Saturday November 4th - Elkheart Lake, Wisconsin, USA 
Photo by Hugo Xhrouet
By Turner Schroll
With the month of October quietly behind us, the Hyperion Racing #454 Mercedes AMG crew had been quietly preparing for the 700 km of Road America presented by GSI IVRA Clubsport. Their efforts have not gone to waste as what had turned out to be a comfortable fit for the squad turned into a P7 after post race penalties had been fully applied.
The lineup completed by drivers Floyd Kerr, Jeff Lund, and Turner Schroll had put in countless hours of preparation. That effort paid off big as the group was running as high as P3 during the half-way points haul. With a beautiful livery put together by TAM Livery, the team was stomping into the weekend’s race.
The week started off with all 3 drivers putting in the max effort to make sure the setup was ideal come race day. Nearing 45+ hours of practice amongst the 3 drivers, the squad was more than prepared for their moment in the sun. Starting off the day was driver Floyd Kerr who qualified the team’s AMG GT4 into the 13th spot. With one car ahead already having been responsible for a penalty, the Hyperion squad was knocking on the door of a historic top 10 for the group.
As the race kicked off, the #454 was feeling all the momentum behind them with the rest of the team cheering them on to a historic day for Hyperion Racing in the GSI IVRA Clubsport Series. Driver Floyd Kerr, who had shown massive pace in both practice and qualifying earlier in the week, was the one to start the team off. His pace showed to be of great benefit as he put the car into the 13th position in the qualifying session. He admittedly let on that the car “had much more in it”, and could have been much higher up the grid except for a lack of draft partner in the qualifying session proved to be detrimental to the team’s result in the early qualifying session.
With that being said the car was in a great position to capitalize on the day. As the race session started they quickly began to realize they had the pace of the top runners and could be on for the best result of the team’s brief history in the upper echelons of iRacing.
The Wave Italy Racing team proved to be the team's biggest adversary at both the beginning and end of the race however traffic would be more than the star of the show at Road America. Not more than 7 laps into the race LMP3 traffic would be making their first of many cameos in the GT4 race. Floyd did an amazing job keeping the car mostly out of trouble during the opening stint even as the first “mix” of the day saw the #454 car making minor contact with the LMP3’s as they made their way through the day’s traffic. As the stint progressed he seemed to just simply make the most out of both the car and track/traffic conditions that were presented to him. He brought the #454 Hyperion Racing Mercedes AMG into the pits at the end of lap 21 to hand it off to Co-Driver Turner Schroll.
With little to no damage on the car, the almost immediate full-course yellow that came out was a breath of fresh air for the team.
Coming out of the pit cycle in P9, the ensuing full-course yellow would prove to be a major reason for the car #454 moving up the order. As the green flag came back out the car had made its way up to P8. The ensuing laps would prove to be chaotic but fruitful for the #454. Turner Schroll had a somewhat uneventful stint as he made a pass for P7 while subsequently relenting the same place back to Prestanda Nomad. He ended his stint by bringing the #454 Hyperion Racing Mercedes AMG GT4 into the pit in P8 and turning the car over to fellow driver Jeff Lund.
Jeff would prove to have the most impactful stint of the day. Whether it be from a fortunate pit from the previous driver or a fortunate yellow that came out just after Jeff’s entry into the car, the #454 made a bee-line to the point. As Jeff drove the team’s AMG around in P3, the team could hardly contain themselves as they could not believe they were competing for a podium based on both outright pace as well as luck within the safety-car period. As Jeff had an extremely competitive stint, the heavy-hitters from Geodesic Racing (Jon Boetefurer) and Geekz Energy and Fiercely Forward (Alvar Gomez) , eagerly looming in both P7/P8 respectively, were lurking in the wings. Bringing the car in at P6, the team knew their destiny was in their own hands.
The subsequent pitstop would keep the car ahead of Team RJD, but would see the car fall all the way back from P6 to P14. After the initial shock of the fall from grace, the team realized they were on for something special from a team perspective. As the final FCY came out the team realized they were on for a top 10.
The Team decided they were forced to pit for one last service of the race. This sent the car from P5 all the way back to P11 with a few cars with damage in between where the car ended up and should have been. The final stint saw driver Floyd Kerr drive his way around damaged cars to reclaim P9 with Wave Italy Racing finishing just ahead of the determined driver of the #454. However undetermined post-race penalties could launch the team to a historic P7, the Official IVRA Clubsport Results are to be determined Results. But from sources close to the team I can with certainty say that the team is looking for a much better result at the upcoming 700km of Road Atlanta on December 2nd as they have now tasted what the upper echelons on IVRA Clubsport Victory tastes like.
From an outside of the top-10 qualifying performance to an almost top 5 (pending penalties) the team is over-the-moon and could not be more eager to get on with Round 3, the 700 km of Road Atlanta. With the driver’s lineup still yet to be determined, be ready for anything out of #454 Hyperion Racing.
As one close to the team, I can tell you they are hungry for an even better performance next time out, and you’d be crazy to bet against them!
Believe the #HYPErion
Turner Schroll
Driver, Owner
Race Broadcast:
https://www.youtube.com/live/3YaWX3RugWc?si=mXdvny8raNTMSWVS
Team POV of Race:
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1968457218
IVRA Standings & Results: