Brady Behrman and Hardpoint Return to International GT Competition at VIR for Home Race

Behrman, Joined by Coby Shield For Enduro, Brings the No. 428 TradeCentric Porsche 911 GT3 Cup to his Home Race

DANVILLE, Virginia (October 6, 2022) – Brady Behrman leads Hardpoint’s charge this weekend to his, enduro co-driver Coby Shield, and the team’s home track of VIRginia International Raceway for the latest round of the International GT Championship. Behrman will race the No. 428 TradeCentric Porsche 911 GT3 Cup in a pair of sprint races and an hour-long enduro in the Mission Foods GT3 Cup Trophy chase. 

This week’s schedule features a pair of 20-minute sprint races on Saturday, October 8, with the first at 11:15 a.m. ET and the second at 4:55 p.m. ET. Sunday’s one-hour Enduro race begins at 8 a.m. All three races can be seen through the championship’s live stream on their Youtube channel. 

Hardpoint News and Notes

• Behrman’s first two events under the Hardpoint umbrella have been nothing short of spectacular. The last time out, in his first time at Watkins Glen International, Behrman scored a runner-up finish in the opening sprint race despite difficult conditions. In the enduro, he teamed with Shield for a second silver medal on the weekend. 

• Behrman’s success wasn’t limited to the timed races at Watkins Glen. He started each race from the class pole after turning the best laps in qualifying. 

• The International GT championship features multiple classes of racing, mixing Porsche 911 GT3 Cup cars of various generations with Porsche Caymans and Ferrari Challenge cars on track. Behrman’s 991.1-generation Porsche Cup car races in the largest class, the GT3.8 class for those of the same generation. 

• Though not in the quickest generation of Porsche 911 GT3 Cup cars, Behrman has been near the front of the overall race lead in addition to the class podiums. Behrman was sixth overall in his second-place finish at Watkins Glen. 

• The races at VIR will bring a number of Behrman, Shield and Hardpoint’s friends and family to the race track. Behrman hails from Virginia Beach, with Shield calling Lynchburg, Virginia home. Hardpoint’s shop is located on the grounds at VIR – making this easily the closest race to home for each entity this season. 

• The VIR rounds follow Mid-Ohio and Watkins Glen on the IGT schedule. Both stops were first-time visits for Behrman, who now gets to attack on a track that he knows well. 

• Behrman races this and every weekend with the support of TradeCentric. TradeCentric transforms the way businesses transact by enabling PunchOut, Purchase Order and Invoice Automation for thousands of companies every day. Uniquely positioned at the intersection of eCommerce and eProcurement, TradeCentric helps B2B buyers and suppliers connect, automate and scale their digital trading capabilities. TradeCentric offers a cloud-based integration platform that is fully managed and purpose-built to simplify the complexities of B2B trade and transaction processes. More information can be found at tradecentric.com. 

• The International GT round comes on the heels of a difficult IMSA season finale for Hardpoint at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta. 

• A cut tire for the No. 22 Racing to End Alzheimer’s Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport put Nick Galante and Sean McAlister a lap down in the two-hour Michelin Pilot Challenge finale last Friday. The flow of the race and relative lack of cautions eliminated any opportunity to get the lap back, with the team scored 22nd in the Grand Sport class at the checkered flag. 

• Likewise, the No. 99 GridRival/de Boulle Diamond & Jewelry Porsche 911 GT3 R picked up damage after being collected in an incident just in front of them on track early in Saturday’s 10-hour Motul Petit Le Mans race. That left Hardpoint chasing repairs throughout the race, which ended the 2022 WeatherTech Championship season for Rob Ferriol, Katherine Legge and Nick Boulle two hours shy of the finish with a second off and heavier damage.  

Hardpoint Quote Board

Brady Behrman, Driver, No. 428 Porsche 911 GT3 Cup: “I’m looking forward to an awesome weekend with Hardpoint, representing TradeCentric on that Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car. VIR is home. That’s where I started racing four or five years ago and I’m feeling optimistic we can end up on that top step three out of three times. There are strong contenders in our class, and we’re looking forward to competing with all of them. We want to see if we can keep up with those 4.0 liters out of class. That would be a great accomplishment if we can do that at our home track. VIR has really helped shape my driving across all the various tracks we get to race at. It’s a tough track for new people, it’s a tough track for seasoned professionals. I’m excited we’re at home, we have family and friends and some TradeCentric team members who are going to be joining us track side and I’m looking forward to an awesome weekend.”

Coby Shield, Driver, No. 428 Porsche 911 GT3 Cup: “I’m super excited for VIR. Obviously WGI went very well, Brady did a fantastic job under difficult circumstances with rain and had only been there one other time. I’m super, super excited to see Brady at his home track. It’s home for both of us, so it’s super exciting to be part of a track that’s the team’s home, it’s my home track, and it’s Brady’s home track. It’s kind of weird, I never thought we’d get to this point and be racing with a team at this level at VIR. It’s extremely exciting because we’ll have all of our friends and family there and people who don’t always get to see motorsports front and center will be there to see it. I’m insanely excited to see Brady get comfortable immediately and I hope I can help him get on the top step three times out of three. It’s very realistic. Everybody is going to be gunning for us, we’ve got a huge target on our back, Pippa (Mann) has jokingly made some comments to us on social media so I know everyone is coming for us. 

“VIR is where I got my start, I started going there when I was five or six years old watching the old Rolex series. I started doing track days, instructing, coaching, and have had the opportunity to set a track record there in multiple classes. I have very high expectations for myself, I have high expectations for Brady there. I don’t want that to be unachievable or cloud our efforts, but we’ll have lots of friends and family there and I don’t want to let anyone down. The weather looks perfect, it should be an incredible weekend.”

About Hardpoint:

Hardpoint was founded by Rob Ferriol in 2018 with the vision of combining his experience as a successful entrepreneur with his passion for racing. Headquartered at VIRginia International Raceway, the team captured the 2021 Porsche Carrera Cup North America Pro-Am championship in its inaugural season and competes full-time in the IMSA WeatherTech Sports Car Championship in the No. 99 GridRival Porsche 911 GT3 R with co-drivers Ferriol and Katherine Legge, joined by Stefan Wilson for Michelin Endurance Cup races. In 2022, Hardpoint has added the No. 22 Racing To End Alzheimer's Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport driven by Nick Galante and Sean McAllister in IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge Grand Sport (GS), as well as the No. 428 TradeCentric Porsche 911 GT3 Cup driven by Brady Behrman in International GT. More information on Hardpoint can be found at www.hardpoint.com or through its strong social media presence on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.