Best performance of the season so far for Ian Lacey Racing at VIR

Round three of the GT World Challenge America from the Virginia International Raceway at the weekend proved itself to be a massive step forward for the sole Aston Martin Racing V8 Vantage GT3 Ian Lacey Racing car of Frank Gannett and Drew Staveley after stepping into the GT3 class almost cold at the start of the season.

With the series moving on from the opening round at Sonoma in early March where the team had little to no time to familiarise themselves with their new GT3 having competed in GT4 America with Ford Mustangs last season to the Circuit of the Americas last time out in early May, the team had the benefit of technicians and engineering staff over from the Prodrive factory to help them familiarise themselves with the racing characteristics of the new car at those events.

Still testing hard between events, this weekend’s third round at VIR was with the team running the car solo on site (we don’t know if they utilise their remote on-line assistance offered by AMR to its Partner teams) and the weekend’s results proved that they have made significant steps forward with their 2021 programme.

Penalised in Q1 for track limits, Gannett would again have to start from the rear of the grid as a consequence of his actions but nevertheless, he had moved up to P11 (out of the 15 runners) by the end of the first half hour of the ninety-minute race just ahead of a Safety Car for a Lamborghini on fire and just before the pit window which brought everyone back together again.

With Staveley now in the car, he would run as high as P6 overall (P3 in Pro-Am) before eventually finishing in a season best P8 overall (P5 in Class).

For R2, Staveley would start P13 but was soon up to P11 by the time an early FCY for tyre debris on track before running as high as P8 overall just ahead of the pit window. With Gannett back behind the wheel to the close, he took the #12 AMR back up to P8 on track as he clocked off the laps from his 45-minute cycle before completing a very positive weekend for the team in P11 overall (P8 in Pro-Am).

These results lift the team and drivers up to P10 in the Pro-Am Drivers Championship and P5 in the Pro-Am Team’s Championship as the Series moves onto Road America at the end of August.

A great set of results for all concerned.

Photo credits – GTWCA / Team