SEBRING, Fla. (May 23, 2025) – PT Autosport with Copeland Motorsports’ Zach Hollingshead survived two hard-fought Toyota GR Cup series at Sebring International Raceway this weekend, using his experience on his home track to move up the field and score two solid finishes.
Managing heat was the name of the game all weekend, as ambient temperatures hovered in the low 90s F and track temps soared to 113 degrees with temperatures inside the race car peaking at over 170 degrees. In the pair of 45-minute races, Hollingshead managed nonstop battles on track, adding to the learning curve in his rookie Toyota GR Cup season. Despite being run off track twice, he finished 13th in race one, then fought his way back from a P18 starting position in race two to a P14 finish.
As a native of Lake City, Fla., Hollingshead has raced at Sebring on numerous occasions. But the former WWII air base-turned racetrack presents a different face each time out, so previous databases can be deceiving.
“It was super hot out there but all in all, a pretty good day – and very good timing for my first time using the chill out system in the car!” said Hollingshead. “It’s a lot easier to focus when you’re not over overheated and dehydrated. Since I’m still learning, it takes a couple of sessions to fully settle into the car, but I was happy with that second test session on Thursday – it was a confidence booster to put the car P6, on old tires.
“We put on new tires for Friday’s official practices, but I don’t think I utilized them to the fullest,” continued Hollingshead. “I think I was overdriving quite a bit. I dialed it in for FP2 but it still didn’t go our way. We’ll work on setup, hopefully find those small things that make a huge difference in the long run, and I have to focus on driving well to set myself up for race one.”
Hollingshead qualified 12th for the first race Saturday afternoon. With a clean start in the 22-car field, he gained a position in the early corners, then took two more as he completed lap one – battling in a group of five cars but disconnected from the leaders.
On lap 4, Hollingshead and Brett Kowalski engaged in an over-and-under battle through much of lap five, with Kowalski bumping Hollingshead out of the way to take ninth position – with Hollingshead doing well to hold onto the car and not lose ground. Unfortunately, that was not the case late in the race, as a car making a move on the inside of Turn 4 pushed Hollingshead wide and off track, with the young Floridian again managing to hold onto the car, going off and back on track, though in 15th position. Hollingshead recovered one spot and took the checkered flag in P14.
Starting race two in 17th position, Hollingshead gained two positions on the opening lap but his progress was stalled as a stopped car brought out a yellow on lap two. Once the race returned to green, Hollingshead bided his time before making a move with 15 minutes remaining, steadily making crafty passes and finishing the race a P13.
“We didn’t have the best qualifying, so I just wasn’t feeling that confident going into the race,” said Hollingshead. “But the race went as well as it could have, making up five spots. I didn’t really have the pace to pull away from the guys around me, so I was battling for most of it – though I was happy to make it out clean after avoiding a few incidents. Hopefully we can continue to work hard and figure things out.”
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