| Drivers Rob Ferriol and Spencer Pumpelly Capitalized on Team Decisions During Wet and Wild Finish |
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ELKHART LAKE, Wisconsin (August 2, 2020) – Team Hardpoint survived a wet and wild finish to the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship race on Sunday at Road America, earning a top-10 finish in the GT Daytona (GTD) class through perseverance, strategy and grit. By the end of the race, the team had sat through a red flag and numerous cation laps for a torrential downpour, but the Team Hardpoint strategy and patience paid off. Rob Ferriol began the two-hour, 40-minute race in the No. 31 Team Hardpoint/GridRival.com Audi R8 LMS GT3 before passing off to Spencer Pumpelly to finish the run to the checkered flag. Ferriol started at the rear of the field, but climbed as high as fourth as the field began to cycle through the first pit stop of the race. Pumpelly reentered the race having fallen back to 12th after each team had made their initial stop, but Hardpoint Engineer John Horton and strategist Toni Calderon made the call to bring Pumpelly back to pit lane with just under an hour to go, becoming the first GTD class car to make what would be the final pit stop based on fuel. That strategy went out the window less than 10 minutes later, however, when an expected light shower turned into a heavy rainfall.
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“It was a gamble,” Ferriol said. “We didn’t think it was going to rain that much. We thought at worst we would get a sprinkle so we wanted to get out in front with that last pit stop. Once the rain did come, we thought it was just going to be a little bit and obviously that turned out to be a different story.” Pumpelly made up two positions during the initial downpour while still on Michelin slick tires. Cars off course brought out the full course caution, which became a red flag as the conditions continued to deteriorate. Racing resumed with a full caution period sequence and pit stops, with a sprint to the finish of just under seven minutes remaining. The team made the change to rain tires under that yellow, and Pumpelly finished the race in 10th place. “We were obviously down on pace relative to the field,” Ferriol said. “Some of us were probably hoping for a little bit of rain at the end, and Spencer obviously did a fantastic job with the rain. John and Toni handling strategy were able to make the right calls and we were able to make up a couple of spots and end up with a top 10.”
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The race was just the third in GTD for Team Hardpoint, who continue to put in the hours necessary to catch up with an experienced field. “Every time we come to the track we learn,” Pumpelly said. “Every time we race we improve. The team is doing a really good job and were getting a handle on the car. Today, we weren’t the most competitive on the track but we did an awesome job off track, and then dealing with the weather. It was a good effort by the Hardpoint guys today.” Team Hardpoint now moves on to Ferriol’s home track of VIRginia International Raceway, August 21 – 23, for the Michelin GT Challenge at VIR. Team Hardpoint will compete in both the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge that weekend.
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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.com or through its strong social media presence on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
