Drury scores his best Toyota GR Cup weekend of the season, capturing two top six finishes and securing rookie of the year honors at the season finale doubleheader at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway
SPEEDWAY, Ind. (October 9, 2024) – Precision Racing LA w/PT Autosport’s Henry Drury showed that he will be a force to be reckoned with as his racing career progresses, with the Toyota GR Cup finale at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway marking the most successful race weekend of his young career.
In the pair of 45-minute races, Drury captured a sixth and a fourth-place finish, while setting the quickest lap in both races and earning the race one hard charger award. At weekend’s end, he had also secured series rookie of the year honors.
The 2024 racing season marked the first professional foray for the 24-year-old English born, Tampa, Fla. resident, who won the inaugural PT Autosport Aspiring Driver Shootout in 2022, launching his racing career. After a half season in Porsche Club of America events, Drury and PT Autosport joined Precision Racing LA in one of the fastest growing one-make series in the country, the Toyota GR Cup North America.
As the weekend got underway with Thursday’s first practice, Drury “meshed with the car and the track straight away,” pacing as high as sixth and finishing with the eight quickest time. That afternoon, Drury delivered a sizzling opening lap that temporarily placed him P2, just two-tenths of a second off the leader. Ending the session with the fifth quickest time, Drury was ready for Friday morning qualifying – until the car ahead braked early into Turn 7. Riding the draft right behind, Drury was unable to avoid the car, damaging the nose of his No. 88 Toyota GR86 and leaving him in 19th position for race one.
At the drop of the green Saturday morning, the 33-car field fanned out across Indy’s wide front straight, then had to find their way back together into the tight Turn 1. Finding his slot in the field, Drury found himself stuck into the grass through Turn 4 but kept his foot in it and held his position. On lap two, several cars tangled and spun back across the racetrack, collecting multiple other cars – with Drury missing the spinning cars “by about half an inch,” placing himself perfectly to make it safely through the melee and into 11th position as the yellow flag came out.
Going back to green with 28 minutes remaining, Drury sat at the back of an 11-car train but with no plans to remain there. Battling hard, exchanging paint and running into the grass, Drury took ninth position with 22 minutes left, and seventh several laps later. With 10 minutes remaining – and after a multi-lap battle – Drury took sixth position with a great move through Turns 1 and 2. He held that position through the race’s end, setting the race’s quickest lap at 1:40.137 and earning his second Hard Charger award of the season.
“What a race!” said Drury. “The Precision Racing LA w/PT Autosport team was on fire today. It feels like we were finally able to put together everything we’ve learned this season and they gave me an absolute rocket ship of a car as a result. The race was hectic to say the least – laps one and two were just pure survival, and then we had great pace to be able to hunt down and pass people to work our way up to P6 at the flag, and with the potential for P4 with a little more luck. Massive thanks to my teammate Aidan (Yoder) for working with me, it’s awesome to recover a strong result for the both of us as well as grabbing both the fastest lap and hard charger awards!”
Drury cut his race two job in half, starting a solid ninth when the season finale took the green flag Sunday morning. Riding the draft on the inside through Turn 1, Drury lost several positions on the opening lap but quickly regained them through two subsequent laps of side-by-side, door-banging, mirror-breaking action before the yellow flag flew for contact back in the field.
Back to green with 30 minutes remaining, Drury focused forward, quickly taking positions and settling into a battle for sixth. He perfectly set up one of the series front runners in Turn 1, taking fifth while also setting the race’s fastest lap.
With 15 minutes remaining, Drury had caught up to the lead pack, pressuring the drivers ahead. The three-car fight for the final podium position held the broadcast’s attention as Drury slid to the inside in Turn 7 and held the pass for fourth with five minutes left in the race. On the final lap, Drury and the No. 2 Toyota ahead fought hard, trading the position multiple times before Drury finally took the position with two corners to go- only for the car behind to shortcut the final corner and crash into Drury, causing him to crawl to the line in fifth position with significant damage. Race control assigned incident responsibility to the No. 2, putting Drury into fourth position.
“That was one heck of a way to end the season,” said Drury. “The No. 88 machine was flying again today and I had so much fun fighting my way up. It sucks to get taken out at the last corner from a podium position, the team deserved a trophy for today, but that’s racing. I’ve learned so much this year in my first full season of racing and I’ve had the absolute time of my life doing it, but it would be nice to have the trophy we earned today instead of a P4!”
PT Autosport team principal was quite understandably enthused by his young driver’s maturity and determination throughout his rookie season – and how the Aspiring Driver Shootout placed him in this position.
“Henry has been so massively impressive this season – it’s incredible just how far he’s come,” said Myers. “Part of that is the great team and crew he’s had behind him at Precision Racing LA, but the biggest and most important part is his development and confidence as a racing driver, and he should have had a podium in his final race of the season to show for it. As it is, Henry was awarded the Toyota GR Cup rookie of the year award at the SRO end of season gala in Indianapolis Sunday night. It’s a massive honor and he is truly deserving of that praise. We’ve got some plans in the works for his 2025 season, with details to follow as we iron them out with the potential partners.
“But first and foremost, Henry is absolute proof that our Aspiring Driver Shootout does find incredible talent – but the real work starts when you win the shootout, which is something some people fail to realize. We are really looking forward to the Shootout next month, with the field of candidates seemingly ripe with talent and the right work ethic. Henry will help play an integral role in the decision making process this year.”
PT Autosport would like to thank partners STEAM Sports Foundation, Classic Car Club Manhattan and New Jersey Motorsports Park.
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, and 2022 Aspiring Driver Shootout winner Henry Drury (UK) in the Toyota GR Cup North America series with Precision Racing LA.
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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