For the second time in the last three years, American team K-PAX Racing are competing in the 24 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps. They’ve made their name through success in GT World Challenge America and its predecessor series. By every metric, they are the elite standard to which all other teams in SRO’s American championship are measured against.
And Darren Law, the Programme Manager of K-PAX Racing, is proud to be able to take part in this year’s Spa 24 Hours under their own banner. They’re not the only GT World Challenge America team that’s making the trek to Spa this weekend. But as the only one that’s competing in the all-Pro category (Pro Cup), they stand the best chance of winning it all. And, they’ll be doing so under their own banner.
Law and several members of K-PAX arrived at Belgium after a transcontinental flight out of New York on Monday, less than 24 hours after the conclusion of a difficult weekend of racing at Watkins Glen. We caught up with Law on Saturday to chat about what goes into bringing a top-flight sports car racing programme across the Atlantic in just a few short days.
“There are a lot of challenges,” Law says, “specifically because we’re a US program going over to Europe and trying to race there, it makes it difficult.”
“It’s a tight window for everybody,” he remarked about the travel. “We finish our race Sunday, and then we jump on a plane Monday morning, and we load into the track Tuesday. There’s a lot of logistics that we have to coordinate between Lamborghini and us – for parts, and the crew, and the hotels – and all of this stuff. Booking everything in Europe is a challenge, coming from the US.”
In terms of getting the key people from America to Belgium safely and with all their accommodations in order, it requires quite a bit of agility. Fortunately, Lamborghini Squadra Corse have made perhaps the most difficult challenges of such a journey much, much easier.
“I’m not gonna say it’s easy, but we’re working in conjunction with Lamborghini on this. And it’s their car, their equipment, and we’re sharing crew,” Law remarks on how Lamborghini are assisting their Spa efforts. “They’ve helped lighten the load for us, as far as what’s required to make this happen.”
2022 is the second year of K-PAX’s current partnership with Lamborghini, having previously flown the flag for McLaren and Bentley in their time racing GT3 cars. It’s a partnership that has already bore wonderful fruit, in terms of support and success – where they handily won the GT World Challenge America Pro teams’ and drivers’ titles last year, and are well on their way to doing so again.
“They’re a great partner,” Law says of Lamborghini. “They are, obviously, assisting with crew support. They currently assist with engineering support, they assist with marketing support, vehicle equipment – it’s a very much a partnership, with almost every aspect of the programme.”
Law recalled his team’s first entry into the 2020 Spa 24 Hours, in the midst of what was a strange year for them in hindsight. They planned to race in both America and Europe, but the way that the onset of COVID-19 broke for them, K-PAX ended up most of their year racing in Europe, including a debut outing at the Spa 24 Hours where their cars finished tenth and twelfth overall.
“When we did it the first year in 2020, with the Bentley programme, it was our cars, our crew, our shop, our rigs. That was very hectic, and a lot of work.”
“I would say it’s easier now,” Law says, comparing this year’s entry to the one from two years ago. “Obviously in 2020, that was right at the height of COVID. We were right in the middle of everything.”
“Just flying to Europe was a struggle during that time. So there were a lot of challenges. I mean, just even getting to the track, and what protocols they have in place to enter the track. So that was a very challenging programme.”
“And I have to say, we’re very proud of our our top ten finish [at Spa].”
They return in 2022 with Jordan Pepper, who was part of the team that finished in the top ten in 2020. Pepper is also one-half of the reigning GT World Challenge America Pro Cup champions. The other half of that American championship-winning pair is Lamborghini factory driver Andrea Caldarelli, who currently leads the Pro Drivers’ Championship in GTWC America after the tandem was split up in the middle of the season following a rules change.
Caldarelli was also one the two drivers that won the 2019 “SRO Triple Crown”, taking the GT World Challenge Europe, Sprint Cup, and Endurance Cup titles in the same calendar year. Marco Mapelli, K-PAX’s third driver for Spa, was the other driver to take home this historic honour. Like Caldarelli, Mapelli is also regarded as one of Lamborghini’s ace factory drivers.
Law believes his team can win the Spa 24 Hours this year, and he’s right to feel confident in his team’s chances.
“We had a really good test,” said Law. “The crew worked well together. It was very methodical on what we went through, and how we work the programme. You know, it gave us a good chance, obviously, to use their equipment, but the car was fast. We’re easily in the top ten, and this was only testing. We’ve got an amazing driver lineup with Andrea and Jordan, who are together all year, most of the time – and Marco as well. So I think we stand a really good chance.”
“Lamborghini has never won the Spa 24, so this is a big deal for us. We’d like to bring it home for them.”
You can tell in the way that Law speaks that a victory at the 24 Hours of Spa would mean so much – to his partners at Lamborghini, to the drivers he’s brought on board who are also looking for their first victories in the race, and also, for himself and the team that he’s managed since 2015.
“To me, this race is probably the pinnacle of GT3 racing,” said Law. “There’s so many factory supported programmes – and 60, 70 cars.”
While winding down our conversation about K-PAX’s immediate future at Spa-Francorchamps, there was one other itch worth scratching.
Some may know that Law wears two hats in the paddock, as the Programme Manager for another legendary American sports car racing outfit: Flying Lizard Motorsports, for which he used to drive for.
While Flying Lizard aren’t as “front and centre” at the top flights of American GT racing as they once were, they’re still very much active in 2022.
They currently operate a multi-car effort in Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America, they race in Porsche Sprint Challenge North America, and they have an Aston Martin GT4 programme in SRO America – where gentleman driver Elias Sabo and his 5.11 apparel company front their efforts in the GT4 America and GT America series.
Inquiring about the future outlook for the Lizards, Law remarked: “It’s looking really good.”
“We’re very busy. We’ve got a lot of different programs that are happening right now, and the goal is to be at the top level and perform as we always have – and run in in the top series in the US.”
“We’ve just got a lot on our plate, and a lot of different programs, but we’re the thing is – and the thing that I’m very proud of this, we’re very successful in all of the things that we’re involved with.”
Feature Image © Bob Chapman / autosport image
Additional images © K-PAX Racing, SRO Motorsports Group America
