No. 14 AIM Vasser Sullivan Lexus Drivers Like Their GTD Championship Chances - Speedway Digest

By Mark Robinson

IMSA Wire Service

They may be running third in the three-horse race for the GT Daytona (GTD) championship, but Jack Hawksworth and Aaron Telitz like their odds for coming away with the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship class title when the checkered flag waves Saturday at the 68th Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Presented by Advance Auto Parts.

Hawksworth, in fact, says, “I feel like in many ways we’re the favorites” in the No. 14 AIM Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3.

Telitz sits third in driver points, eight behind No. 86 Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian Acura drivers Mario Farnbacher and Matt McMurry, and a single point behind No. 16 Wright Motorsports Porsche drivers Patrick Long and Ryan Hardwick. The No. 14 is 10 points behind the No. 86 in the team standings and Lexus is a mere two points shy of Acura in manufacturer bragging rights, so all the championships are up for grabs in the iconic race that closes the 2020 season.

Hawksworth based his optimism for overcoming the deficits on recent history. He and Telitz won the Cadillac Grand Prix of Sebring in July, though it was the standard two-hour, 40-minute distance and not the marathon 12 hours. Kyle Kirkwood joins them as the third driver in the No. 14 this weekend.

“I feel pretty good about this one, to be honest,” Hawksworth said. “We obviously raced there earlier in the year in the sprint race and we won. We feel like we’ve got a good baseline there, we’ve got a good car.

“The points situation is what it is,” he added. “Basically, that means we just need to win this race and I think the Acura (No.) 86 needs to finish (fifth) or worse. It’s definitely possible; I feel like we’re in really, really good shape.”

Telitz has accumulated two more driver points than Hawksworth (248-246) because he drove two races this season in the team’s No. 12 Lexus. There was discussion within the team of splitting the drivers between the two cars to double the chances of winning the drivers’ title, but it was quickly nixed.

“We did decide that our best chance is to stack the (No.) 14 car as best we can and have the best drivers, best everything and just go for it,” Telitz said. “We’ve got a great lineup and our car is quick at Sebring, so we’ve just got to execute now.”

Telitz and Hawksworth have already won the IMSA WeatherTech Sprint Cup, consisting of points accumulated in the seven races this season of two hours, 40 minutes or less. It marked Lexus’ first championship of any kind in its fourth year of GTD competition.

“It is testament to the hard work of everybody at the AIM Vasser Sullivan team and Lexus that we have been able to secure the first title in IMSA for the Lexus RC F GT3 car,” said Hawksworth, who has been with the Lexus program since its inception. “A lot of time and effort has gone into making this happen over a number of years, so to see it all come together and culminate in a championship is very special.”

Now, however, the focus quickly shifts to the overall class championship. A Sebring victory would go a long way in making that happen plus provide Lexus another first: an endurance race win.

“Winning the Twelve Hours of Sebring is a huge accomplishment in itself and that’s our goal,” Telitz said. “We’re going in there guns a-blazing, going for the win. Everybody knows it. And whatever happens championship-wise, we’ll take it from there.”

“The race in itself is a championship,” Hawksworth added, “as are all of these big races – 24 Hours of Daytona, Sebring, Petit Le Mans. Just winning one of those big races can kind of make your season anyway. And as we spoke about, the situation we’re in points-wise, we have to win the race so it’s pretty simple, really. We want to win the Twelve Hours of Sebring, and if we do that, I think we’ll probably win the championship.”

WeatherTech Championship action at the Sebring season finale begins with three practices Thursday and qualifying the following day. Complete live race coverage starts at 10 a.m. ET Saturday on NBCSN, moving to NBC at 3 p.m. and switching back to NBCSN at 6 p.m. until the race’s conclusion.

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Adam Sinclair

NHRA, IHRA, Motocross and other forms of motorsports Staff writer
About Me: Adam has been a race fan since the first time he went through the tunnel under the Daytona International Speedway almost 30 years ago. He has had the privilege of travelling to races all across the state of Florida (as well as one race in Ohio), watching nearly everything with a motor compete for fame and glory, as well as participating in various racing schools to get the feel of what racecar drivers go through every week. Adam has spent the last three years covering motorsports for Examiner.com., where he had the opportunity to see the racing world from behind the scenes as well as the grandstands. He invites everyone to follow him on Twitter, Facebook, and Google Plus, and looks forward to sharing his enthusiasm for all things racing with the readers of SpeedwayDigest.com.Be sure to tune in for his weekly sports talk program, Thursday Night Thunder, where he discusses the latest in motorsports news with drivers, crew members, and fans. The show takes place every Thursday at 8:00 pm EST on the Speedway Digest Radio Network.