The 2022 PT Autosport Aspiring Driver Shootout winner looks to capitalize on the success two weeks ago at Sebring
MILLVILLE, NJ (13 May 2024) – Precision Racing LA w/PT Autosport driver Henry Drury heads to Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas this week, ready to continue the learning curve in the Toyota GR Cup doubleheader.
As Drury continues his first season of professional racing, seeing progress in his own performance behind the wheel of the No. 88 PT Autosport Toyota GR86 Cup Car remains essential. The 24-year-old English born, Tampa, Fla. resident qualified second for the first of two races at Sebring and brought home his first top 10 in the series. Drury is currently 12th in the overall point standings and looks to continue that momentum this week.
After getting hit from behind in the second race at Sebring, Drury will look for more consistent finishes as the series heads to the Formula 1-grade Austin facility.
“I’m ready for another exciting weekend,” said Drury. “After such drastic ups and downs at Sebring, it’s time to really show what we can do and find some consistent points finishes. Precision Racing LA were strong at COTA last year, so hopefully that means we start on the front foot and can challenge up front again!”
COTA has a wide-open, sweeping layout – 3.426-miles, with 19 turns, including the iconic turn 1, with 133 feet of elevation change – which means the track is one of the fastest on the GR Cup circuit. Drury has done his usual due diligence on the sim, which is helpful for muscle memory, but he feels that this will be one track where the sim will only go so far in teaching what it takes to go fast.
“The speed at COTA, like Sebring, means that the most important thing is to break through the ‘fear barrier’ – especially in the high commitment areas,” said Drury. “I find that with a new racetrack, especially a fast and high commitment one like Sebring or COTA, you have to be ready to just absolutely send it right from the first lap, and then suddenly those difficult corners aren’t so difficult anymore. The more quickly you can get up to speed in the big boy corners, the easier the rest of the weekend will be – and we’ve seen how important qualifying is in the series, so the quicker you get up to speed, the better.”
“Henry made great strides forward at Sebring, both in terms of ultimate pace and racecraft,” said Alex Sedgwick, PT Autosport lead driver and driver development director – who, along with Precision Racing LA’s Ryan Eversley, has been coaching Drury. “There is, of course, still some work to do but it’s impressive just how far he has come, with minimal testing and just two weekends under his belt so far. We’re looking forward to seeing that progression continue this weekend!”
The COTA weekend comes just two weeks after the series raced at Sebring and for Drury, the more he stays in race mode, the better.
“Staying in the swing of things with such a short gap between races really helps,” said Drury. “When there’s so long in between races, at this stage of my career when I’m only driving once every few weeks, it’s almost like having to learn things all over again when you step back in the car. So I much prefer it this way!”
The Toyota GR Cup series will contest two 45-minute races this weekend – race one will take the green flag Saturday at 3:35 ET, with race two Sunday at 12:35 p.m. Both races will be broadcast live at www.grcup.com.
PT Autosport would like to thank partner STEAM Sports Foundation for their support in its GR Cup effort.
About PT Autosport — Discover Unique Talent. Develop Champions.
PT Autosport, based at New Jersey Motorsports Park in Millville, NJ, campaigns rising star Alex Sedgwick (UK) in the 2024 Porsche Carrera Cup North America series with JDX Racing, 2022 Aspiring Driver Shootout winner Henry Drury (UK) in the Toyota GR Cup North America series with Precision Racing LA, and 2023 Aspiring Driver Shootout winner Brenna Schubert (USA) in a soon-to-be-announced series for the 2024 season.
PT Autosport is dedicated to providing merit-based motorsport industry opportunities for diverse individuals with high integrity, grit, and coach-ability, achieved through a development program for young aspiring drivers, engineers, mechanics, and other professionals. The first step of this process is applying for the annual Aspiring Driver Shootout, in which aspiring drivers aged 18-23 can compete for a team racing partnership with the team.
A rigorous evaluation process of applicants determines the final competitors for the driver shootout. The winner earns financial support of up to $250,000 ($50,000 guaranteed) to pursue their racing career. The review process also provides the team the chance to identify unique talent for other roles in motorsport, including race engineers, mechanics, and professionals.
PT Autosport is building a community that fosters the development of young talent to find a place where they can make an impact in the motorsport community as a career.
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