Team’s Porsche Carrera Cup Drivers Riley Dickinson, Efrin Castro Both had Battles For Wins Early in the Day
ELKHART LAKE, Wisconsin (August 8, 2021) – Team Hardpoint EBM earned a hard-fought eighth-place finish in IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship GT Daytona (GTD) competition on Sunday afternoon at Road America, while the team’s two Porsche Carrera Cup North America battled for their own race leads earlier that morning.
The GTD finish for co-drivers Rob Ferriol and Katherine Legge included a pair of laps led during the race for the first time this season during the pit stop cycle for the No. 88 Richard Mille/GridRival Porsche 911 GT3 R. It also saw Ferriol, the Team Hardpoint EBM owner, take over the Bob Akin Award point lead for eligible FiA Bronze-rated drivers.
Ferriol began the race in 11th place and improved to 8th during his hour-long stint in the car.
“I said coming into the weekend that every time we come out with the car we’re smarter, we’re faster, we’re more capable and we’re more competitive and we showed that,” Ferriol said. “I think we had it in us to fight a little higher up the grid but Katherine’s clutch started to fade at the end. It limited how much progress we could make, but I was happy with the car when I was in it and was extremely happy watching Katherine fight her way through the field.”
Legge took over for the second half of the race and held off a host of fellow pro drivers to the finish despite an issue with the clutch that began early in her stint.
“I had some good fun battles,” Legge said. “The team executed without fault, no mistakes were made. I feel like we’re making progress. We plan to go testing again soon, so I think that will again aid our march up the grid and we’ll be able to fix the problems that we had and come back even stronger at Laguna.”
In the 45-minute Porsche Carrera Cup North America race, Riley Dickinson moved temporarily to the front from his third-place starting position in the opening corner before settling into second place through two early caution periods.
On the lap seven restart, Dickinson and his No. 53 Porsche Austin/Team Hardpoint EBM Porsche 911 GT3 Cup was involved in a tight battle up front. Coming through Turn Six Dickinson was pushed wide and off track, dropping all the way to ninth in the running order. His competitor was penalized for the contact, but Dickinson was left with a seventh-place finish just one day after a podium.
“After Watkins Glen, for better or worse, I felt the pressure a little bit,” Dickinson said. “I wanted to give the Team Hardpoint EBM guys and Porsche Austin a better result, because that’s what they deserve. I was pushing a little bit harder this weekend, but ultimately things out of our control got in the way. We had the pace, we had the fastest lap, and we had the fastest car on track. In hindsight I probably could have done things a little bit differently but in the heat of the battle, I got the raw end of the deal on that one. We’re extremely proud of what we did this weekend, even though we didn’t get the result today to show for it. Going into Indianapolis, we know for a fact that we have the pace to fight with these guys.”
Efrin Castro also fell all the way to seventh in the Pro-Am class after an unsuccessful battle for the lead. Just one lap after Dickinson’s incident, Castro drove his No. 65 Fine Fare Supermarkets/GoDominicanRepublic.com Porsche 911 GT3 Cup deep into Turn One in a battle for the lead. With the track still damp from the overnight rains, Castro couldn’t find enough grip and ran off track – carefully rejoining the race after traveling through a gravel trap and eventually finishing seventh in the race. Castro was attempting to earn his second win of the season, which has been paired with five runner-up finishes to date in the eight-race schedule.
“The car was really good for this race,” Castro said. “Team Hardpoint EBM always gives me a good car, but today I was more connected with the car. I feel like I had to go for it. The opportunity was there and I have enough second-place trophies – I wanted a win! It was a little bit damp on the outside and I overcooked the corner. But that’s what we’re here for. We’re here to put on a show. It’s about giving it your all, and I did there. It was a great race and I hope everybody enjoyed it.”
Both Team Hardpoint EBM’s efforts return to action on the weekend of September 10-12. Ferriol, Legge and the No. 88 Richard Mille/GridRival Porsche 911 GT3 R join the IMSA WeatherTech Championship field at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca. That same weekend, the Porsche Carrera Cup North America will conduct a tripleheader race weekend at Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the Porsche SportsCar Together Fest.
About Team Hardpoint EBM:
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. Team Hardpoint EBM is a joint venture between Team Hardpoint and Earl Bamber Motorsport formed in late 2020 to utilize the resources of EBM and co-owners Earl Bamber and Will Bamber and the early success of Team Hardpoint. Headquartered at VIRginia International Raceway, the team’s 2021 plans include a full-season effort in the IMSA WeatherTech Sports Car Championship in a Porsche 911 GT3 R and a multi-car effort in the IMSA Porsche Carrera Cup North America. More information on Team Hardpoint EBM can be found at www.hardpoint.com or through its strong social media presence on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
