Photo by RC Sim Photography
By Turner Schroll
Coming fresh off the holiday season and looking forward to the new year, Hyperion Racing #454 had its sights set on the next round of IVRA Clubsport. This time the team was headed to the home of the Brickyard, Indianapolis Motor Speedway for Round 4 of the championship, currently sitting in 10th overall in their inaugural full season. Along with this, the team also brought with it a new sponsor in Rogue Energy. This was a massive new partnership for the team and speaks volumes to the growth the team has accomplished in the short time in the upper tiers of iRacing.
The team made a decision, in light of the shorter length and drive time requirements, to shorten their driver list to two for this race. The #454 would be piloted by Nathan Deering and Turner Schroll, while setup and data engineering duties were picked up by Alex Caruso and exciting new team member Clayton Kessler.
Going into this race the group made some investments back into the team to develop new data analytics and setup creation methods which have begun to make some massive strides for the still young team. Using this data along with both time in the car as well as sessions with our various resources in France to help this side of the team grow is expected to have massive implications for Hyperion Racing in the near future.
With all this extra assistance going into the race, both drivers were setting some massively competitive single and entire stint times. From a pure pace standpoint the team felt like they considered themselves a definitive “best of the rest” going into the weekend. Beginning in FP1 and leading all the way through FP3 the team was sitting near the upper 25% of the Gt4 field. At the same time the drivers were working diligently to experiment with extending their fuel runs and saving as much as possible each lap. They found some extremely positive data here and used all of these factors in deciding on an “optimum” strategy going into the race.
Come race day, driver Nathan Deering was able to put the car into 12th position to start during the team’s 15 minute qualifying session. This was just slightly further back than where the team’s true pace was, which encouraged the guys that a fuel saving strategy from the start would be a good way to go.
Just as the race was just about to start is when the first bad omen of the day would present itself. Initially qualified on the “inside” going into T1, Race Control made the decision to switch sides on the formation lap. This put Nathan at a slight disadvantage over the Team Echelon Mercedes AMG starting directly alongside. As the cars came around the final corner to receive the green flag Hyperion Racing was overlapped to the left hand side by German Sim Racing #471, putting the car in the middle of a 3-wide situation going into the first corner. Knowing that GSR #471 would ultimately be receiving a penalty (later confirmed 20sec) driver Nathan Deering chose to back out to preserve the car ultimately giving up a few other positions in the process of going through the first sector.
This did not deter the guys as they knew they were going to be running a very specific strategy and by keeping the car clean they were more than still in this race. However this is where their luck would go from bad to worse.
At about the midway point in the first stint while going through the esses after the back straight Hyperion Racing #454 would get tagged from behind in the right rear by an LMP3, #49 Huesinkveld Racing, and put off into the grass. This would force the car all the way to the rear of the field yet Nathan was able to keep the car from receiving any damage or further contact with a barrier. He was then able to complete his stint after 35 laps, going a few extra than most of the field. Notably they came into the pit directly behind Hugh Jass #437 who has done a remarkable job at the fuel strategy and was the team’s “fuel benchmark” going into the weekend.
During the pit stop the team took four fresh tires and a limited amount of fuel as per the pre-arranged strategy going into the race and driver Nathan Deering remained in the car. Drive time requirements would have played a key role in the team’s strategy meetings prior to the race and therefore he was able to jump a number of cars in the pit by doing so but was also looking for a break from a Full Course Yellow and Safety Car period.
Unfortunately this would not play out the way they wanted. Shortly into the second stint of the day Hyperion Racing #454 finally caught a very tight TCR group of 4 cars all battling for the lead spots in class. While respecting their race and also navigating this traffic a lurking LMP3 car of the #72 HydroRace Geodesic Racing was also attempting to get around the group. While navigating the chicane leading onto the backstretch the LMP3 car made contact with the #454 and sent them full speed into the barriers and thus resulting in significant damage to the car. After managing to get the car back to the pits and fixing all the damage, driver Turner Schroll took over the car which came out of the pits some 4 laps down.
The day would ultimately come to an end a mere 5 laps later when yet another LMP3, this time of the #56 Prestanda Nomad team which turned down into the #454 coming out of the final corner onto the front stretch due to another GT4 ahead drifting up the race track thus blocking their path. In what was surely a case of one driver thinking they were clear of another, the end result was severe damage along with the car sitting almost completely backwards on the front stretch. The team took the legal option for an immediate tow, something rarely seen in IVRA and thus ended their day on a very sad note.
This ironically brought out the day's first FCY and capped off the day of “what could have been”. The drivers were clearly very upset with how the day went and felt a deep regret for the result for the team. The drivers both want to extend a massive show of appreciation to their Engineering and Setup Development Team, specifically Alex Caruso and Clayton Kessler, for the time and efforts they put into the car this weekend and showing what is possible with this level of support for the entire Hyperion Racing Family! The Team also wants to thank its sponsors in Rogue Energy for their partnership and affiliation. They also want to thank TAM Liveries for this weekend’s car livery and all his great work in making us and our sponsors look the best each and every time on track.
Up Next:
Hyperion Racing is quite busy over the coming month in the lead up to the next round of IVRA ClubSport on Saturday February 10th at the beautiful Virginia International Raceway! As they will be diligently preparing once again for that race with help both inside and outside the team they will also be prepping and building out a multi-car effort for the famous 24 Hours of Daytona on Saturday January 20th.
Be sure to check the team out at the following, and like/follow on all of our social media pages!
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