Nearly Spotless Koch Continues To Push Hard For Perfection

Kenton Koch is just two points shy of perfection through six rounds this season in the Cooper Tires Prototype Lites Powered by Mazda.

 

Koch has won five of six starts in his rookie year in the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) Official Development Series, finishing second in the other in the No. 60 JDC Motorsports entry. He has started from the pole in five of six rounds.

 

He leads the Lites 1 championship with 118 out of a possible 120 points. He is 30 points – a gap of 1 ½ races – ahead of second-place Clark Toppe before the halfway point of the season.

 

Here’s a scary thought: Koch thinks he can get even better.

 

Koch, from Glendora, California, spent the gap between Rounds 3 and 4 in mid-April at NOLA Motorsports Park – which he swept – and Round 5 and 6 on June 26-27 at Watkins Glen International working out in the gym and training on a computer racing simulator to hone his skills. That’s no different than most of his rivals in the series.

 

But Koch has a secret weapon. It’s not a special tweak to his Élan DP02 chassis, Mazda engine or Cooper tires. It’s higher education in racing.

 

Koch, 20, was selected this year as one of 12 drivers from around the world to participate in the 2015 FIA Young Driver Excellence Academy after winning the Americas selection event, one of six regional qualifiers around the world.

 

Participating drivers hail from Australia, Brazil, Great Britain, France, Kuwait, Slovenia, South Africa and Cyprus.

 

The Academy features five workshops in Europe to help develop every area of a young race driver’s craft. Seminars include coaching on fitness, nutrition and mental preparation, classroom training for race-driving techniques and on-track instruction. Former Formula One podium finisher and 24 Hours of Le Mans overall winner Alex Wurz is one of the instructors.

 

Koch was unable to attend the first two workshops due to personal and racing commitments, but he flew to Germany in mid-May for the third workshop.

 

“I learned a lot,” Koch said. “I could go on for 20 or 30 minutes about what I learned. We talked about friction circles, slip angles and personality tests, a lot of self-evaluation on physical and nutrition. In the past four weeks, I’ve been able to utilize that stuff.

 

“I’ve been able to put everything into practice immediately, and having a month between the academy and the Watkins Glen race, I’ve seen improvements in my physical condition and mental preparation.”

 

That enhancement paid off during a rainy event at Watkins Glen, a track where he never raced before last week. Koch already proved his skill in wet conditions by winning Round 4 during a heavy downpour in mid-April at NOLA Motorsports Park.

 

But his moisture mastery was even more apparent at The Glen. Round 6 started in dry conditions, with drivers on slick tires. But rain intensified right after the start, with drivers pitting under a red flag for a change took place in a driving rain, and Koch drove away from the field.

 

Koch’s considerable talent was placed front and center on the final restart. He built a lead of 4.860 seconds after just one lap, expanding that gap to 14.733 seconds three laps after the restart. The race ended under caution in heavy rain, with Koch scoring his fourth consecutive victory.

 

“I love the wet,” Koch said. “I was a little bit timid and I wasn’t sure what was going to happen in the wet, but I gave it my all. Once I found out where the wet line was, I just did my laps and was able to pull a gap on the rest of the field.”

 

Koch showed similar speed in dry conditions from the moment he first tested a Prototype Lites car last October at Road Atlanta, after clinching the Battery Tender Mazda MX-5 Cup championship. He acclimated quickly from the lower downforce and power levels of the MX-5 to the increased grunt and grip of the Lites car.

 

“I was really worried about it, honestly,” Koch said of the transition into a new car and series. “That transition from an MX-5 to a prototype is a difficult transition for most. I got in the car, felt how it was driving, and from there I felt I could get the hang of it pretty quick.

 

“For me, mentally and physically I was able to wrap my mind around things and just get my mind set into that go faster for more grip. How I look at it is speed is relevant to how much grip you have. There was a ton of grip, so there was a lot of confidence-inspiring grip there. It’s nice.”

 

But Koch did need to adapt to one major difference of his new machine. The grip and power of the Lites car place higher stresses and g-forces on a driver’s body, and Koch knew immediately he needed to place more emphasis on conditioning.

 

“I was not expecting the car to be so physical,” Koch said. “The steering wheel is heavy. You have to press the brake pedal pretty dang hard to get the thing to stop.

 

“The g-force is one thing, but my neck is pretty strong, so I wasn’t really worried about that. But I stepped out of the car after my first session at Road Atlanta, and I said, ‘Holy crap, I need to go to the gym more.’ I guess that’s the one thing I’ve been doing the past eight months is going to the gym non-stop and making myself stronger. Since (the test at) Road Atlanta, I’ve gotten myself in physically fit condition.”

 

The two remaining FIA Young Driver Excellence Academy sessions this year will help Koch strengthen his body, mind and racecraft even more. One workshop is scheduled for late July in Austria, with the final workshop at the start of September at Circuit Paul Ricard in France.

 

“It’s going to be an interesting couple of more workshops because of all the things I’ve learned,” Koch said. “It’s going to be awesome to learn more.”

 

And perhaps get even faster, much to his rivals’ dismay.

 

Rounds 7 and 8 of the Cooper Tires Prototype Lites Powered by Mazda season are scheduled for July 10-12 at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park in Bowmanville, Ontario, during the Mobil 1 SportsCar Grand Prix Presented by Hawk Performance TUDOR United SportsCar Championship weekend.

 

For more information about Cooper Tires Prototype Lites Powered by Mazda, visit www.imsa.com, follow hashtags #CTPL and #MRT24 @IMSA on Twitter or IMSA on Facebook.

Adam Sinclair