Watkins Glen, NY – July 25 2022
Jaden Lander and the Krugspeed Racing team had a fantastic weekend of results at Watkins Glen International with back-to-back P2 finishes in the SRO GT4 AM Class. In only their second race weekend in the SRO GT4 series Lander, teammate Anthony Geraci and the Krugspeed team showed how competitive a car and pair of drivers they have.
The weekend got off to a great start for Lander and the #72 Toyota GR Supra GT4 with a strong showing in qualifying. Lander showed off his quick pass with a qualifying lap that put him 2nd in class and 13th overall. The lap was just .088 seconds from the class pole and .7 seconds from the overall pole sitter.
For the weekend’s first race, Anthony Geraci started in the driver’s seat for the team in the #72 Toyota. He handed the car off to Lander while sitting third overall in the class with a smooth pitstop. Lander was steadily gaining on the second place #53 BMW when a full course yellow bunched up the pack. Although the BMW was proving hard to pass because of its straight-line speed, Lander made a dummy pass down the inside of turn seven, allowing him to get alongside the #53 car and pass him around the outside of turn eight. The BMW hit Lander in the corner, but he kept control of the car to make the move stick for a second-place finish.
In the weekend’s second race, Lander started in the driver’s seat and again found himself behind the #53 BMW after an illegal block dropped him a position. The team went with an overcut strategy which would have saw the team in 1st position after the round of pit stops, but unfortunately, an issue on the exit from the pits left the team in 3rd again. Geraci was able to get into second place and was chasing down the leaders but ran out of time, finishing the race .5 seconds behind the class leader for another second-place finish.
Overall, the weekend was a massive success for Lander and the Krugspeed Racing team. In only their second weekend competing in the 2022 GT4 America series, they were able to secure a double podium finish and showed huge improvements from their last race at VIR. Lander and the team will be in action next at Road America from August 19th to 21st, where the team will be looking to build on this past weekend’s results with a win.
“Overall these were great results both for the team and for Toyota. Our first time with the car was at VIR so we are still coming up to speed with it, but both the team and us drivers have made huge steps forward as can be seen with two 2nd places. I am looking forward to Road America as I think that track will suit this car well and to keep this momentum up!”