Ferriol and Pumpelly Co-Drive the Audi R8 LMS GT3 For the Season’s Final Sprint Race
MONTEREY, California (October 30, 2020) – Team Hardpoint heads to west this week for the final IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship sprint race of the 2020 season at the 2.238-mile WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca. Rob Ferriol and Spencer Pumpelly will co-drive the No. 30 GridRival/Team Hardpoint Audi R8 LMS GT3 in the GT Daytona (GTD) class during the two-hour, 40-minute race.
The green flag flies at 1:05 p.m. PT (4:05 p.m. ET) on Sunday, November 1, live on the NBCSN app through TrackPass. The race will air with a slight delay on NBCSN, the same day, beginning at 6:30 p.m. ET.
Ferriol and Pumpelly teamed together for a fourth-place finish in the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge Grand Sport (GS) class a year ago at the track.
“We’re really looking forward to getting back out to Laguna for a variety of reasons,” Ferriol said. “Spencer and I certainly have last year’s strong GS results we can build on as we get up to speed. In the GT3 car specifically, though, we feel like we’ve grown as a team over these past few events, even if the results haven’t shown it. We’re hoping that combination allows us to put it all together this weekend.”
Team Hardpoint was originally scheduled to compete in only the Sprint Cup races during the 2020 season, with Ferriol and Pumpelly co-driving, before the team added additional endurance races in the latter half of the year – including the season-finale Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring. Because of prior commitments during the endurance races, however, this will be the final race of 2020 where Ferriol and Pumpelly will share the Team Hardpoint Audi.
“Spencer has been an integral part of getting us to this point as a team, and obviously it won’t be the last time we see him,” Ferriol said. “But we’d love to end the 2020 Sprint Cup season with a strong result before heading to Sebring. Spencer put in a tremendous amount of work during this maiden season for Team Hardpoint and deserves to end it on a high note.”
The Team Hardpoint transporter is already on the road to Monterey, California. The No. 30 GridRival/Team Hardpoint Audi R8 LMS GT3 is on track for the first time for a one-hour practice at 8 a.m. PT on Saturday, October 31, followed by another one-hour practice at noon. Sunday features a quick turnaround, with an 8:30 a.m. PT qualifying session to start the day and set the grid for the 1:05 p.m. PT race.
About Hardpoint Motorsports:
Hardpoint Motorsports was founded by Rob Ferriol in 2018 with the vision of combining his experience as a successful entrepreneur with his passion for racing. The Hardpoint brand brings together three distinct entities into one motorsport ecosystem. Team Hardpoint is the brand’s racing arm, providing its partners and customers opportunities to compete, brand, and promote in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship GT Daytona class and the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge. Hardpoint Outfitters helps other teams and drivers extract more value from their motorsport investment by bundling branding, activation, and digital marketing services into customized turnkey packages, including design, apparel, hospitality, and social media management. The Hardpoint Paddock Foundation is the newest element of the ecosystem, created as a charitable foundation to support out of work paddock workers through the COVID-19 shutdown. As the shutdown comes to an end, the 501(c)3 Foundation is expected to grow into a more sustained model of providing vocational and educational support services to the professional sports car paddock community. More information on all of the Hardpoint Motorsports enterprises can be found at www.hardpoint.com or through its strong social media presence on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
