Plymouth, WI – Aug 22 2022
Road America was a weekend to remember for Jaden Lander and the Krugspeed Racing Team. Lander and the team were able to win their first race of the 2022 GT4 America season and stretch their podium streak to four races in a row with a third-place finish on Sunday. The win was Lander’s first professional victory, coming only three races into his young career.
The weekend started with a tough qualifying session for Lander and teammate Anthony Geraci, stemming from an inability to test at Road America and the car’s newness. These factors led to the team chasing after the best setup for the #72 Toyota Supra in a minimal time window. Ultimately, Geraci qualified 7th in class for race one and Lander qualified 5th in class for race two.
Geraci started in the driver’s seat for race one and passed nine cars through the first handful of laps, handing the car over to Lander in 4th position in their class. A bit of contact in the race’s early laps led to some damage to the car, causing it to be a bit more snappy, but Lander was able to fight through this and consistently put in good lap times. Lander worked his way up the field with a couple of passes and inherited second place after the car in front spun out. In the race’s closing stages, Lander made a pass to take the lead out of turn one and avoided a big crash up the road to secure the position. The collision caused the race to end under a full course yellow which meant Lander and the Krugspeed team had secured their first victory of the GT4 season.
Lander started the second race and was able to pass several cars on the first lap. Unfortunately, a brake problem on lap three caused him to go off in turn five and lose the positions he previously gained. Lander was able to remedy the situation and pass a few more cars before handing the driving duties over to his teammate while sitting in 5th position. After taking over, Geraci caught up to the pack of leaders and passed two cars for a third-place podium finish.
The weekend proved a massive success for Lander and the Krugspeed Racing team, who have shown themselves as serious contenders on the GT4 calendar. Next up for Lander and the team will be a stop at Sebring International Raceway in Sebring, Florida, from September 23rd to 25th, where the team will once again look to take the top spot on the podium.
“Overall an awesome weekend for the whole team. My first professional win was just three races into my career and a podium in P3. That is four podiums in a row! We kept the momentum going from Watkins Glen, and the team did an amazing job improving the car each session and fixing all the damage done, so a huge thank you to them! I want to thank Pirelli, Thorne, SRO, Geraci Stone, and Krugspeed for making all of this possible. Let’s keep this up in Sebring!”