After three days of on and off-track evaluations at New Jersey Motorsports Park, PT Autosport has chosen Zach Hollingshead because the crew’s 2024 Aspiring Driver Shootout winner.
Hollingshead, 21, will obtain a driver partnership value as much as $250,000 (with $50,000 assured). Liam Crystal, 22, completed in second place and earned $10,000 towards a racing college or teaching program, whereas Max Stallone, 18, got here in third place to take house a $5,000 racing college scholarship or equal teaching bundle.
“This implies the world to me,” mentioned Hollingshead. “I assumed it might be a tossup between any one in every of us. It feels superior – it signifies that all the things I’ve been doing for the previous three years has lastly come to gentle, that every one the arduous work has paid off. I get to signify an incredible crew, and I hope to indicate them what I can do. It took some time to get rolling this week, as I’d by no means pushed something mid-engine. It undoubtedly took just a few periods to get used to, however in the long run, I feel I dealt with it fairly nicely and put down just a few good laps. For the qualifying sim, all the things got here collectively, and I used to be capable of simply lock in. An enormous because of PT Autosport for this wonderful alternative.”
Hollingshead began karting in Florida, ending third in Rotax Junior within the 2017 Florida Winter Tour. He then joined the famend Ocala Gran Prix crew, racing towards drivers reminiscent of Kyle Kirkwood and Oliver Askew. Shifting into automobiles this 12 months, Hollingshead contested two Mazda MX-5 Cup races – and two Toyota GR Cup races with Copeland Motorsports. Hollingshead has labored with Copeland as a mechanic this season alongside his father, incomes the seat on the VIRginia Worldwide Raceway doubleheader.
“This has undoubtedly the closest subject we’ve had,” mentioned Sedgwick, PT Autosport’s Porsche Carrera Cup North America driver and driver improvement coordinator. “The whole lot was so shut, even with so many assessments and so many makes an attempt to separate them up so far as expertise was involved. It’s been a really tough resolution, they’re all deserving in a method or one other. Zach’s story could be very cool, since he’s been working in racing, getting a chance to drive this 12 months as a thanks for all of that tough work. He did a great job throughout that race weekend and in the end, when it got here all the way down to it this week, he was the one who delivered. He’s the best selection for right here and now we all know we even have a second and third that warrant extra investigation and extra time, and with extra improvement they’re going to be very, very sturdy.”
The finalists have been examined on quite a lot of fronts, together with health, media, simulator work, and naturally, driving, led by the crew’s stellar quartet of driver coaches: Porsche Driving Specialists Ric Collins and Anton Spires, race and rally teacher Cameron Davies, and veteran racer and coach Moh Ritson. Sedgwick managed operations and driver improvement, overseeing all elements of the Shootout, whereas 2022 Shootout winner Henry Drury – the 2024 Toyota GR Cup rookie of the 12 months – additionally dealt with teaching duties, whereas additionally managing information from every automobile.
Monday’s health take a look at gave the coaches an opportunity to see every finalist’s strengths and weaknesses, by a rigorous set of presses, crunches, sprints and response analyses. The media take a look at was damaged into two elements: a five-minute ready presentation detailing every finalist’s background, and a subsequent Q&A.
Finalists have been then judged on their sim talents working iRacing’s Toyota GR Cup automobile at NJMP. Every finalist labored with a driver coach prematurely, then have been graded on development over the sim session, specializing in their means to stability pace and automobile management.
The driving portion of the Shootout started within the crew’s pair of spec Porsche Boxsters. The finalists have been assessed not simply on outright pace, however on consistency, automobile management, gear choice, development by the periods, and willingness to be taught from their driver coach – culminating in a two-lap qualifying simulation, with Hollingshead popping out on high.
The selection was extraordinarily tough for all of the judges, together with crew principal Jason Myers.
“It was the hardest decision-making course of we’ve ever confronted,” mentioned Myers. “There was a lot expertise, and the lap occasions have been extremely aggressive – despite the fact that that’s not what we absolutely base our resolution on, it was useful within the deciding issue. They’ve all been very fast, progressively studying and getting quicker over the three days. Ultimately, it got here all the way down to 4 or 5 very extremely certified candidates that every one deserved an opportunity at profitable however in Zach, we see loads of grit and willpower. So many individuals discuss desirous to get into racing, however he’s been there at each GR Cup race weekend, working to make that dream come true. We imagine he’ll be an enormous asset to PT Autosport.”
