Ben Barnicoat and Jack Hawksworth: “I Want Us to Go Out There and Give the Best We Can for This Team”

What is it like to live with your teammate? [0:00]

Greg: Imagine spending every waking minute with your teammate. Training, hanging out, even living together.

Jack Hawksworth: I make my bed every morning first thing.

Greg: Would that drive you crazy?

Ben Barnicoat: There are times where we wanted to kill each other as well.

Greg: Or would that push you to win a championship?

Jack: Ah... I'd say 50/50. [Jokingly]

Greg: For Ben Barnicoat and Jack Hawksworth, this has been the daily reality for years.

Jack: I think, oh, do you want to answer?

Ben: He's making progress. We're working on it. Five years in he's getting there! [Jokingly]

Greg: That's why we decided to meet these former roommates at the Rolex 24 and find out how they've channeled their friendship into a championship winning effort that's redefining the meaning of teamwork in the IMSA paddock. 

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First impressions and growing up racing together in the UK [0:45]

Greg: You guys were born just over an hour's drive apart in the UK, and now you're here together as teammates. You lived together in Charlotte for a long time. You spent a lot of years together. What are your impressions of each other? What was the first impression?

Jack: Proper knob! No, no, ha, ha. [Jokingly] It's like you say, we grew up in a similar part of the country, similar sense of humor and everything, and get on well off the track. And then Ben's a phenomenal driver, so it’s always good being alongside him, and good chemistry and a lot of success together. This is the one race we're trying to tick off. So, we're trying.

Ben: Obviously when you start this whole journey right, we're so lucky, we're here now racing the Rolex 24 Hours. But that started at a little go kart track back in the UK called Wombwell in Barnsley. And I remember being ten years old, Jack would have been 14, 15. And when you're not driving your go kart, you're watching the older guys to learn from them, see how they do it. And Jack was one of those guys for me. He's someone that you've had in your brain, sort of known for a very long time, but we'd never really spoken or hung out until I started driving with him as teammates; you never know who you're going to cross paths with or work with down the line.

Greg: And when you guys did cross paths, what was the moment for you where it clicked where you're like, all right, this is going to work out?

Ben: I think it was straight away. Jack had been here a very long time at this program. I was at a point in my career where I wanted to take a step, and the work that Jack had done here, along with Lexus Racing, I think I was so lucky to slot into a program that these guys have built great foundations for a great time. I was very hungry to take that next step in my career, and these guys were already at that level and it was just an instant click. It's very cliché to say, but for me joining the team, it was very much the right place, right time, racing with Jack and everything about it.

Greg: And Jack for you, what is the secret to being teammates that work so well together? What was the thing that you guys figured out very early?

Jack: One of the big things is overall for both of us, we're just both racers. We both really want to win. We both really want to be here. We both push each other really hard. And it's crazy because it still seems like two minutes ago since Ben joined the team, but we've had quite a few seasons now and we've had ups and downs and everything. But I think we push each other. I think that's the biggest thing. We work well together, but we push each other and ultimately, we get the most out of each other. And I think that's what makes us such a good lineup.

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Can you actually be roommates with your teammate? [2:51]

Greg: One of the cool things to me about endurance racing is you have to fight as a team, especially in a sport where it can be so cutthroat. So, it's great to see the chemistry that you guys have even right now, you can feel it. I'm curious…

Ben: Don’t get me wrong, there's times where we wanted to kill each other as well as wanting to win.

Greg: How does it go when you're living together? Is that the right way to do it, or is that the wrong way to do it?

Jack: We won a championship. And obviously, you need your own space and everything, but we won a series together. That was when the team was on the up and up. And as a team, we were on this charge to the top. And it still is to this day. We live, breathe, and sleep it. And at that point, it really was like when we were over in the US, we were sharing an apartment, going to the gym, training, going to a race weekend, trying to put it on the box, go back and do the cycle all over again. But it was a good laugh as well. We've got some good funny stories from the apartment era.

Greg: Can we hear any?

Jack: Probably not PG.

Ben: We had a great time and we still are. Obviously in life you grow, you change. We don't live together now, but the grind, as Jack said, is still the same. We're still in the gym together every day, and pushing each other off track as well as on it. And that's part of the beauty of this team. We push each other really hard in every aspect. There's so much of my game that I feel I upped as being a member of Vasser Sullivan and Lexus Racing, you feel responsible to tick every box. And that's one thing I love about being here.

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What it meant to win the 2023 IMSA Championship [4:13]

Greg: A brand like Lexus partnered with a team like Vasser Sullivan isn't just going to keep drivers around because they get along. Ben and Jack deliver the on-track results, but what do they learn from winning, and how does it drive their unique dynamic today? 

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In 2023, you guys won the championship. They say consistency wins championships. You only had two weekends off the podium. What did it mean for you to win the championship, considering you were with the program since 2017?

Jack: Oh, super special. We've been at this for a long time, and to finally win the series, to win the GTD Pro class in the Lexus RCF with Vasser Sullivan, with all the guys who’d been here, it was really special. Like that was the highlight of my career. Incredible experience. But once you've done it once, you want to do it again. So now we’re on that, trying to get another one. And the Rolex 24 is the one race we haven't won yet, so there's always something else to chase. But that year was really special and it was like you say, we were super consistent. We had a really good team chemistry and it paid off. A year you'll never forget.

Greg: And you had just come from the European series. You had been in McLaren's Driver Development Programme. You ended up here and then this happens. What was it like for you?

Ben: So lucky to have been on this journey, we talked about briefly being a go kart driver when you're eight years old, and we all start with the dream of Formula 1. I was lucky enough to be a part of the McLaren young driver program, but that didn't work out for me. But I had a very good time with McLaren on their GT team, but I just didn't quite get the opportunities I wanted to do. To come to IMSA racing, the big races like Daytona, Sebring, I felt like I was missing that. And this opportunity came and I joined the team in such a good moment, wanting to win these big things. And I really felt that energy from every individual on this team wanting the exact same thing as me, which was to win at the highest level. So, to come here and be able to do it with a great bunch of guys and team chemistry, it was awesome to win it with a great bunch of people.

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Team roles in endurance racing and how Ben and Jack work together [6:03]

Greg: How do you guys think about the division of roles? Do you each take a different role within the team? Because I've heard you talk about not having an ego and letting other people come and go in different capacities.

Jack: I think, oh, you answer.

Ben: I was going to say we take whatever role we need to win the race. I think not having egos too, if there’s one weekend where Jack feels it's better for me to do something and not him, we do it and it's a very open playbook.

Jack: I think it has changed over the years as well. Because initially, like in 2022, when Ben came in, I had a lot of experience with the car and I guess it was Ben's first year in IMSA. So, he was probably leaning on me a little bit more. Now, Ben's been around, he knows the car inside out. He knows the series inside out. It’s way more like now we're learning off each other and we're both bouncing off each other. Dynamically we can—depending on who's comfortable in what situation, whether it be a certain track, a certain session or whatever—we can just mix it up and, like Ben said, just whatever it takes to try and get the result, which we want.

Ben: Worth noting as well. We've got a great engineer, Geoff Fickling. He's engineered us both. Well, Jack a long way back into his open wheel days. Me, every lap I've done in a Lexus, it's been with him at the helm. He's a great leader for us. Whatever he says goes, we don't question it; we all have complete trust in each other, which makes that dynamic great.

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How Kyle Kirkwood fits as the perfect third wheel for the team [7:20]

Greg: You know the saying two is a pair and three is a crowd? Well, that doesn't apply here. Ben and Jack might have the perfect bromance, but IMSA often demands a third driver. And the real challenge is finding someone who makes three feel like company rather than a crowd. 

How does the dynamic change when you've got a third wheel like Kyle [Kirkwood] coming in?

Jack: Wow. I'd love to take the mick out of Kyle, but he really is the perfect endurance guy for us. And he's obviously a fantastic driver doing fantastic things in IndyCar. But he comes into this program, I think alongside me and Ben, he just slots in so perfectly.

Greg: So, it's not intimidating for him because you guys obviously gel really well together and so to be able to break into that could be hard…

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Jack: No, he fits in so well. And the great thing about Kyle is, obviously me and Ben are driving this car all the time, and in this series, we know the team inside out and everything, but Kyle understands that. He comes in like, ‘What do you need from me? How can I be of assistance?’ Whether it be him taking some of the heavy lifting in the middle of the night so me and [Ben] can get some more rest. All of our best success in this team has come when we've had the three of us in the car together. It's just a dynamic that works.

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Coming back stronger after an injury [8:25]

Greg: Both of you have faced training accidents. Jack, I'm curious for you, when something like that happens, how do you work through it? Like how do you get in the right physical and also mental headspace to come back from it rather than let it consume everything?

Jack: Just roll with the punches, to be honest. I remember when, a few years now since I had my accident, all I knew was I wanted to go back racing. I was hungry to get back. You just start chipping away at it, listen to the doctors and try to get healthy again.

Greg: You just break it into little pieces?

Jack: Yeah, but I'm not going to sit here and stand here and say that I had this great mental approach, and that I was good the whole way through it. The whole process was very up and down. There were days when I was so angry and depressed about it. And then there were the days when I was super motivated, but the only thing, which from my side I did and from having good people around me and everything, was just kept chipping away at it till I was ready to get back into the car. I think the only thing you can do is accept that you're going to have tough days if something like that happens. Certainly, it was a roller coaster of a journey and I'm sure it was the same for Ben.

Greg: What was it for you? Did you take his advice? Did you say, I'll go some other way? How did it play out?

Ben: Obviously when Jack had his injury, I was new to the team. And honestly, as bad as this is, Jack having his accident made mine 20 times better because I'd seen the family come together and support him through it. There was none of that doubt of, ‘I'm going to get fired from my job.’ I knew how good they'd been with him, so it made it a hell of a lot easier for me mentally I would say, just knowing that everyone was going to be right by me. I've never wanted to go to a gym more to get fit, and I'm definitely not the guy who's in the gym the most on the team. But I was then to make sure I was back as quick as I could, because it was from the minute you know you're going to be okay, you've got one goal and that's to get back with the guys and get back out there.

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Ben and Jack’s 2026 goals with Vasser Sullivan and Lexus Racing [10:10]

Greg: All right. To close out for you guys, I'm curious, since you have this great dynamic, what do you want the year to be for Jack? And what do you want the year to be for Ben?

Ben: I want him to win the championship because it means I will as well.

Jack: Yeah. Likewise. I want us to win. But more than anything, I just want us to go out there and give the best we can for this team. Just give 100% for each other. Give 100% for the team. And I know he's going to do it. He knows I'm going to do it. And that's what I'm excited about.

Ben: A few people are, not counting us out, but we've got an old car. There's a bit of hype about us having to change. It's not, we're here. And I think because we've got an old car, a few people are writing us off and I think we're excited to prove everyone wrong and go out there and show what we got and show what we mean.

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Closing thoughts [10:49]

Greg: Like any friendship, Ben and Jack have faced many ups, downs and disagreements.

Jack: Sushi.

Ben: Mexican.

Greg: But what's most important, is that they continue to persevere and grow together.

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