Nolasport is proud to be the home of one of Porsche's premier race teams in the U.S. The team entered the 2022 season having dominated the 2021 Pirelli GT4 America Pro-Am championship taking nine wins and the team championship. 2022 was a much harder fought championship with eight different teams taking race wins and the championship battle going to the final race at Indianapolis when four teams were still in contention.
Jason Hart is one of those hyphen-nated racers since his daily activities include racing, driver coaching, vehicle dynamics data analysis, simulation driving and vehicle testing dating back to 1995. Jason has a diverse driving background including wins in Sports Cars, Sprint Cars and even the 2011 BAJA 1000 in Class 4.
Scott Noble certainly made the most of his first full season in professional racing. Scott’s first car race was in January of 2021, club racing with the Porsche Club of America. By August of 2021, with coaching and encouragement from Jason, Scott decided to make an effort to race in a professional series and chose GT America as a fitting series to develop as a driver in a highly competitive environment. Scott competed in four GT America races in 2021, including a podium finish.
SRO: What were your expectations entering 2022?
JASON: The plan for 2022 was to have fun and focus on driver development in Scott’s first time in Pirelli GT4 America and also his first full season campaign. We came in knowing some of the tracks Scott had not been to yet and this level of competition would be an environment he would need to adjust to. We always want to do well as we are both very driven, but we certainly were not expecting to compete for a championship year one.
SCOTT: The plan was to develop me as a respectful and respected, safe, fast driver in my first organized professional racing series. I set an expectation for myself to put in the work necessary to compete. My personal goal was to be Top 5 per event and on podiums by year-end. I was shocked with our early success and we stepped up the testing time in an attempt to continue to compete throughout the season.
SRO: What was your favorite on-track moment?
JASON - As someone who is passionate about finding the positive lesson in each failure, mine would be VIR as a whole. Seeing Scott recover from our Race 1 DNF at VIR and turn it around and watch him drive to victory in the closing stint of Race 2. The lessons in racing are so satisfying when a driver is able to take a given failure and make it a pillar under their driving foundation.
SCOTT: Not exactly on track, but when I showed up the paddock for the first race in Sonoma, I was pretty overwhelmed by the scale and professionalism by both SRO and the teams. I certainly had a smile from ear to ear, but at the same time said “What the heck did you just sign up for?”. My family attended the first race at Sonoma and it was a joy to see them witness and comment on how much fun I have with racing in SRO’s GT4 America series.
My favorite on track experience was being handed the tight lead at Sebring from Jason and subsequently handling the pressure and driving at a pace to bring the Nolasport #47 to victory. Privately, I was tearing up as I passed the Finishline.
SRO: Any memorable off-track adventures?
JASON: Cancelled flights, Banged up racecars, Questionable restaurants, Frustrations with tire graining, Police encounters…it is all easy to forget as long as you find some homemade ice cream! Oh yeah, crepes too!!!
SCOTT: Technically off track and in the grass - when I unwisely chose to pass Tom Capizzi Lap 1 and forgot the track kept turning left at VIR. It was the fastest, yet slowest series of spins before testing the tire barriers while ironically impacting them at 47 mph, our racing number. I had an immense amount of thoughts running through my mind as I knew a crash was forthcoming. “Jason is going to chew me out for this bad decision. The drivers are going to chew me out for the length of this double yellow. This is going to be expensive. Hope my family doesn’t see this on TV”
SRO: What does this championship mean to you?
JASON: This Championship is very satisfying, not only because it is Scott’s first, but also because it is a Back-to-Back Championship for myself and nolasport. We had a few moments where we fell on the wrong side of the coin and it seemed like each time that happened our competitors would somehow benefit optimally points wise. It was down to the last race and when all went wrong in T1, somehow we miraculously were able to make it out bent, but able to finish. 2nd-2nd-1st-1st is excellent for the Championship the last four years!!!
SCOTT: I am most proud that I trusted and followed the advice of Jason Hart, Matt Travis, Duncan Burke and Jon Sheurich – Protect the car, don’t cause an incident, put in the work and good things happen. I had a mindset the entire season to respect every cars space, give them room, let everyone enjoy a full green flag race, and still race fast and hard. There were many times I gave up positions, especially lap 1, so that Nolasport, Jason and I had a chance to race the entire 60 minutes. I think winning the Championship reflects the serious approach, effort and disciplines I implemented every race.
SRO: Who are the unsung heroes who helped make this happen?
JASON: For sure the nolasport team and of course our families. As a team this was a rough year with incidents in the various series we run, when it rains it pours. The guys on the team burnt both ends of the candle all year and always found a way to put a car on track for their drivers. Pretty unreal effort by every member of the team, Thank You guys, Thank You nolasport. With our testing and racing schedule it meant a lot of time on the road and our families deserve big thanks and hugs for all they do while we are on the road. It takes everyone for this Championship to happen.
SCOTT: Jason is still the unsung hero as he presents an extremely detailed and methodical plan for the year and each race. He has a proven methodical system to develop and communicate with a driver. He worked extremely hard in how to communicate to me fully what was needed to win a Championship. I will be forever grateful toward his efforts and lessons learned.
SRO: What are your plans for 2023?
JASON - 2023 has been announced for Scott and I, we will race Porsche Carrera Cup North America with MDK Motorsports in the 992 GT3 Cup. This is a way for us to both grow in faster cars and measure up without BOP in a very deep and competitive field. The schedule that is shaping up looks to be amazing and involves some new tracks for both of us! As for Pirelli GT4 America I am talking with a few drivers and will be doing some tests. I am very motivated to continue GT4 racing where the competition is so strong and the two-driver sprint format is one of my favorites.
I am very grateful for the drivers and teams who choose and trust me in their racing efforts. It means the world to me, I am so passionate about this sport and it has given me everything in life. The biggest THANK YOU is what I want to express.
SCOTT – I chose a different path for 2023 that I think will help me develop even further as a driver. I would like to be on the track at the same time as Pros, Pro-Ams, and Ams to benchmark my skills in a similar car, tire and track conditions. For those reasons I chose for both Jason and I (2 cars entered) to race in Porsche Carrera Cup North America. And for 2024 – I’m always up for a Challenge, perhaps back to SRO for the Fanatec GT World Challenge America.
SRO: Thanks guys.