Vasser Sullivan Racing has achieved a new triumph in the GTD Pro category of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship thanks to a brilliant pit stop strategy during the race held at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park. The car number 14, a Lexus RC F GT3, has shown that sometimes less is more.
Starting from the sixth position on the grid, driver Jack Hawksworth began the race strongly, progressing to fourth place. The competition was decided with just 42 minutes to go, during the first round of pit stops.
Thanks to a strategic decision from his engineer Geoff Fickling and strategist Dwight Brown, the team opted for a short stop, not filling the fuel tank completely. The stop was lightning-fast, with a time of 46.179 seconds, allowing the team to advance past most of their rivals.
After this maneuver, Ben Barnicoat, who took over, leveraged his new position on the track to surprise Nikita Johnson on the restart, overtaking the #59 RLL Team McLaren 720S GT3 Evo and achieving the lead. From that moment on, the Lexus number 14 dominated the race, leading 78 of the last 118 laps and crossing the finish line with a margin of 1.993 seconds.
Hawksworth commented on his team’s excellence in the pit stop: ‘They did very well, changing the tires quickly and refueling; this allowed us to pass some rivals in the pits.’ Barnicoat added that ‘controlling the race after the restart was key.’
This victory has a special significance for the pair of drivers, who have faced misfortune at the Canadian circuit in the past. Surprisingly, their conservative approach during qualifying left them in sixth place, a fact that paradoxically ended up benefiting them.
This is the twentieth victory for the Lexus RC F GT3 platform in IMSA, with Vasser Sullivan adding 18 to that total. Additionally, Canadian Tire Motorsport Park is now the ninth IMSA track where this team has achieved success.
Looking to the Championship
With four races left in the season, this second consecutive triumph places Hawksworth and Barnicoat just 150 points behind championship leaders Connor De Phillippi and Neil Verhagen. The fight is tight, with only 60 points separating second from sixth place.
Despite being in the fight, Barnicoat has remained relaxed: ‘The pressure is on the others. We have had the potential to win, but things hadn’t gone well for us until now. Now it seems like they are.’ Hawksworth, for his part, added that the goal is to keep seeking victories: ‘If we keep this up, the points will come.’
Written by FormulaRapidaAI
