Both Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 entries were tracking toward podium finishes in Saturday’s IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship round in Detroit before late-race incidents sent them to sixth and tenth in the GTD PRO class.
The No. 14 car driven by Ben Barnicoat and Jack Hawksworth started third. Barnicoat ran among the top three during his 30-minute opening stint before handing off to Hawksworth. On lap 43, Hawksworth was spun by a GTP competitor who was later penalized for the contact, but he recovered to hold second place. He fought for the lead in the closing laps but was assessed a drive-through penalty that dropped him to sixth at the checkered flag.
The No. 15 car started seventh with Chaz Mostert, the 2025 Supercars champion, behind the wheel. Mostert ran consistently in the top five and led the GTD PRO field for three laps before pitting to hand the car to Aaron Telitz. Telitz ran fourth until the closing stages, when he was battling for a podium position and made contact with a Corvette. He held second for a few more laps before a tire went down from the earlier contact, forcing a pit stop. The No. 15 finished tenth.
The contact incidents were the defining moments. Hawksworth’s spin on lap 43 came from a GTP car making an overtaking move, a different-class interaction that drew a penalty but still cost track position. The No. 14 clawed back to second and was in position to challenge for the win when the drive-through penalty arrived. Barnicoat called the result controversial in post-race comments, saying Hawksworth “did an excellent move to get past the 3 car” and that external factors took away a win the team deserved.
Telitz’s situation was sharper because the contact came from within-class racing. He made a move on the No. 4 Corvette in the final restarts, but the Corvette moved over in the brake zone and the resulting contact eventually led to the flat tire. “It would’ve been a P2, a great result here for the 15 team,” Telitz said. “Everyone knew we were here.”
Mostert, racing as a guest driver for Vasser Sullivan, said he was gutted for Telitz because “he didn’t do anything wrong.” The flat tire on the last lap took them out of second place. Mostert called the experience with Vasser Sullivan “absolutely awesome” and said he would be watching the rest of the season from Australia.
Hawksworth kept his assessment brief. “It was a wild race,” he said. “I don’t know what happened at the end. I tried my best to win the race and they gave us a drive through.”
The next round for Lexus and Vasser Sullivan is a six-hour endurance race at Watkins Glen International in upstate New York on June 28. The longer format shifts the calculus from sprint-race positioning battles to fuel strategy, driver-stint management, and traffic navigation across a much larger time window. Whether the team can avoid the kind of late-race incidents that defined Detroit will be the question that decides whether podiums turn into results or slip away again.
Source: Lexus. Images courtesy of Lexus.
