Shift Up Now Athletes Sarah Montgomery, Hannah Grisham and Loni Unser made history with their Round 3 Racing teammates, earning a first, second and third place spot on the podium – respectively – in the team’s first-ever 24-hour World Racing League race at Sebring International Raceway on Sunday, October 31, 2021.
The trio of female racers is about to be featured in a new Motor Trend TV series, The Drive Within presented by Hagerty, premiering on Friday, November 12 at 6pm ET. The six-episode series has followed Montgomery, Grisham and Unser throughout their 2021 season and the final two episodes were filmed during their triumphant, podium weekend at Sebring.
Montgomery took the graveyard shift, driving the No. 605 Hagerty Drivers Club Porsche Boxster with teammates Buz McCall, Carter Pease, Dennis Neel, Brad McCall, and Jim Ptak. She was two laps down when she took the wheel to drive a double-stint, and brought the team back to the lead lap. With fifteen minutes remaining in the race, she handed the car to Buz McCall, who drove the final five laps and claimed victory in the GP3 class, also clenching the Eastern Championship.
Grisham drove the final stint in the No. 601 Team Sentinel Porsche Boxster, after teammates James Candelaria, Cole Loftsgard and Christian Maloof completed their stints. All three teams executed pit stops every hour and a half throughout the race. Grisham brought the car across the finish line in second place in the GP2 category.
Unser, driving the No. 701 Team Cooper Tires Porsche Cayman in the GP1 class with teammates Mo Dadkhah, Brian Ghidinelli and Mike Gilbert, endured some adversity throughout the race but managed to bring home a third-place podium spot nonetheless. After a punctured tire with wheel well damage, a change of brake pads and a mechanical failure, the trio persevered to earn the third podium appearance of 2021 for the Team Cooper Tires lineup.
With more than 50 cars entered across the four different classes at Sebring, Round 3 Racing was proud to celebrate a successful inaugural event. The team will close the 2021 World Racing League season at Circuit of the Americas on December 3-5, 2021.
In addition, two other Shift Up Now Athletes competed at Sebring. Laura Hayes, with Thunder Bunny Racing, earned her second win of the season in the GP1 category. Pippa Mann, driving an Aston Martin for ProSport Competition, finished in second place overall. With five female racers competing across the four categories in five different race cars, all five finished on the podium, completing an unprecedented weekend for Shift Up Now Athletes.
