The No. 99 GridRival Porsche 911 GT3 R Returns to Action at Virginia International Raceway In the WeatherTech Championship while No. 22 Racing to End Alzheimer’s Porsche Cayman Continues its Michelin Pilot Challenge Season
DANVILLE, Virginia (August 26, 2022) – Hardpoint takes on a rare milestone this weekend at Virginia International Raceway (VIR) with a rare “home game” during IMSA’s Michelin GT Challenge, running the No. 99 GridRival Porsche 911 GT3 R in the WeatherTech Championship GT class and the No. 22 Racing to End Alzheimer’s Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport in the GS Class of Michelin Pilot Challenge. Hardpoint’s headquarters and race shop is located just steps from the main gate of VIR, on the campus of the Virginia Motorsports Technology complex.
Nick Galante and Sean McAlister will drive the No. 22 Racing to End Alzheimer’s Porsche Cayman against the rest of the Michelin Pilot Challenge field in a two hour race on Saturday afternoon, beginning at 4:40 p.m. EDT and streamed live on Peacock, NBC’s streaming platform. Team owner Rob Ferriol and Katherine Legge will share driving duties in the No. 99 GridRival Porsche 911 GT3 R on Sunday afternoon in the two-hour, 45-minute WeatherTech SportsCar Championship race. That race is live on CNBC and streaming on Peacock beginning at 2 p.m. EDT.
Hardpoint Pre-Race News and Notes
This weekend marks the return to the IMSA WeatherTech Championship for Hardpoint’s No. 99 GridRival Porsche 911 GT3 R for the first time since the six-hour race at Watkins Glen, and the first sprint race since WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca back in April.
Ferriol’s start as a racer came at VIR, first as a fan and then in a track day behind the wheel of his street Porsche 911. That progressed quickly to Porsche Club of America racing, then IMSA’s then-Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge North America. Ferriol went from fan to Porsche racing team owner in less than five years.
The VIR round of the WeatherTech Championship features only the GTD and GTD Pro classes on the entry list, eliminating the traffic of the Prototype-class cars that are typically sprinkled in to the mix. Both classes run in identical cars, with only the driver line-ups separating the class.
Hardpoint’s No. 22 Racing to End Alzheimer’s Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport is coming off its best finish of the season at Road America, where they finished ninth in the GS class. The team continues to carry the names and hometowns of race fans’ loved ones who suffer or have suffered from Alzheimer’s.
Galante and McAlister will share driving duties again this weekend after being joined by John Capestro-Dubets for the four-hour race at Road America. Galante will qualify and start the race, with McAlister finishing the stint.
As it’s home race, the team has a number of off-track activities and guests this weekend. In the midway, the Hardpoint by Delta Sport simulator, including Asetek pedals and chassis from Advance SimRacing, will allow fans to drive a virtual lap around VIR in the Porsche 911 GT3 R. A number of guests and partners are in attendance this weekend, including friends and family. The team is hosting an open house at the Hardpoint headquarters on Saturday evening for industry insiders. Ferriol and Legge are both participating in the track’s Fan Forum on Saturday afternoon.
Hardpoint Quote Board
Rob Ferriol, Driver, No. 99 Porsche 911 GT3 R: “The pressure is always high when the IMSA calendar flips to August. The VIR round is simultaneously the hardest and easiest round on the schedule. With friends, family, and VIPs in attendance, it feels very much like a backyard BBQ to mark the end of Summer, but that also means the expectation is high when we roll out of the garage and onto our favorite American road course. The Full Course at VIR throws everything at you, and by extension, throws everything at your engineering team. You need a nimble car down at the bottom of the track, and you need a fast, slippery car at the top. It means walking and chewing gum at the same time, and it means accepting compromises on both sides to ensure you’ve got a well-balanced car that can carve its way around Turns 1 and 4, but stay planted as you go flat up the esses in sixth gear.”
Katherine Legge, Driver, No. 99 Porsche 911 GT3 R: “We’re ready to get to VIR, but really we’re just ready to get back into the No. 99 Porsche. It’s been a challenging year and we’ve handled it well, but I’m at my most relaxed in the car. The home race here at VIR brings some additional excitement with extra activities, but our job will be to focus behind the wheel and see if we can bring home a result for the team and the home fans.”
Nick Galante, Driver, No. 22 Porsche Cayman: “I love coming to VIR anyway, but to be here at Hardpoint’s home track adds even more fun to the weekend. We made a lot of progress at Road America with the car, so the challenge will be to bring that momentum to a new track. I still get the extra motivation from carrying the Racing to End Alzheimer’s names around with us every lap, so it would be a dream to combine both of those into a podium this weekend.”
Sean McAlister, Driver, No. 22 Porsche Cayman: “We’re going to take what we learned at Road America with the car and work to try to make it even better at VIR. There’s a bit more pressure to perform well for the team at the home track, but as the home track of the team they’ve all seen this track more often than others so we can use a lot of that knowledge from each individual to make this an even more successful weekend. VIR, in my opinion, is one of the more difficult tracks on the schedule but I think that challenge makes it more fun and satisfying to get right. There are some very technical sections that can yield a lot of lap time if you can get through them right and the esses are always a lot of fun to get right.”
About Hardpoint:
Hardpoint was founded by Rob Ferriol in 2018 with the vision of combining his experience as a successful entrepreneur with his passion for racing. Headquartered at VIRginia International Raceway, the team captured the 2021 Porsche Carrera Cup North America Pro-Am championship in its inaugural season and competes full-time in the IMSA WeatherTech Sports Car Championship in the No. 99 GridRival Porsche 911 GT3 R with co-drivers Ferriol and Katherine Legge, joined by Stefan Wilson for Michelin Endurance Cup races. In 2022, Hardpoint has added the No. 22 Racing To End Alzheimer’s Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport driven by Nick Galante and Sean McAllister in IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge Grand Sport (GS), as well as the No. 428 TradeCentric Porsche 911 GT3 Cup driven by Brady Behrman in International GT. More information on Hardpoint can be found at www.hardpoint.com or through its strong social media presence on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
