While Team Preps For Move To VIR, Ferriol Makes Endurance Debut With Andrew Davis and Markus Winkelhock
BRASELTON, Georgia (October 15, 2020) – Team Hardpoint, just approaching the one year anniversary of the race team’s formation, is laying the building blocks for the team’s strong future this week with its first IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship endurance race at Road Atlanta and a multi-year lease on a new headquarters in the VIRginia Motorsport Technology Park at VIRginia International Raceway (VIR).
Team Hardpoint will relocate its home base, including the No. 30 GridRival/Team Hardpoint Audi R8 LMS GT3, to the 10,000 square foot facility at VIR in the coming weeks. Previously, the team has based its operations in Fayetteville, North Carolina, near the home of team principal and driver Rob Ferriol.
The move will provide benefits for Team Hardpoint’s IMSA WeatherTech GT Daytona (GTD) program as well as future program expansions. As a tenant, Team Hardpoint will develop the racing program from a trackside location at one of the premier facilities in the country and a key stop on the annual IMSA calendar. Team Hardpoint and its race teams will gain access to the track on most days for invaluable testing time on VIR’s five distinct road courses and can take advantage of the 5/8-mile karting course, miles of off-road terrain and obstacle courses.
“VIR was where I became a fan of the sport, and where I first turned a wheel on a race track,” Ferriol said. “It’s always been the spiritual home of Team Hardpoint, and now there is no doubt about that. The addition of the race shop and headquarters at VIR gives us and our customers access to a world-class facility for testing and shake downs, and a leg-up on the competition for races. The multi-year lease is a signal to the rest of the world that we’re here to stay and can’t thank Connie and the team at VIR enough for their support in making this happen.”
The Technology Park hosts a variety of shops and businesses, all automotive or motorsports related.
“We’re thrilled to have Team Hardpoint relocating to our VIRginia Motorsport Technology Park,” Connie Nyholm, VIR Owner & CEO said. “The VMTP is full of motorsport businesses with strong ties in the automotive industry, they will fit right in. Having a professional IMSA race team on-site is an honor. VIR and our other tenants are looking forward to welcoming them, as will our VIR community and race fans, who now have someone to root for come race time.”
The long-term announcement adds to Team Hardpoint’s stability, and the team’s GTD program takes another leap forward this weekend at IMSA’s famed Motul Petit Le Mans at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta. The 10-hour race is the first IMSA endurance race for the team. Team Hardpoint elected to add the endurance races, which will include the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring, to the 2020 calendar.
Because of a prior commitment for usual sprint race co-driver Spencer Pumpelly, Ferriol will team with Audi Sport driver Markus Winkelhock and IMSA veteran Andrew Davis for this weekend’s race. The team is coming off of a season-best finish on the Charlotte Roval in a sprint race.
“Just a couple of weeks ago, we got to play a role in Audi Sport and WRT’s efforts at an eight-hour race to get a better feel for endurance racing,” Ferriol said. “Now, we get to take what we have learned all season long, combine that with the lessons that came from that outing, and toss in the experience that Markus and Andrew bring to make another leap forward as a team. Each race for us is a learning experience, and because of that preparation and improvement, we’re beginning to see the results.”
The race, which begins at 12:40 ET on Saturday, can be seen in its entirety via TrackPass on the NBCSN app, with the opening six hour and the closing 90 minutes broadcast live on NBCSN.
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.
Reece White
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(831) 383-9426