Lone Star Le Mans at the Circuit of the Americas
Jonny Edgar Battles On at Challenging Lone Star Le Mans
Cumbria’s own Jonny Edgar and the TF Sport team endured a challenging weekend at Corvette’s home race, the Lone Star Le Mans at the Circuit of the Americas (COTA), round five of the FIA World Endurance Championship. Despite a tricky weekend, they still come away leading both LMGT3 standings.
Fresh from victory at the 24 Hours of Zolder just days earlier, Jonny arrived in Texas determined to defend his drivers’ championship lead. Alongside Corvette teammates Nicky Catsburg and Ben Keating, he knew the challenge would be amplified by the success ballast their car was required to carry over the weekend.
Before the on-track action began, the team embraced Texan hospitality with a visit to the Lone Star Ranch on Thursday evening, swapping race overalls for cowboy boots and soaking up the laid-back local culture.
From the green light in Practice 1 through to qualifying, the focus was on optimising long-run pace and fine-tuning quali simulations. Despite their best efforts, outright speed remained elusive and the team narrowly missed out on progressing from Qualifying to Hyperpole on Saturday.
Starting the race from 17th on Sunday, the team remained optimistic that a long stint and the threat of rain could help them make up ground. Ben Keating made early gains, moving steadily toward the top ten before the home hero was tipped into a spin and dropped down the order.
Jonny took over for the second stint, a strategic move designed to give the Bronze drivers a break in the blistering heat. He delivered a composed and consistent performance before handing the car back to Keating to fulfill the minimum bronze driving time. Nicky Catsburg then helped guide the yellow Corvette back up toward the top ten.
BRDC Superstar Jonny pushed as hard as possible but in the end 12th was the best Jonny and the team could manage, meaning they fell just two places shy of scoring points.
Jonny: “We always knew this would be a really tough round and unfortunately things just didn’t go our way. Ben got turned around in the opening phase of the race which didn’t help but apart from that, we kept out of trouble for the most part and just kept chipping away and even though we didn’t score points, it was still a good effort to finish where we did. Already focused on the next race in Japan where hopefully we can extend our championship lead”.
Jonny and the TF Sport Corvette team now turn their attention to the 6 Hours of Fuji in Japan, taking place on 25-27 September. Qualifying and the race will be live on the FIA WEC+ app and broadcast live in the UK on TNT Sports.
