Pirelli World Challenge: Defying age with Flying Lizard’s Mike Hedlund

The Pirelli World Challenge season is just two races in, but Mike Hedlund has posted an impressive second place position early.

Mike Hedlund is 40 years old and races for Flying Lizard in the No. 45 Opti-Coat Audi R8 LMS GT4 in the Pirelli World Challenge GTS Sprint – GTSA class. A career that got as late as a start as many wouldn’t have imagined, Hedlund’s career began at the age of 34.

“I don’t have as much experience as some of the people in the series that have been racing for 15-20 years professionally. However, in my short automotive racing career I’ve probably raced in more series and in more types of cars than almost anyone,” Hedlund said. “I’ve also been fortunate to have some of the best people in the business as coaches and mentors so I’d like to think I’ve learned the right way to go about my racing. That, combined with always trying to improve myself and the willingness to make sacrifices in other areas of my life to better my racing is probably one of the biggest strengths I have. Perhaps in a few more years my experience will overtake my drive.”

Once you get past his age, it’s amazing to note that Hedlund is racing in the Pirelli World Challenge GTS Sprint – GTSA class. It has all worked out for the chipper gentleman who holds second overall in the points standings.

“It’s been a roller-coaster that’s for sure,” Hedlund said of the season. “Expectations in racing are a strange thing — there’s so much out of your control that all you can really do is focus on yourself, doing your best and limiting the amount of mistakes. Starting with a brand new car is always a challenge and I’m happy we’ve had some respectable performances in the No. 45 Flying Lizard Opti-Coat Audi R8 LMS GT4. We’ve definitely had to fight through some bad luck with incidents out of our control and some self-inflicted poor qualifying performances from myself, but we’ve shown good judgement, solid race craft and decent pace in the races. We’re in a good position as a team to finish out the season strong.”

Hedlund wasn’t joking about the bad luck that he encountered early in the year. A wreck at Circuit of the Americas cost him a lot more than an unexpected DNF. It also led to a minor domino effect that affected his season.

Check out the accident here.

Check out the end result of the accident that Hedlund openly talked about on Twitter. Warning, language — and rightfully so.

Even now, Hedlund looks back on the race and says that he was confident for the race but still salvaged a good weekend.

“The entire team worked amazingly hard overnight to get the car repaired in time for race No. 2 the following day and we were able to salvage a 10th overall and third in class after starting on the last row in 37th position,” Hedlund said. “In fact, the repair bill for that incident kept me out of the 24 Hours of Le Mans this year. I had a seat lined up for the 24 Hours and had to drop out as the budget was taken by the COTA repairs, but that’s racing.”

With the season still being young, there is still an important factor for Hedlund that he’s noticed this year: the unspoken expectations of Flying Lizard and being a part of the program’s storied history.

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“Flying Lizard has a storied history of winning at everything they’ve ever done and when someone like myself joins the program, we end up putting a lot of pressure on ourselves to continue the tradition,” Hedlund said. “When you’re under the Flying Lizard banner you immediately gain the attention of their legions of fans and that must be respected at all times and at all places, even away from the track.”

As expected from around the track with pressure on all sides, Hedlund says that there’s no hiding on the track because of Flying Lizard’s reputation.

“Competition-wise there’s no way to sneak up on any competitors,” Hedlund said. “Everyone knows what you’re doing and how well you’re doing it. However, the team didn’t gain that reputation through luck — the entire team, from top to bottom, is always perfectly prepared and ready to go.”

The season has six more rounds left in it to go but that doesn’t mean that Hedlund is out of the fire just yet. The desire to make up points in every session he touches the car is on his mind from here on.

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“I’d like to tell you I’m just going out there to collect points and see where we are at the end of the season, but I can’t,” Hedlund said. “I don’t care if it’s the first practice of a weekend or the last lap of a race. That’s the position we find ourselves in at the moment and to be frank, as a racing driver, it makes it easier. There’s no pressure to maintain a point lead, all that’s left to do is beat your competitors.”