Austin Cindric Road Racer



PWC: Austin Cindric, Renaissance racer

Thursday, 15 September 2016
Richard James (words and images) At the end of 2015, Austin Cindric thought he had a plan for 2016. Then he didn't, and he was looking at a year with three or four races on his schedule.
Anyone who has paid any attention to Cindric knows that won't fly.
"A busy driver is a happy driver," the 18-year old says. "I want to be driving racecars for the rest of my life. I feel like you can't be picky these days, as hard as it is to make it as a racecar driver because it's the dream of so many. I've been fortunate enough to be surrounded by the right people in the right instances, and get the most out of them. I'm just trying to set myself up to where I have paths to choose from."

To that end, in his young career he has raced in the USF2000 Championship for Andretti Autosport, the Global RallyCross Championship, IMSA Continental Tires SportsCar Challenge, ARCA, NASCAR's K&N Pro Series and Camping World Truck Series – and pretty much anything else he can get his hands on. He's also been nominated for the Team USA Scholarship and been a part of the Porsche Young Driver Academy. His full season campaign for 2016 is in the No. 6 K-PAX Racing McLaren 650S GT3 in the Pirelli World Challenge GT Championship.
However, as noted, that wasn't originally in the cards for this year. When his original plan fell through, he started calling his contacts looking for ideas and open seats. When your father is Tim Cindric, president of Team Penske, that list can be pretty extensive. One of the people he called was Darren Law. Now program manager for Flying Lizard Motorsports, which runs K-PAX Racing's program, Law was at the Bondurant School when Cindric went there to work on his heel-toe shifting technique. After securing some funding, he had a ride.
He's made a good show of it, too. Although he's had some World Challenge starts prior to 2016, this is his first full season in the series. He sits just outside the top 10 in the GT points and grabbed the pole and finished second in the first race at Mid-Ohio. He's discovered that even with a wide range of racing experience, there are still many things to learn.
"I think the biggest thing, driving-wise, was the turbocharger. I'd never driven a turbocharged car; all the stuff I've been in has been naturally aspirated, so that's kind of been the biggest learning curve," he explains. "One thing that took me by surprise is the aggression of the racing. Lots of these guys – and I'm not sure if it's unique to Pirelli World Challenge or not – these guys race extremely aggressively in my opinion, and most of the time overly aggressive.
"You have to plan your races out accordingly, because with a car like the McLaren, it can do the same lap times, but a lot of the time you're not going to be able to keep up on the straights because of BoP. It's really quite hard to race, so it's put a massive emphasis for me on qualifying."
Having raced stock cars and RallyCross, Cindric is no stranger to contact. But it's different in those categories and sportscars, especially when his roof is the same height as the door handles of some of the bigger – and much heavier – cars. Cindric notes that it's harder to keep it straight when there is contact against cars such as the Bentleys, Nissans and Acuras.
While racing in other disciplines has not helped accustom him to the contact in sports cars, there are areas where Cindric's variety has been a boon to his driving as well as his career.
"I think there are a lot of things that you look at and maybe they're not directly relatable, but just having the ability to adapt quickly in these situations has been big for me. For example, before heading to Sonoma, I'm racing at Chicagoland Thursday night in an ARCA car. I show up at Sonoma just in time to get in the McLaren for practice. With all these different experiences, I'm able to jump in the car, know what to do, switch my mind over and use what I have in my back pocket," he says.
Ultimately, he wants to be a part of a manufacturer program, whichever direction his racing career takes him, and says it would be great to be back in Pirelli World Challenge in 2017. "I think I'm at the point in my driving – and outside the car as well – where I feel like I could carry and be part of a team, be part of a manufacturer," he says. "I'm at that transition point from strong amateur driver to professional driver, and I need someone to take that opportunity. There are a lot of things in the works, and hopefully it's all good.