An Epic End To An Amazing Season
After Laguna Seca, we only had a few weeks to get the car back from the west coast, do any maintenance and prepare for the last event of the season at Pittsburgh International Race Complex. As the event approached we were surprised to hear that this would be the last time anyone would get the chance to race at PittRace with the facility being sold and closing its doors in November of this year. Having never been to this iconic race track I was saddened by the news but excited for the opportunity to lap it before it closed its doors.
Laguna had gone so well for us, we didn't have much prep work to do to get the car ready and the car actually stayed stateside as it made things a little easier. A quick nut and bolt check and a thorough cleaning was all we needed to get the car ready for the event!
Arriving at PittRace I was blown away by how amazing the facility looked, the track was huge as well at 2.7 miles it's definitely one of the longer tracks we've been to this season. We unloaded the car and got things ready for the start of what would turn out to be an epic weekend.
Friday consisted of 3 sessions for the day, our 1st session was a little challenging as I lost power steering on my first lap with it cutting in and out. If you've ever driven a FWD, high downforce car you'll know it's a pretty terrifying experience to not have power steering. Luckily the fix was pretty straight forward and we were able to get the car ready for our second session of the day. This did mean I was starting on the back foot though, the track is complicated and has 19 turns so there's definitely lots to learn.
Our second session of day 1 went a lot better, with my going flag to flag in the session turning 12 back to back hot laps. This gave me lots of time to learn the track and build up a rhythm which is so important here. Losing the 1st session almost didn't matter at this point as I had turned more laps then I usually would have by this time in the event. This was such a huge testament to how well we've built this package out this year being able to keep the car cool and reliable enough to do something like this at a 2.7 mile race track. We also managed to run a really competitive time on my first laps of the weekend, carving our way through traffic. As Day 1 wrapped up we were sitting in 2nd place, steadily improving our time in the last session of the day. We knew the morning session of Day 2 would be a really fast session so we prepared the car in the evening to be ready to go even faster.
Day 2 session 1 didn't disappoint, as I managed to turn a 1:47.920 lap which broke the FWD TrackMod record and put us squarely in 2nd place a few tenths behind 1st. The car was performing flawlessly and I was enjoying every second at this amazing race track. The remaining 2 sessions on Day 2 saw us get close to our morning session time, but the track got slower and slower as the day wore on with temperatures rising and grip fading.
We prepared for day 3 and most importantly for the Podium Sprint. The only thing we had to worry about for day 3 was rain, which was going to arrive right at the start of the Podium Sprint session. Rain isn't something we're really well prepared for, with no windshield wipers, no defrost and no real rain tires, we knew it was going to be a challenge. Throw in the fact that this was my first time at this track, I knew it was going to be a lot of work to secure a spot on the podium but I was more than up to the challenge. Sure enough as the podium sprint started, it started to lightly rain and by the time they were calling TrackMod to the pits it was raining pretty heavily. We prepared by putting the car on the wastegate and I dialed the ABS up to full rain. We had prepared the windows with as much rain x as they could take and we crossed our fingers for the best.
The team held towels over the windshield to keep things dry while I waited to be released on track and as I headed out, I mentally prepared myself for the fun I was about to have. As I got out of the pits, I started to try and put as much heat in the tires as I could on my out lap, while trying to see where the grip was. I was surprised by how much grip still remained, as I started my 1st lap I wanted to put a bit of a safe lap in to gauge how much grip there was. As I finished up lap 1 I realized there was actually a lot of grip still out there and got ready for a push lap, I managed to improve my time on my 2nd lap securing 2nd place and I prepared for my last lap where I figured I could really make the push for 1st. Unfortunately, as I started my 3rd lap the small sliver of visibility that I had disappeared and as I came on to the 2nd front straight away I was completely blind, I had to abort the lap as I came into turns 3-4 as I just couldn't see the race track.
As the session completed we were pushed back to 3rd place, but I was so proud of the finish as this was my first time in the rain in a while and we only just missed out on 2nd place by a tenth of a second, the car performed flawlessly all weekend and we were driving it back on the trailer. We had the best car we've had all season these last 3 events and we're heading into the off season knowing exactly what we need to do to prepare for the 2026 season.
The car is already back home and we're already starting the prep work for 2026. I want to thank everyone for their support this season, without your support none of what we've done would be possible. As we prepare for 2026 I look forward to getting the opportunity to work with all of you again and bringing you all home some more records, trophies and maybe even a championship!
