Telitz shifts into whole new gear
State racer having success with sports cars
Aaron Telitz has always believed in his abilities as a race-car driver.
He won in go-karts and on each step of the Road to Indy ladder, through the smaller formulas right up to IndyCar's doorstep. Given the chance, Telitz believes he could win there, too.
But believing is one thing and knowing another.
The 28-year-old racer from Birchwood in the northwest part of Wisconsin wouldn't have joined AIM Vasser
Sullivan last year if he didn’t believe he could compete for wins or didn’t believe what then was a part-time opportunity could lead to bigger things.
Now Telitz knows.
In the two races since his promotion to full-time co-driver in the team’s No. 14 Lexus in the IMSA GT Daytona class, he’s stood on the top step of the podium twice. He rides into his home race this weekend with momentum and confidence.
“It has kind of validated my thought of, ‘Can I do this sports-car thing?’ You’re never sure going into your first races,” Telitz said.
“I was telling my wife when I was heading down to Daytona for the first race when the season got back going (July 4), I was like, man, I haven’t been this nervous for a race in a while. It’s just everything’s new and you don’t know how you’re going to do.
“Getting those first two (races) out of the way with incredible results, both at Daytona and Sebring, that’s just a big confidence boost and validation for me. Like, yep, I’m good enough to do this, I should be here.”
Round 4 of the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship is scheduled for 11:05 a.m. Sunday at Road America in Elkhart Lake, a track at which Telitz has run countless laps and won in other series. It’s a timed event of 2 hours 40 minutes.
Telitz, who raced all the endurance events last year and the season-opening Rolex 24 at Daytona this January, became Jack Hawksworth’s regular codriver in late June, when the Parker Chase and the team parted ways.
After edging teammates Townsend Bell and Frankie Montecalvo at Daytona in the series’ return from the coronavirus-related hiatus, Telitz and Hawksworth
were back on top in Sebring, Florida.
“I got pretty used to the whole teammate thing quicker than I thought I would,” said Telitz, who drove with Bell, Montecalvo and Shanevan Gisbergen in the Rolex 24. “I thought it would be way more difficult to get over the fact that it’s not just my car.
“It helped to have teammates like Townsend Bell and Frankie in the 14 car and now Jack Hawksworth, who know the background that I come from and are really helpful. Any questions that I have or anything I need for advice or anything that I am looking for, those guys are so helpful and come from a similar background.”
The differences between Indy Lights and IMSA GTD are stark. The Lexus RC F GT3 is heavier and more upright and carries less down force but does have antilock brakes, traction control and other advanced electronics. The typical race is about four times as long – but split between two drivers – and Telitz has had to learn to conserve fuel and tires and to make pit stops.
“The newness is fun, and obviously pit stops are an important part of racing so just to be able to experience that is going to do me nothing but good down the line, if I do get an opportunity to go into IndyCar of if I keep driving sports cars,” he said.
Telitz’s open-wheel career stalled at the Indy Lights level when he failed to win a championship – and the scholarship that goes with it – in 2017 or ’18. Pato O’Ward and Oliver Askew, the past two Lights champions, both graduated to IndyCar full-time. Meanwhile, Telitz continued to race when he could, renovated a house he and his wife bought in Minneapolis and worked part-time for a telecommunications and data company in the Twin Cities.
When Telitz joined AIM Vasser Sullivan, the understanding is they were “working towards something bigger.” Team owners Jimmy Vasser and James Sullivan also are involved in full-time IndyCar effort, so Telitz also had the opportunity to embed with it.
“It’s hard to think long-term” in racing, Telitz said. “I’d still like to figure out how to get to IndyCar, to do the Indy 500 and if a full-season ride comes along that’d be awesome.
“But my goal is to just keep driving race cars for my day job. That’s my goal, that’s my dream, that’s what most racecar drivers set out to do in the first place.”
Keep driving race cars, and keep winning. Telitz has shown he can do that.