MILLVILLE, NJ (May 13, 2025) – PT Autosport with Copeland Motorsports’ rookie Zach Hollingshead has struggled early in his Toyota GR Cup rookie campaign, learning both a new car and new tracks.
Now, the 22-year-old Lake City, Fla. native looks with eager anticipation to racing his No. 88 PT Autosport Toyota GR86 Cup Car at a track he knows better than any other – Sebring International Raceway.
“I’m excited going into Sebring because it’s a home track for me and I think that we’ll have a lot more success,” said the 2024 PT Autosport Aspiring Driver Shootout champ. “Hopefully I’ll have a much better idea of what the car should and should not be doing since I won’t be learning the track. I’ve done over 20 races here, plenty of track days in Spec Miata, and the GR Cup test back in January.”
Hollingshead has balanced learning new tracks and the new car, which required changing his racing line and braking points, but feels as though that January test, combined with lessons learned from four races this season, will shorten the learning curve.
“It’s always tough learning a track especially during a race weekend,” said Hollingshead. “It’s a balance of learning the racing line while making setup changes and still having the confidence to go out and be as precise as possible. Luckily, the Copeland team has tons of video and data from past team drivers that can help aid that process – but in the end there is nothing that compares to being in the car. I will be able to tweak the small stuff much earlier in the week and hopefully have more confidence going into the race. The biggest challenge for me would be battling the heat. Afternoon sessions in Sebring are notorious for changing how the setup works but I’m looking forward to experimenting with that.”
PT Autosport team principal Jason Myers acknowledges Hollingshead’s limited experience but knows that his Sebring familiarity is one large factor in his favor this weekend.
“Zach has had a lot of learning on the fly as we rolled through the first two races at Sonoma and COTA having never turned a lap on those tracks, said Myers. “That’s a lot to ask and I think his modest performance has shown he’s still got a to learn, but he’s got a good baseline. Sebring is one of his home tracks, and he’s got lots of experience here, so I’m looking forward to him taking what he’s learned so far and applying it at Sebring.”
The Toyota GR Cup series will contest two 45-minute races at Sebring – race one will take the green flag Saturday at 1:40 p.m. ET, with race two Sunday at 10:05 a.m. Both races will be broadcast live at www.grcup.com.
PT Autosport would like to thank all our Partners for their continued support:
Momentum Brewery, founded in NY in 2023, is at the forefront of premium craft brewing for non-alcoholic beer, with their groundbreaking German-engineered “Genius Yeast” process naturally limiting alcohol content to below 0.5% ABV while preserving the authentic craft beer experience. The brewery will debut Race Brew, a new 0.0% ABV beer, in July.
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STEM Racing USA & Canada was developed to introduce students to STEM subjects in the most engaging way possible – through the creation of a miniature F1 car – STEM RACING (Formerly F1 in Schools) is an educational project designed for teachers, informed by engineers, and endorsed by F1. PT Autosport will provide travel assistance for the second and third place finishers in the National Championship to help the teams attend this season’s Aramco STEM Racing World Finals.
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New Jersey Motorsports Park (NJMP) is a 500-acre multi-purpose event and entertainment destination located in Millville, NJ. The park includes two world-class road courses, Thunderbolt and Lightning Raceway, two motorsports country club membership programs for cars and motorcycles, and one of the top outdoor karting complexes in the U.S. – Tempest Raceway. PT Autosport is proud to support NJMP’s Drivers Club, with specialized driver training programs and coaching.
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About PT Autosport — Discover Unique Talent. Develop Champions.
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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