Paityn Feyen shows progress in TGRNA at COTA, claims first top-20
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"It was a week full of growth and learning" - Paityn Feyen made a significant step forward in her second Toyota GR Cup NA weekend, bouncing back from a setback to complete a recovery drive that gained the Nitro Motorsports driver her first top-20 finish in the series at COTA.
The second round of the 2025 Toyota GR Cup North America at Circuit of the Americas marked a significant step forward for 16-year-old Paityn Feyen, who showed evident improvement in pace and racecraft throughout the weekend.
Driving for Nitro Motorsports, Feyen continued her rookie season with a stunning recovery drive in Race 1, which gained her first-ever top-20 finish in the series.
Feyen, a 2025 Shift Up Now Foundation grantee, had impressed with a clean debut at Sonoma, where she claimed the Highest Finishing Female Award in race 1 and banked her first $5,000 prize, with a personal best finish of P25.
Arriving at COTA for her second weekend in the GR Cup, the young American focused on learning the track and continue the car familiarization during practice. Her efforts paid off in qualifying, where she found over a second from her practice times and set a 2:32.2 on her final lap, earning a P26 grid position for Race 1 in a 31-car field.
Saturday’s opening race brought a dramatic getaway: a messy rolling start led to contact further down the grid, with several cars suffering damage before the green flag. Feyen skillfully navigated the chaos and emerged from the first corner safely, gaining six positions and moving up to P20 during the early full-course yellow.
On the restart, she dropped to P23 but began pushing immediately, capitalizing on strong pace in Sector 1 and gaining a spot when a rival pitted with damage. However, Feyen was handed a drive-through penalty for a start procedure infraction—dropping her back to P27 after serving the penalty.
Undeterred, Feyen rejoined with clean air and set competitive lap times, slightly quicker than the group ahead. Her opportunity to recover came with 16 minutes remaining when a full-course yellow was deployed for a stopped car. Despite minor damage to her rear bumper, she lined up for the restart and made her charge.
With confident moves, she passed several cars, including Wood and Rudnai, and advanced to P23. Continuing her charge, she picked off two more positions on lap 15 and closed in on P20. Though just missing the spot on the road, Feyen was classified 21st at the finish—but was later promoted to P20 post-race, securing her first top-20 result in the series after an impressive recovery drive.
“COTA for the GR Cup Series was a weekend full of learning,” said Feyen. “The track was tricky but once I understood it better I thought it was super fun, yet challenging to drive. Saturday was a great day for me, although the placement may not have showed it. I had to serve a drive-through penalty due to miscommunication on the starting laps. I dropped back to 28th and with a few laps left managed my way up to 21st.”
Qualifying for Race 2 took place on Sunday morning, and Feyen again showed clear progression. She clocked a 2:31.698—half a second quicker than her previous session—and earned P27 on the grid for the second race of the weekend. Once again, her goal was to build on her experience and continue to improve race pace.
At lights out, Feyen took the inside line into the tight uphill Turn 1 and found herself shuffled down to 29th. By lap two, however, she was settling into a rhythm and clocking consistent lap times in the 2:33 range. She overtook Lamarra and took advantage of a spin by Sunseri to move into P27, then immediately cleared Davis and Wood with clean passes, advancing to 24th.
With clear air ahead, she worked on closing a six-second gap to Forman, setting personal bests in sector times—but a small mistake in sector three caused her to lose momentum and drop to 26th.
Now part of a close five-car battle, Feyen remained one of the fastest drivers in the group.
But in her effort to regain lost ground, she ended up beached in the gravel at the Esses. The incident brought out the safety car, and with the help of marshals, she was recovered and able to rejoin, albeit one lap down.
Though no longer in contention for positions, she rejoined the pack and focused on gaining track time. Unfortunately, a late-race incident with Wood—who made contact and spun Feyen—brought out another safety car with 12 minutes to go, ending Feyen’s race early with a DNF.
“Sunday I had a decent start to the race and started making passes and pushing to make my way up the pack", she explained. "After a yellow flag I was still fighting but unfortunately ended up in a mishap and that was the end to my race day with a DNF.”
Despite the disappointing conclusion to Race 2, the weekend was an important milestone in Feyen’s development: she demonstrated much-improved pace and racecraft in the recoveries. Her Race 1 drive in particular was a breakthrough.
“Overall, I have to take the wins", Feyen summarized. "It was a week full of growth and learning. I have the best guys behind me, helping me grow and develop as a driver, and I have seen a ton of growth and progression. Excited to see what Sebring has for us!”
Feyen’s next challenge will be the third round of the Toyota GR Cup North America at Sebring International Raceway, from May 16–18, where she will aim to continue her upward trajectory in the very competitive one-make series on the SRO North America package.