PHOTO CREDIT: Moorespeed Racing
Corey Fergus completed a flag-to-flag sweep at Road America over the weekend, winning both IMSA GT3 Cup events in Elkhart Lake, Wisc., for his Austin-based Moorespeed race team.
Fergus, driver of the No. 00 US LED/Byers/Moorespeed Porsche, sat on the pole for Saturday’s and Sunday’s 45-minute sprint races, and he led them both from start to finish. He moved up to second place in the season points race.
The Columbus, Ohio, resident was never seriously challenged Sunday, crossing the finish line 1.556 seconds ahead of Jake Eidson, the runner-up in both races.
“At the end of the race I was just controlling it, not making any mistakes, just kind of keeping the distance over second place,” Fergus told the team website. “When the 10-minute warning came out, I laid one lap down just to see what I could do, and I went about as fast as I had gone the whole race. So I knew I could still go faster if I wanted to, so I just maintained that gap and pulled it off again.”
Fergus, who also won a GT3 Cup race at Circuit of the Americas in May, recorded Sunday’s fastest lap with a 2:12.182 (110.247 mph) on lap 6.
“Corey really put his head down,” Moorespeed president David Moore said in a news release. “He drove a smart race, managed his equipment, managed his tires and he really put down the wood in sectors where he was strong.”
Austin native Will Hardeman, Fergus’ teammate who finished fourth Saturday, had mechanical issues and was forced to retire early in his No. 19 CAG/Moorespeed Porsche.
A gearbox problem dogged Hardeman from the start and finally the transmission and engine both gave out about halfway through the race.
“Overall there is an element of luck in this sport,” he said. “Over the last three years, we’ve never had a mechanical issue like this, so we’ve been fortunate in the grand scheme of things.”
Moore speculated that driving in heavy rain early in the weekend might have messed with his No. 19 car. “Water and electrics don’t mix,” he said.
Up next for Moorespeed is an Aug. 25-27 trip to Virginia to race in the IMSA GT3 Cup doubleheader at VIR.
