they adjusted to the track conditions.
Drury clocked the 15th fastest lap of the session with a time of 1:37.657 to start race two from the inside of row eight. Moving forward in the opening stages, Drury battled for the twelfth position before he and a fellow competitor got together and were off course. Keeping his foot on the floor and bouncing through the grass, Drury returned to the track but back in P17. Forced to pit for damage sustained from the contact, Drury eventually was classified in the 20th position.
“Another tough race for us. Started well until we had an incident with another car,” expressed Henry Drury. “I was forced up into a position where I couldn’t avoid making contact, which blocked our radiator and landed me with a penalty, so we ended up a lap down. I had a nice little test session for the rest of the race, but a weekend to forget. It doesn’t feel great at the moment. This is probably the first time I've felt like I’ve had a bad weekend and truly failed to perform, but all I can do is learn from this and come back stronger. No stone unturned.”
“It was a frustrating weekend for sure,” explained Driver Coach Ryan Eversley. “But, in the end, I’m really proud of all of our team because everybody did a great job, doubled down, and worked tirelessly to get Henry on track for qualifying and race two today.”
The Precision Racing LA program will regroup and shift its focus to the final Toyota GR Cup North America event of the season, October 3rd through the 6th. Taking place at the famed Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Precision Racing LA will aim to finish their season strong and build momentum toward their 2025 campaign.