Mid-Ohio Race Weekend the Start of Extended Focus on No. 30 Audi R8 LMS GT3 Program LEXINGTON, Ohio (September 23, 2020) – Team Hardpoint formed at the beginning of the 2020 season with a long-term vision of becoming a major player in professional racing. Starting with this weekend’s event at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, the team will sharpen its 2020 focus on IMSA’s top-level WeatherTech SportsCar Championship GT Daytona (GTD) class, expanding from just the Sprint Cup races to include Petit Le Mans and Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring entries during the 2020 season. First, the No. 30 Team Hardpoint/GridRival.com Audi R8 LMS GT3 returns to action for the two-hour, 40-minute race at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course this weekend, September 25-27. Sunday’s race begins at 2:05 p.m. ET, live on the NBCSN app through Trackpass and tape delayed on NBCSN at 11 p.m. ET that night. Co-drivers Rob Ferriol and Spencer Pumpelly will once again pair up for the Sprint Cup race. The team’s remaining 2020 plans will then take them to the Charlotte Roval, the 10-hour Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta, WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca and the season finale during the Twelve Hours of Sebring with the GTD Audi. “We said from the start that our primary goal for the 2020 season was to establish a solid foundation by which we could build a relevant, long-term team in this paddock,” Ferriol, the team principal in addition to his driving duties, said. “To paraphrase a saying from my former life, ‘no battle plan survives first contact with the enemy.’ This process doesn’t happen in a vacuum, and 2020 has certainly brought its fair share of surprises. I believe the key is to remain agile, evaluate opportunities as they come – not only for the present, but how they may shape the future as well – and make the best move possible. We followed that philosophy when we expanded into the WeatherTech Championship after the extended break, and now is the right time to continue building on that program for Team Hardpoint.” The endurance race driver lineups will feature Ferriol, an Audi Sport works driver, and a third, yet to be determined driver. In the meantime, Ferriol and Pumpelly will continue to drive during all sprint races, including at Mid-Ohio. This will be the first IMSA visit to Mid-Ohio for Team Hardpoint, though not for either individual driver. Ferriol stood on the podium twice during the 2019 IMSA Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge USA doubleheader there, while sports car veteran Pumpelly has won numerous times at the track. “The GTD class of the WeatherTech Championship is, in my mind, the most difficult class in the paddock,” Ferriol said. “We have to be flawless each and every time out to compete, and if we can be successful there, we can be successful anywhere. The refinement of our GTD program has progressed considerably since VIR, so I look forward to seeing the team’s efforts translate into results at Mid-Ohio.” The race weekend at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course begins on Friday evening with a one-hour practice at 6:10 p.m. ET. The GTD class gets another hour of practice at 10:55 a.m. ET on Saturday morning. Qualifying opens Sunday morning at 8 a.m., followed by the race at 2:05 p.m. ET on the NBCSN app.About Hardpoint Motorsports: Hardpoint Motorsports was founded by Rob Ferriol in 2018 with the vision of combining his experience as a successful entrepreneur with his passion for racing. The Hardpoint brand brings together three distinct entities into one motorsport ecosystem. Team Hardpoint is the brand’s racing arm, providing its partners and customers opportunities to compete, brand, and promote in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship GT Daytona class and the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge. Hardpoint Outfitters helps other teams and drivers extract more value from their motorsport investment by bundling branding, activation, and digital marketing services into customized turnkey packages, including design, apparel, hospitality, and social media management. The Hardpoint Paddock Foundation is the newest element of the ecosystem, created as a charitable foundation to support out of work paddock workers through the COVID-19 shutdown. As the shutdown comes to an end, the 501(c)3 Foundation is expected to grow into a more sustained model of providing vocational and educational support services to the professional sports car paddock community. More information on all of the Hardpoint Motorsports enterprises can be found at www.hardpoint.comor through its strong social media presence on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. |
