Global Racing Group leads inaugural team championship after Mid-Ohio
LEXINGTON, OHIO (Aug. 27, 2018)- Global Racing Group was in top form at the second F3 Americas Powered by Honda event at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course earlier this month. The multi-platform team claimed two steps on each of the three podiums with Baltazar Leguizamon of Buenos Aires, Argentina, taking two thirds and a second-place finish and Benjamin Pedersen of Copenhagen, Denmark, collecting a pair of seconds and a third in his F3 debut. The collective team effort boosted Global Racing Group to the top of the season-long team championship.
Lap after lap in qualifying, both GRG Ligier JS F3 cars powered by 270hp Honda Civic Type R turbo engines, clocked nearly identical times around the 12-turn, 2.25-mile circuit with Leguizamon pulling ahead of Pedersen by about eight hundredths of a second at the end of the session to start off pole for the first round.
In Race 1, Leguizamon started in the front row for the F1-style standing start with his teammate starting in Row 2 in third. As the lights went out, Leguizamon experienced tire spin, stalling on the start. Pedersen launched off the line to immediately take second. The first yellow flag of the Championship emerged after another competitor went off track. The safety car paced the field. Once again, on the rolling single-file restart, Pedersen got a good start, but the series newcomer had to settle for second as the championship leader created a gap to cross the stripe first. Leguizamon took third.
The Global Racing Group squad were subjected to mixed track conditions for Race 2. The session started out dry with the entire field outfitted with Pirelli P Zero slicks. Based off lap times from the previous race, Pedersen qualified off pole, and Leguizamon lined up in third. Pedersen quickly created a gap from Leguizamon who was battling for position with John Paul Southern Jr. Leguizamon and Southern fought lap after lap for the last podium position until the rain hit, leaving one half of the track wet and the other half of the track dry before it coated the entire circuit. Hitting standing water in the braking zones, Leguizamon’s No. 9 Motorola car hurled off track. Not accepting defeat, Leguizamon brilliantly recovered to take back third on the final lap.
Both GRG drivers started side-by-side in Row 2 in the Mid-Ohio weekend finale. On the prowl, Leguizamon passed for second on Lap 2 and never surrendered position. Moving from fourth, Pedersen also worked his way into a podium-finishing position by Lap 4, maintaining his perfect podium visit in all three rounds of his inaugural F3 event.
The successful weekend reinforced GRG’s results-producing reputation. With the six podiums from Mid-Ohio and the three podiums earned in the inaugural F3 event at Pittsburgh International Race Complex, GRG has the most podium visits of any other team in the F3 paddock.
A fleet of bright orange and black Global Racing Group cars will travel to New Jersey Motorsports Park for a combined F4 U.S. Championship and F3 Americas Championship event Sept. 14-16. Global Racing Group is accepting driving opportunity inquiries for F3 and F4. Interested drivers can contact Christian@globalracinggroup.com. For more information on Global Racing Group’s cross-discipline driver training program visit GlobalRacingGroup.com.
Global Racing Group – Driver Results and Quotes
F3 Americas Championship – ROUNDS 4-6 – AUG. 9-11, 2018
Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course – Lexington, OH, 12-Turn, 2.25-mile road course
Baltazar Leguizamon – No. 9
Qualifying: 2nd - 1:20.673
Race 1: 3rd - 1:20.677
Race 2: 3rd - 1:22.152
Race 3: 2nd - 1:20.204
Driver Quote: “It was overall a good weekend. We need to keep working as a team in race performance, so we can fight for that top podium spot in New Jersey. I was glad to have Benjamin on the team this weekend. It was helpful because we were able to compare data and notes on the track.“
Benjamin Pedersen – No. 24
Qualifying: 3rd - 1:20.750
Race 1: 2nd - 1:20.562
Race 2: 2nd - 1:22.173
Race 3: 3rd - 1:20.297
Driver Quote: “Overall it was a great opening F3 Americas round for me. We managed to be P2 for two races and bring home a P3 for the last race in the weekend. In the process we managed to jump forward into the top spot for the team championship. Now I’m looking forward to my next F3 race weekend.“
