Weather & Competitor errors made for a tough weekend in the Pirelli GT4 America Series at Road America
The Precision Racing LA Pirelli GT4 America program was back on track this past weekend at Road America as they battled the monstrous four-mile-long layout. Despite showing pace, Ryan Eversley and Alexandra Hainer were sidelined with bad weather and competitor errors.
Looking to start their Saturday off right at the 4.048-mile, 14-turn Road America, Alexandra Hainer and Ryan Eversley were aiming high. Piloting the #7 Toyota Gazoo Racing GR Supra GT4 EVO, both failed to do a lap in their back-to-back qualifying sessions due to a lingering issue from the day prior.
Starting deep in the field, it was a positive outcome for Eversley and Hainer as a spirited drive forward netted the duo a solid P10 in the Pro/Am class.
“It was a frustrating start to the weekend after having some mechanical issues that had us miss qualifying, " explained Eversley. “But I’m proud of the team and Alex for doing such a great job moving us up into the top ten, and we passed more cars than anybody in the race. A nice little consolation prize for the team, but we’re going to try to make the car even better, and hopefully, Alex can go out at the end of the race tomorrow and have an excellent stint.”
Alexandra Hainer and Ryan Eversley had a string race in their #7 Toyota Gazoo Racing GR Supra GT4 EVO as they managed to work their way forward from starting shotgun on the field. Battling hard to move into tenth overall and fifth in class at one point, contact after the driver change to the #7 machine took them out of the race.
“As disappointed as I am with today’s result, we had a mechanical issue that we had to sort through and work it out. I am proud of the guys because they found the root of the cause. As a driver, you really want to know if it was an issue or if it is just in your head. We absolutely found some things to make the car better. In race one, we had to play a little catch-up while trying to get the car on track. Missed the setup quite a bit but still had a decent run. Today, we had one of the best runs of the year and moved from dead last to tenth overall and fifth in class but unfortunately, Alex was taken out on her first lap, and the car is really banged up. On the positive side, we did have a car today that was really good and sporty. We had two awesome pit stops, and we were only .5 over the minimum pit stop time, which is perfect in my opinion.”
The Pirelli GT4 America contingent will travel next to Leeds, Alabama over the September 6 – 8 weekend to battle it out in the second to last race of the season at Barber Motorsports Park.