This past weekend, Jaden Lander was in Austin, Texas, for his first racing experience at the Circuit of the Americas (COTA). Teammate Anthony Geraci joined Lander for the two-race weekend under the Pirelli GT4 championship.
In Friday’s practice, Lander was able to get up to speed on the 3.4 miles purpose-built racetrack quite quickly. By the end of FP2, Lander and the Krugspeed team had the car in a good spot setup-wise, heading into qualifying. In addition, the team worked on the car overnight to improve the qualifying setup, further enhancing its pace. Lander was on pace for a pole position lap but was unfortunately checked up on the exit of the last lap leading to the team finishing the session in 6th.
In the weekend’s first race, Lander was slated to drive the second stint of the 25-lap race. Unfortunately, contact made by Lander’s teammate early in the race resulted in a drive-through penalty for the team. Lander came in and quickly made up places, moving the car into 6th place before a tire rod failure from the contact took the car out of the race.
Race two of the weekend started with Lander in the driver’s seat, where he was able to make up a few places at the start. This success was short-lived, though, as Lander was struck from behind, causing the car to be almost impossible to drive. Lander lost a few places before handing the car over to his teammate in 7th. Unfortunately, Geraci only had a lap and a half under green flag conditions for the remainder of the race.
Lander and Krugspeed team’s next GT4 race will be June 16-18 at VIRginia International Raceway, where they will look to be back in the hunt for podium finishes.
“This track was amazing! The city of Austin and COTA both wowed me, and I cannot wait to return. Unfortunately, the two races did not go our way this weekend, but that is racing and a part of the reason why we love it! It is time to put this behind us and look into the future. I am very excited for VIR as that is Krugspeed’s home track!”