This past weekend was an exciting one at Virginia International Raceway for the SRO World Challenge event, where I continued working with Anthony Geraci and Kenny Schmied in the RAFA Racing Supra GT4.
The RAFA Racing season has been going great, with several podiums in the early part of the year. During the last round at Sebring a couple months ago (which feels like oh, so long ago), they came up just short of the podium because of some poor luck.
But, this past weekend at VIR, luck was for sure on their side. Anthony and Kenny came away with a pair of second-place finishes in both races following a roller-coaster couple of days that included cancelled practice sessions due to weather.
Speaking of unpredictable weather, even Saturday’s race one had its fair share of events, with a red flag delay due to lightning in the vicinity. The race was ultimately shortened to a six-lap dash to the end, where Kenny had a brilliant drive in his first rain experience at VIR, bringing home second place.
Sunday’s race was just as interesting, although the weather was very different: it was plenty hot and sunny. There was an array of penalties handed out during the race for various infractions, and that moved the RAFA Racing duo up to another second-place result. It rewarded the team for keeping their nose clean during the race and minimizing mistakes.
Reflecting on the event now that it’s over, it really was a tricky one. Track time was extremely limited with the cancelled sessions, so having a solid plan for each run we did get was critical. Executing on those plans was equally important, and it made all the difference to maximize each session.
Even without time on the track, we could still work on all the nuances, whether it was practicing driver changes or reviewing more data and video to really pinpoint where the opportunities were for the next chance to get out on the track. It sure paid off in the end, and the team now finds itself still in the championship points hunt with just three events left.