December 5th 2022 – Austin, TX.
Kenny Schmied and the Will-to-Win Racing #982 Porsche Cayman traveled to Austin Texas over the weekend for the final round of the 2022 World Racing League season. Amassing a large number of penalties on Saturday, the team spent the afternoon working on setup to try and address some handling issues the drivers had experienced over the weekend. The team placed 22nd in class on Saturday. While Sunday would fare better from a penalty standpoint, an ultimate P18 in class was on hand for the team to round out the 2022 season.
Schmied was excited to head back to Circuit of the Americas. While Schmied has never placed particularly well at the storied venue, the complicated and fast circuit is one of Schmied’s favorites. “COTA is a really cool track. I’ve spent more time on the track here than anywhere else except my home track of High Plains. COTA is long, fast, has many turns, and has a nice mix of high-speed and low-speed corners as well. I’m looking forward to closing out the season here this weekend” Schmied said.
As this was Schmied’s last weekend with the team, he had also planned a catered dinner for Friday evening. “I asked some local team members about good places to grab some eats, and since I’ve been with the team a full three years as of this weekend, I wanted to to something special for them. So I got a catered dinner and a keg for the crew and coaches for Friday evening. It was a really fun time” said Schmied.
The racing on track wasn’t the best over the weekend. On Saturday a slew of penalties pushed the 982 rearward rather quickly, and Sunday didn’t fare much better.
“It was a tough two days out there” said Schmied. “We got knocked pretty hard on Saturday with the penalties, and we had a few more of them on Sunday for good measure. It got kind of old, but sometimes you just keep getting punched. It really wasn’t our weekend.” said Schmied.
“But I can’t say enough about the team. While I prepare for my professional debut next year with AOA Racing, I can’t help but thank the men and women of W2W Racing. These fine people have been by my side for some of the most memorable moments of my life. The love and support I’ve felt from this team has been nothing short of extraordinary!”
“We broke records together when we became the first team to ever surpass 2,000 miles of competition at Sebring on our way to winning the first ever 24-Hour race in the historic venue’s 71 year history, and we won back-to-back national championships in the top class of one of the most competitive and diverse endurance racing series in the country. We stood on the podiums together, we longed for better days in the garages together when things didn’t go our way. But most of all, we built eachother up and always kept fighting.”
“To the team and all the humans behind it that have the fighting spirit and the will-to-win, cheers guys and gals of W2W Racing for three incredible years! I will miss you all deeply and I hope 2023 is all you dream it to be and more!”
Schmied heads next to New Orleans Motorsports Park in January to begin pre-season testing for his 2023 TC America debut.
Photos from the event can be found below or at the photo gallery page here.
