Vasser Sullivan Racing’s newfound partnership of longstanding veteran Aaron Telitz and newest co-driver Benjamin Pedersen is already off to winning ways after just three rounds.
The duo, driving the #12 Lexus RC F GT3, delivered a GTD class victory in IMSA’s round earlier this month at the Grand Prix of Long Beach. It not only stood at Telitz’s sixth victory and first since 2023 (Watkins Glen), but also shined a spotlight on Pedersen’s adaptation to the team and to GT racing.
Returning to the top step of the podium is undoubtedly welcomed by Telitz, 34, who acknowledged on an IMSA media availability on Monday he hadn’t previously known the Dane prior to the two being put together as the full-time lineup in January.
“I have known of him when he was coming up through the IndyCar ladder system, just like I did,” said Telitz. “So, we’ve got a really similar background there, but I’d never worked with him until this year, starting at Daytona. We just hit it off.
“Yeah, he’s really similar to me in a lot of ways. I know a lot about what it’s like to come from an open wheel background and then get into sports cars.”
And that has likely helped Pedersen’s adaptation, having spent much of his early career in the junior formula ranks before his only IndyCar Series campaign in 2023 with AJ Foyt Racing. He spent the following two years contesting LMP2 machinery in both the European Le Mans Series (2024-25) and IMSA (2025).
“Anytime he had a question with something or was struggling with something, I knew exactly where he was coming from,” Telitz said. “So yeah, it’s just helped us get the ball rolling really quick here.”
When asked by Motorsport.com what he’s noticed in terms of Pedersen’s development in this latest transition, Telitz offered more details.
“The big thing with Benjamin is anytime you tell him he needs to try something different, or maybe his braking technique coming from open wheel – it was these brake hits that were incredibly steep and maybe like a little bit of overlap with brake and throttle and a big fat GT car – it’s not really the way to go about it necessarily,” Telitz said.
“And anytime you tell him to try something else, he goes and does it right away, and he figures out how to master it. That’s been how he’s taken his development so quickly from never driven a GT car, to doing his third IMSA race in GTD and winning, is because he picks up on things so quickly.
“Like in a short weekend at Long Beach, you get two practices, and then you go straight into qualifying. And we even had a five-minute penalty, so we didn’t get to do all of qualifying. We still qualify up near the first three rows. And then in the race, he moves forward from there. It’s just how he keeps getting better session after session, even in a short weekend. That helps make these results possible.”
#12 Vasser Sullivan Racing Lexus RC F GT3: Aaron Telitz, Benjamin Pedersen, with team owners Jimmy Vasser and James
Photo by: Michael L. Levitt / Lumen via Getty Images
Although the opening two rounds were a struggle, the win in Long Beach vaulted the pair to third in the GTD championship standings, 103 points behind leader Eduardo ‘Dudu’ Barrichello (930-827).
“Yeah, we haven’t felt like we’ve had to climb out of a hole necessarily,” Telitz said. “You know, two races into a 10-race season. You’ve got 80 percent of the season left to go. The whole you’re digging yourself out of is never that deep at that point. It’s maybe when you get to the midway point through, you’re six races, seven races in, and you’ve had a couple of bad weekends in a row. That’s when you feel like, ‘Oh, we’ve got a short time to dig us out of our hole.’ We didn’t feel that way.
“We knew we were gonna have shots to win this year. We had chances to win last year. It just didn’t fall our way either. So far this year, you know, the first opportunity we’ve had to win, we’ve grabbed it by the horns and we’ve done it.”
And they’ll have another chance to do so this weekend at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, a place Telitz has great memories from capturing the Pro Mazda (now Indy Pro 2000) Championship in 2016, but hasn’t quite cracked the podium there in three previous IMSA starts.
“Yeah, I love going to Laguna Seca,” Telitz said. “It’s a beautiful place, a beautiful racetrack, and although I don’t have a lot of great results to show for it in IMSA, in previous series that I ran in, I’ve got a lot of great memories and big wins and securing championships there.
“We’re just hoping to have a clean, clean race weekend. Laguna Seca historically is not a great track for our Lexus RC F GT3, but the best part about IMSA is, you don’t have to always be the fastest. You can have clean races, and good pit stops, good strategy, and get yourself in a position to still come home with a trophy.”
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