This interview was originally published on our FaceBook page on Saturday, June 12, 2021 before the IMSA GTD race.

RaceCanada's Lisa Lakian is at the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix presented by Lear and chatted with IMSA driver Jeff Kingsley on his debut at the Belle Isle circuit in just his second race with Compass Racing.

This is your first time at the Detroit Grand Prix circuit at Belle Isle. Have you been able to quickly adapt to the circuit – especially racing between the walls?

“I’ve been able to adapt pretty quickly to the circuit, but I am also new to endurance racing where you have to share the car so on a short weekend like this, you have to make the best of the limited time you have in the car. I can tell you that he Belle Isle circuit is a handful. Racing Porsche GTs cars at the Honda Indy circuit in Toronto I thought that was a bumpy but this place is definitely different. I look forward to getting racing here though.”

The car #76 Acura NSX looks to be very strong here and you had strong run in qualifying – the last of the cars with a half second of the pole. How do you think the mid-engined NSX will fair against the front-engined cars that seem to dominate the front three rows. How does the car feel overall?

“The Honda HPD Acura has some impressive results here at Detroit previous and we have that to lean on, but qualifying result was not as good as expected although we have moved up a spot to the third row. On a track that is hard to pass with not a lot of passing zones, the goal is to pass off the car to Mario who can hopefull bring it up front.”

The Compass Acura is ready to go and we’ve just come off our best finish – a fifth at Mid-Ohio so we are only looking for better from here.”

You will be starting from inside row four of the grid and the cars on the first three rows all seem to be evenly matched in performance. Does the team have a game plan on how to approach this sprint race which is less than two hours in length? Can you race to the front on pure pace or will pit strategy come into play – especially as there may only be one stop?

“From what I’ve been told, this is definitely a strategy race and fuel management is important as are pit stop time and driver change. Of course we have a plan but in racing, plans don’t always work out as anything can happen throughout the race. I had one small mistake in qualifying that cost me a tenth – and even that margin could have put me up on the second row in this competitive field.”

You are new to the series having done two races in 2020 and just one so far this year – Mid-Ohio where you had a strong 5th place result. With 8 more races to run, how do you see the rest of the year evolving for you in the series and a continued run with Compass Racing?

“Mid-Ohio was my first time in the car and I am also new to the GT3 platform, so a fifth at Mid-Ohio was a strong result which certainly makes myself and the team very confident. This is also only the second race for Compass 360 with this car which arrived at the shop just a couple of weeks before Mid-Ohio. We will continue to learn and push to the front through the rest of the season.”