GT4 America: Erika Hoffmann and Riley Dickinson win Hard Charger Award in second race at Road America
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Erika Hoffmann and new teammate Riley Dickinson showed significant potential during the latest Pirelli GT4 America round at Road America, winning the Hard Charger award for recovering 20 positions in the second contest.
Erika Hoffmann and new teammate Riley Dickinson showed significant potential during the latest Pirelli GT4 America round at Road America, winning the Hard Charger award for recovering 20 positions in the second contest.
Dickinson put the #73 Porsche Cayman on overall and Silver-class pole before producing a dominant opening stint, while Hoffmann battled back from a delayed pit stop to finish eighth in Silver. The duo then recovered from the back in Race 2, with Dickinson charging through the field during the closing stint to finish seventh in class.
Returning to Pirelli GT4 America after the summer break, Hoffmann entered the Road America weekend looking to continue the progress made during her rookie campaign. The Canadian racer had secured her second top-five Silver-class result of the season last time out, finishing fifth in Race 2 alongside Paul Bocuse. Increasingly comfortable in GT4 machinery with each outing, Hoffmann had enjoyed her most competitive weekend of the season at Sebring and arrived at Road America with a new teammate in highly experienced racer Riley Dickinson.
The pairing immediately demonstrated the potential of the combination during practice. Dickinson set a 2:17.099 to place the #73 Porsche third overall in the opening session, before a 2:17.895 in FP2 placed the car seventh in the Silver class.
Dickinson took responsibility for the opening qualifying segment and delivered an exceptional performance: the Kellymoss driver set a 2:15.437 to take pole position overall and in the Silver class, finishing approximately two tenths ahead of the #33 McLaren of Gaples.
Hoffmann then took over for the second qualifying segment. She recorded a 2:19.572, which placed her ninth in the Silver class and 29th overall.
Dickinson took the start of Friday's opening race from overall pole and immediately made the most of the opportunity, getting away perfectly and retaining the lead through the opening corners.
He quickly began attempting to build a gap, but Westin Workman remained attached to the rear of the Porsche. The Toyota driver repeatedly looked for opportunities to draw alongside, while Dickinson concentrated on positioning the #73 machine defensively without compromising its pace.
Workman soon set the fastest lap of the race and began applying even more pressure, including an attack into Turn 1. Dickinson nevertheless held firm, also managing to keep the Toyota behind along the long back straight despite Workman's advantage in the slipstream.
The battle at the front was interrupted on lap four when the #49 McLaren of Chiocchetti went off heavily at the Kink, resulting in a significant impact and bringing out the Full Course Yellow. Dickinson therefore retained the lead under caution, ahead of Workman and Baltas.
The lengthy neutralization prevented Dickinson from building the gap he needed to fully exploit the opening stint. Several cars immediately attempted to pit under the caution, but were held at pit exit and effectively lost almost a lap. Kellymoss chose to keep Dickinson on track.
The field returned to green one lap later. The cars that had not yet stopped would pit under racing conditions, while Dickinson retained the lead and produced another strong restart, keeping Workman approximately half a second behind.
Dickinson continued to extend his stint; with several of the leading Silver-class runners entering the pits, the Kellymoss driver was able to stretch his advantage and push as hard as possible in an effort to hand Hoffmann the largest possible margin for the closing stint.
Dickinson finally entered the pits on lap 12, with a 45-second advantage over the second-placed Silver-class car. Hoffmann took over the #73 Porsche, however, the advantage was compromised during the pit stop itself, with the stop approximately eight seconds slower than the rest of the field due to issues during the service, dropping Hoffmann all the way to 13th overall and seventh in the Silver class.
The sudden loss of track position left Hoffmann with immediate traffic to contend with. She worked to get up to speed quickly but was unable to recover the ground, eventually settling into 24th overall and eighth in Silver.
Hoffmann maintained a consistent rhythm in the 2:24s during the remainder of her stint, but with the positions largely settled and no further opportunities emerging, she crossed the finish line eighth in the Silver class.
Hoffmann returned behind the wheel for the opening stint of Race 2, starting eighth in Silver and 28th overall. The second race was preceded by another dose of challenging weather, with rain arriving approximately half an hour before the scheduled start. The circuit remained wet enough for race control to send the field away behind the Safety Car.
After two laps under caution, the green flag was finally shown, with drivers facing difficult conditions and limited grip. Hoffmann initially began working her way forward, climbing to 25th overall as she gained confidence and began finding more pace. She passed a number of Am and ProAm cars while navigating the chaos created by the wet conditions and the tightly packed field.
Her pace continued to improve as the stint progressed, but another major incident interrupted the race. Marc Miller and Alex Garcia were involved in a heavy accident at Canada Corner, triggering another Full Course Yellow.
Hoffmann was eighth in Silver when the caution was deployed, and the pit window opened under the neutralization. With the entire field heading to pit lane, Kellymoss brought Hoffmann in and handed the car over to Dickinson.
The #73 rejoined 19th overall and eighth in Silver, leaving Dickinson with another recovery drive to complete in the final phase of the race. Following repairs to the barriers, racing resumed with just 12 minutes remaining. Dickinson immediately went on the attack.
The Kellymoss driver gained an astonishing 11 positions within just a few corners after the restart, carving his way through the field and immediately putting pressure on Westin Workman for seventh in the Silver class.
Dickinson continued to make progress as the final stint developed, but the race was once again neutralized when Craven suffered a major crash in the #94 Random Vandals BMW.
At that point, Dickinson was within approximately half a second of Workman and had already moved into eighth overall and seventh in Silver. The late caution prevented him from launching another attack for sixth, but the race gained the duo the Hard Charger award for recovering 20 positions over the course of the contest.
For Hoffmann, the Road America weekend provided another opportunity to continue her development in her rookie GT4 America campaign and will target the next opportunity to turn that pace into a stronger result at Barber Motorsports Park from September 25–27.
