Lone Star Racing and co-drivers Gar Robinson and Lawson Aschenbach capped their select schedule of IMSA WeatherTech Sports Car Championship GT Daytona (GTD) events with an eighth-place finish Sunday at VIRginia International Raceway (VIR), including Robinson leading briefly under green flag conditions in the first half of the race.
Though only running five races in the 2019 season and competing against full-season GTD programs, Lone Star Racing remained competitive. Robinson moved the No. 74 Lone Star Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 into the lead as the field cycled through pit stops near the end of his hour-long stint.
An early drive through penalty for speeding in pit lane challenged Lone Star, but the team responded to earn the top-eight finish without going a lap down.
“We just had to grind it out today,” Lone Star Racing Team Manager AJ Petersen said. “Today was a good day, but things didn’t go quite our way. To win in these races you have to be perfect, the competition is so tight. We had the pace, we just didn’t have the track position early because of a penalty. We had a long second stop because the car missed its mark in pit lane. Our crew did a great job of handling that adversity, but with only five races you only see so much adversity too.”
Robinson started 12th and climbed up to lead lap 30 before handing the car to Aschenbach with one-hour and 40-minutes remaining in the race.
“The Mercedes-AMG GT3 was great,” Robinson said. “It was the best car Lone Star has given me. I felt bad because we had such a great car and we were pretty quick. We had an issue in the pits where the pit limiter came off and we got a drive through. We were hoping we were going to get another yellow, but it didn’t work out that way. Big thanks to the Lone Star Guys, they gave me a great car this weekend and showed great work all throughout the year.”
Aschenbach joined the race in 11th place following the green flag pit stop and driver change, still on the lead lap. He began a march through the field, reaching as high as fifth before Lone Star took a final pit stop for fuel and tires with 45 minutes to go.
With 20 minutes to go, Aschenbach was in ninth place and gained one more position in the final 11 minutes of green flag racing.
“I’m really happy with this team,” Aschenbach said. “This is not easy doing a limited schedule in a series like this when you’ve got teams that have been here for years. Everybody is doing so many things every year and have so much more experience and knowledge, but I think we showed everybody in five races that Lone Star Racing belongs in this series. These guys do a great job.”
Lone Star Racing ran its 2019 season with the support of ACS Manufacturing and 74 Ranch Resort.
