Stress Evaporates For Standout Benitez In Successful, Unexpected Return To Series

Angel Benitez Jr. had placed the Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge USA by Yokohama series into his mental rear-view mirror when he received a phone call in early June.

 

Venezuela native Benitez finished second in the Platinum Cup class of the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA)-sanctioned Single-Make Series in 2014, just eight points behind champion Colin Thompson. Benitez led the class with five victories.

 

Benitez had moved in 2015 to another IMSA-sanctioned Single-Make Series, ready to shift gears in his racing career after three seasons in the Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge USA by Yokohama, which included a Gold Cup championship in 2012 and a third-place finish in the Platinum Cup standings in 2013.

 

But the offer on this phone call was impossible to resist.

 

Jeremy Dale, owner of longtime series powerhouse JDX Racing, was on the line. Former standout sports car driver standout Dale wanted Benitez to drive his Hertz-sponsored Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car for the rest of the 2015 Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge USA by Yokohama season, starting with Rounds 5 and 6 at Watkins Glen International. It didn’t take long for Dale and Benitez to make a deal.

 

“I wasn’t looking at all,” Benitez said of job prospects in the series before Dale’s call. “That’s life. When you’re not looking for something, it appears. When you’re looking, when you really want them, it normally takes you awhile and hard work.

 

“This one wasn’t that tough. So I’m happy it came that way. I’m just here having fun and trying to make proud all of the people who put everything together.”

 

Angel Benitez Jr.

Benitez repaid Dale’s faith in him immediately. He made his season debut in late June by sweeping both races at Watkins Glen in the No. 05 JDX Racing Porsche.

 

Winning was nothing new for Benitez in this highly competitive series. He has earned 12 victories in Platinum Cup since the start of the 2013 season, five more than any other driver.

 

But this was different.

 

Benitez drove last season for his family-owned Formula Motorsport/Avid Motorsport, led by his father, Angel Benitez Sr. But driving was only one of his many roles for the small, plucky team.

 

“I was a team owner, team manager, driver,” Benitez said. “All the pressure was on me, and if I didn’t win, it was because of me. Too many things together. It was so difficult. I’m happy that even when I couldn’t deliver the championship to my dad, we had this second place and the most victories in the championship.

 

“We showed them you didn’t have to have a lot of money, you don’t need 10 cars, you don’t need a bunch of infrastructure. You just need the passion.”

 

That passion always showed during the crucible of the four-man Platinum Cup title fight last season between Thompson, Benitez, Michael Lewis and Sloan Urry. But the stress of balancing so many roles sometimes took its toll on the affable, popular Benitez, whose racing heart beats through the Nomex fabric of his driver’s suit.

 

So the chance to concentrate on driving within the well-established infrastructure and sponsorship of Dale’s team lured Benitez immediately, even if it meant doubling his workload due to commitments in another series.

 

“My work is just to deliver good feedback to the engineers, to put the car together, and I think we’re bonding as a team,” Benitez said. “We have good people here working. It is like going from hell to heaven.

 

“Right now I’m more relaxed. I’m living the experience again, but a lot less stress.”

 

The transition from sweating every detail of multitasking with his family-owned team in 2014 to focusing on driving and data in 2015 manifests itself in so many ways, big and small.

 

Benitez no longer needs to book hotel rooms for the team. He no longer needs to check the team’s tire inventory with Yokohama. He has a dedicated engineer, with an assistant, to pore over data after each session.

 

“Last year (engineering) was with my dad,” Benitez said. “We looked at the video. We didn’t know how to do the data ourselves with the Pi system. So it was like, ‘What do you think?’ ‘Well, I felt this.’

 

“I know I was giving good feedback, but the data doesn’t lie. I might be wrong at some little points. It ended up working, but right now but it’s more about learning and enjoying the experience compared to last year.”

 

Still, Benitez admits it took awhile for him to silence the voices in the back of his head asking if his lighter workload this year with JDX would result in slower lap times.

 

Angel Benitez Jr., left, returned to the series with two victories in June at Watkins Glen.

Sweeping Watkins Glen quelled most of that doubt. And two runner-up finishes at the next two rounds, in mid-July at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, ended those thoughts for good. Benitez has scored 76 points in the last four rounds, four shy of perfection and 11 more than any other driver in Platinum Cup.

 

“I’m learning that I can be as quick as I was last year without that much stress on me,” Benitez said. “It’s actually better. I can drive longer without the stress. I don’t get tired as quickly. Racing is 80 percent mental and 20 percent physical.”

 

That strong performance vaulted Benitez, a Miami resident, to fifth in the standings despite missing the first three rounds of the season. He is 45 points behind championship leader Elliott Skeer with nine rounds remaining.

 

A championship charge is possible, but a long shot. Benitez probably must win nearly every remaining round to have a chance of overhauling Skeer, Jesse Lazare, Kasey Kuhlman and Andrew Longe in the standings. But he knows how to find the top step of the overall podium better than anyone in the class, which provides another mental boost.

 

“I like to win,” Benitez said. “I think all the racers love to win. But I have tasted it. So I’m confident with what I can do. And with the proper people next to me, we don’t need to push ourselves. We just need to make sure we always do our best, and the results will come.”

 

Meanwhile, Benitez is savoring every moment of his unexpected fourth season in the Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge USA by Yokohama. He’s in a different place, a good place, grateful for the sweat and sacrifices by his father in the past and excited about the future with JDX.

 

If Benitez turned this hot streak into an improbable championship charge, he insists the title would simply be a repayment to Dale and the JDX crew for their belief in him, not the sweetest possible vindication due to the incredible circumstances.

 

“I would be happy and excited because I will be rewarding the people who trust me,” Benitez said. “That’s the important part. Honestly, I feel like I won the championship last year. I don’t need the bigger trophy. I won the most races, smaller team, I was all by myself; we didn’t do any data. I feel like a champion. I fulfilled my dream last year.

 

“Right now I’m just trying to get into that pro side of racing. If you trust me, I’m going to deliver to you what you are looking for in a driver. I don’t even want to think what’s going to happen with the championship because it’s going to be a fun story if it happens. If not, I just plan to win as much as I can and enjoy the experience and enjoy being in a really good series. I’m just grateful with life and with the people who trust me here. I’m just going to deliver what I was brought here for.”

 

Rounds 9 and 10 of the Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge USA by Yokohama are scheduled for Aug. 7-9 at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin.

 

For more information about the Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge USA by Yokohama, visit www.gt3cupchallengeusa.com, follow hashtag #GT3USA @IMSA on Twitter or IMSA on Facebook.

 

Adam Sinclair