It was a long and eventful race meeting for the JDX Motorsports team at Laguna Secca for the American Le Mans Monterrey as pretty much everything that could set a team back for a race weekend happened to the squad at this event.  The team brought the gold Hertz/Robust Porsche GT3 car to Laguna on the Wednesday before the race to run some test sessions and prepare for the weekend ahead. Drivers Jan Heylen and Mike Hedlund were able to provide the team with very valuable data which would help progress development for the car for both the weekend at Laguna and in the future.

Things began to unravel for the team right at the end of the final practice session when the Porsche took a hard hit on a curb which resulted in a bent shock dampener shaft and a slightly tweaked chassis. The race schedule dictated that qualifying would begin ten minutes after the final practice session, so there was no time to completely assess and address the damage from the curb, so Jan had to deal with whatever handling issues the car had picked up, managing to put the Porsche in P5 on the grid which put the team in a good position to start the four hour race.

The  team spent all night installing new suspension components and development dampeners on the car and as the sun rose it was time to go racing.  Hedlund started the race and was able to get the car up into first place as the combination of Mike’s driving and the team’s strategy played out nicely.  Once Jan took the wheel over from Mike, he found himself out in third place and in a position to challenge for second place.  Once again, bad luck reared its head as Jan was forced back onto pit lane for a drive thru penalty plus a twenty second stop because of an improper drink bottle change, effectively ending any possibility of podium finish for the team. Nevertheless, Jan was able to bring the Porsche home in fifth place which resulted in some quality points for the championship.

Even though the weekend wasn’t what it could have been, Jan Heylen is still extremely optimistic and is taking it as a positive. “What a crazy weekend it was in Laguna!” Heylen said.   “The week started off well as we were able to get some quality testing prior to the weekend and improve our car’s set up.  The team always does a great job with strategy and Mike has done an awesome job starting off our races.  We were able to move up to third place in the race, but then unfortunately we had a problem with the exchange of the drink bottle which cost us a drive thru penalty.  Overall, we were still able to get some crucial points for the championship so we will go to Lime Rock looking to capitalize on the opportunities for more points!”

Co-driver Mike Hedlund had a very good stint, starting the race and eventually putting the Hertz/Robust Porsche GT3 into first place for a while.  “The race started off good even though it was a little hectic during the first few laps,” Hedlund said.  “Once it all settled in we were able to move up to P2 after the first restart and eventually got up to P1.  It was a good feeling to hand the car off to Jan in P1!”

The JDX Motorsports Hertz/Robust Porsche GT3 car will be back on the track July 6^th for the American Le mans Northeast Grand Prix at Lime Rock Park, Connecticut.