Double podium weekend at Sebring

Alex Sedgwick continued to turn heads in his rookie GT World Challenge America Presented by AWS season, not putting a foot wrong as he and Jan Heylen captured two second place finishes in the doubleheader at Sebring International Raceway.

The 26-year-old Warwickshire, UK native joined Heylen in pacing their No. 18 RS1/Race Brew by Momentum Brewery/PT Autosport/Porsche Naples Porsche 911 GT3 R among the leaders all weekend long.

The first two days were focused on helping Sedgwick and Heylen come to grips with the Porsche GT3 R on the infamous Sebring bumps, while new RS1 team engineer Bruno Braga got up to speed on the program. For Sedgwick, the priority continues to be tweaking two years of Porsche Carrera Cup North America driving style – and to get used to his third new tire in the past three years (Michelin, Yokohama, Pirelli).

“On the whole, the tests and practices were positive,” said Sedgwick. “The setup started off a lot closer than I think we did a at COTA so it was just a matter of getting comfortable with the car – it felt like all of my previous references and experience weren’t correct, because there are a lot more arrows you can fire with this car but there isn’t always time to work through as many as we would like.”

Sedgwick had plenty of arrows to fire on Saturday morning, putting the No. 18 Porsche GT3 R into second position in the Pro class, third overall for the afternoon’s race one. But in qualifying for race two, an incident in the first minute left Heylen with only five minutes to set a quick lap. At the checkered flag, Heylen had duplicated Sedgwick’s effort, P2 in the Pro class and fourth overall.

Later in the afternoon, Sedgwick took the green flag on the inside of row two, with the Pro class Mercedes making a bold move through Turn 1 and Sedgwick wisely not pressing his case, slotting into third. On lap three Sedgwick returned the favor, pressing the advantage to retake the position – but with the No. 51 BMW seizing the momentum to move ahead. Sedgwick and the Mercedes continued to pace nose to tail before Sedgwick cleared ahead. Holding his position to the mid-race driver change, RS1 performed flawlessly on the stop and got Heylen quickly back on track – but while he was able to make solid passes to move forward, he wasn’t able to make a pass for the lead and brought the car home in second position.

“We had a really, really strong car today,” said Sedgwick. “We got boxed in a little at the start and couldn’t stay with the BMW. We had pace and I think we could have been up there with the front runners in clean air, but it’s hard when the BMW pulls out five car lengths on every straight. But I was happy with my stint, had a pretty clean run and got what I could out of the situation. We had a really good pit stop on the hand-off to Jan and jumped a couple of cars in the pits but had to settle for P2. Happy with where the car is and how the team’s performing – all the, all the ingredients are there for more.”

Taking the green flag for Sunday’s race two on the inside of row two, Heylen, like Sedgwick, was boxed in on the inside through Turn One. Several Pro Am drivers pressed the advantage and at the end of lap one, Heylen held second in the Pro class but with two Pro Am cars between him and the class leader. He made a move on one of those cars to move into fourth overall with an hour to go.

Heylen pitted from the lead with 46 minutes remaining, with Sedgwick jumping in and slotting right on the rear wing of the class leader. As pit stops finished their cycle, Sedgwick and his seemingly constant nemesis, Kenton Koch, led the field. Koch’s BMW extended on Sedgwick’s Porsche, until a caution with 20 minutes left bunched the duo up. Going green with 15 minutes remaining, Sedgwick battled hard but was unable to close the distance, bringing home the team’s second podium of the weekend – the team’s fifth in the season’s six races.

“On the whole, a really positive weekend,” said Sedgwick. “I feel as though I’ve had a breakthrough in how I drive the GT3 R – in terms of pace, I matched Jan in qualifying and that bodes well for our performance going forward. Also hoping we’ll get some balance of performance adjustment in relation to the BMWs but with some clean air at VIR, I think we’ll be in good shape. Grateful to RS1 for all the work that they put in to get us to where we need to be, and to our new engineer, Bruno Braga, who was a really good addition to the team.”

PT Autosport team principal Jason Myers was one of many impressed with the performance from driver, machine and team at Sebring.

“A pair of second place finishes for Alex and Jan really solidifies just how consistent and talented they both are,” said Myers. “The No. 18 RS1/PT Autosport Porsche 992 GT3R ran flawlessly throughout the entire weekend, even with the heat, which shows just what capable machines they are. We’re really looking forward to getting back to the racing, though it is a bit of a long break until VIR – we are hoping to fill the gap with Alex running in some upcoming European-based endurance races in the interim to stay sharp. Also very thankful for our sponsor Race Brew 0.0 by Momentum Brewery, a true 0.0% beer imported from Germany and inspired by racing athletes. Our first brew arrives in a few weeks and we couldn’t be more excited!”

Next up for GT World Challenge America will be the doubleheader July 18-20 at VIRginia International Raceway. The races will be streamed live on YouTube, with an interactive broadcast on Twitch.