Sports
Lone Star Racing Looks Ahead to Final Four IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup Rounds After Competitive Rolex 24 and Productive Sebring Test
| DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – A competitive Rolex 24 At Daytona and productive two-day Official IMSA Test this week at Sebring International Raceway have bolstered the positive outlook the No. 80 Lone Star Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 team and co-drivers Dan Knox, Scott Andrews and Eric Filgueiras have heading into the final four rounds of this year’s IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup (IMEC) GT Daytona (GTD) Championship. |
| The team and its driver trio put in two full days and one night of testing Tuesday and Wednesday in the IMSA test at Sebring International Raceway in preparation for the next round of both the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and IMEC GTD at the 73rd running of the 12 Hours of Sebring, March 12 – 15. January’s Rolex 24 opener came to an unfortunate end after the No. 80 team and drivers battled at the front of the GTD pack for more than half the race, but the overall competitive and race-leading run at Daytona – combined with the gains from the Sebring work this week – give Lone Star plenty to build on ahead of its second 12 Hours of Sebring. “We’ve got a great start here,” said Knox, Lone Star Racing team owner and driver. “It’s a good building block to start the season. We’ve still got some work to do to be where we want to be. We’re still not quite there but we’ll get there. We’ve always managed to get to the top with one of the fastest cars. We’re close. We’ve just got a few more things to work out. For me, a lot of it is just getting used to the car again. It’s been over a year since I’ve driven a GT3. I’ve been driving GT2 and GT4 Mercedes-AMGs the last couple of years, and just how much more grip and downforce the GT3 is something to relearn, but I’m getting there and am excited about it.” |
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Lone Star is contesting the IMEC GTD Championship – which awards the top performers in the year’s five endurance races – for the second straight year with first time IMSA endurance race drivers Knox and Filgueiras joining returning team pro Andrews in the No. 80 Mercedes-AMG GT3. The trio was joined by Mercedes-AMG driver Ralf Aron for the Daytona opener. Shaking off some procedural and competition related penalties early in the Rolex 24 on Saturday, solid stints at the wheel by all four drivers put the No. 80 back on the lead lap and soon battling for the GTD lead as Midnight approached. Andrews and Filgueiras each stepped up to lead race laps early Sunday morning as the No. 80 stayed in GTD contention throughout the night. Andrews and Aron traded off driving stints at Daytona while running in the GTD top three as Sunday dawned, but disaster hit during a crowded restart just past 8 a.m. EST as the field raced into Turn 1. Andrews got caught up in a multi-car incident and limped the damaged No. 80 back to the pits. The Lone Star Racing team repaired the right rear suspension on the No. 80 to get the car back in the race several laps down but voluntarily withdrew later on Sunday morning with no realistic chance of gaining any significant finishing positions in the GTD field. The final results listed the No. 80 in 14th place in GTD running order. Lone Star Racing is run by longtime Team Manager and Technical Director AJ Petersen. “We’re just working hard,” Petersen said. “In Daytona, we had a fast car. We had some hiccups in the race but we battled through them. Running at the front legitimized what we did last year. It wasn’t a fluke. We’re just continuing to build on everything. We have a really nice, tight small team and we’re all driven to reach the same goal. As cliche as all that stuff is, that’s what we’re doing and you can feel it. We’re all excited about this year. Dan’s driving great. Scott and Eric are good teammates, and it was great to have Ralf join us at Daytona to help us get off to the competitive start. They work well together and complement each other, there’s nothing but optimism here.” |
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| Professional driver Andrews has been a fixture at Lone Star Racing in both GT3 and GT4 competition in recent IMSA seasons. He is the only returning driver from last year’s Rolex 24 and IMEC GTD debuting team that co-drove to a respectable eighth-place showing for Lone Star at Daytona . Andrews also won his and Lone Star’s first IMSA pole position in the No. 80 in 2024’s season-ending Motul Petit Le Mans at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta. “The Daytona pace was really, really good, and we worked well as a unit,” Andrews said. “Racing stuff happens, so just put it behind us and move onto the next race. The two days at Sebring this week were really positive here. We learned a lot with the car. We can take what we learned into March and fight for a podium in the 12 Hour. All of the teams are doing well, and we’re all relatively close to each other. It’s really going come down to who leads going into the last 40 minutes and who doesn’t make any mistakes throughout the race. The new torque sensors take a lot of work but have brought the racing a little bit closer. It’s definitely evens out the playing field a little bit. The Lone Star team is able to adapt, which we’ve been able to do, and it helps really, really well.” Florida-native Filgueiras co-drove with Steven McAleer to the 2023 GT World Challenge GT3 Pro Championship and now made his IMSA WeatherTech debut at the “World Center of Racing” with Lone Star. He has even more experience on the legendary 3.74-mile Sebring circuit where he has won in both GT3 and GT4 competition, including a GT4 America sweep last year. “From a performance standpoint, Daytona checked all the boxes for us,” Filgueiras said. “It was everything we would have wanted. Even though it wasn’t the result we would have hoped for, it left us with a really promising idea of how we can come to the 12 Hours of Sebring. I consider Sebring more of my home track from a driving standpoint than Daytona because we don’t get to Daytona very often. I’ve spent a ton of time at Sebring, not only coaching but also racing in the past in in GT3 and GT4 and have won in those categories. That gives me a lot of confidence coming into it, as well the fact I love the track. It’s a challenge, and the 12 Hours of Sebring is just a classic staple of endurance racing. It’s the fan turnout, it’s everything that makes the 12 Hours of Sebring what it is and the Sebring track what it is. I’m just so excited about it.” |
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| Estonian Aron joined Knox and Filgueiras in making his Rolex 24 debut at Daytona. He has been part of the Mercedes-AMG junior driver roster since 2023. “The Daytona result was very, very bittersweet, but I know everybody’s happy that we got to prove what we could do,” Aron said. “But to be honest, the first time I sat in the car in December, I came out smiling because I knew what we could do. Lone Star Racing has done a great job, the car is mega, and also a big thanks to Mercedes-AMG as well. Definitely, we were the manufacturer that needed to catch up on the new torque sensors and the guys basically pulled a miracle because we were super competitive in the race and had cars fighting for the wins to the end. I was just really happy to be there and super happy I got the opportunity. I mean, we were flying on track. We were in the lead pack in the fight for the win, which is all I wanted. Sometimes things go like this and unfortunate events happen. I guess we just move on and hopefully I get invited back here. I am looking forward to watching what our Lone Star Racing teammates are going to accomplish this season in the remainder of the endurance cup.” Next up for Lone Star Racing in IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship competition is the 73rd running of the 12 Hours of Sebring, March 12 – 15, at Sebring International Raceway. Noteworthy – For the second-straight year, Lone Star Racing called on the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America’s SPARK program for both some needed manpower and to give something back to the motorsports community while competing in the Rolex 24 At Daytona. SPARK stands for “Students Preserving American Racing Knowledge” and is the Hall’s student education program that guides high school, trade school and college-age aspirants to careers in motorsports. After SPARK student Parker Rossman, then a Senior at North Florida University in Jacksonville, embedded with Lone Star at last year’s Rolex 24, the team doubled up on SPARK interns this year. A pair of 18-year-olds from Tampa, Michael Mitchell – a Senior at H.B. Plant High School – and Tyson Boyd – a Senior attending Robinson High School – worked with the Lone Star Racing from early Saturday morning through Sunday afternoon. The students were primarily assigned to assist the team’s tire specialist put in well over 24 straight hours of paddock and pitside work on race day. |
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| “It was fun running the tires all over the place,” said Mitchell, who aspires to be an aerospace engineer but has an eye on the aerodynamics of cars. “Taking the old tires over to Michelin and having the new tires put on and then taking them back. It’s like following the entire life span of the tire. That was really cool. It was pretty demanding. I got about five minutes of sleep on some tires and 10 minutes in a chair as we were really up for close to 36 hours. SPARK is just an amazing program, this has been one of the most amazing opportunities I’ve ever been given, and it’s been a blast. It’s been great.” Both SPARK students helped the Lone Star crew get the No. 80 back on track after Sunday morning’s incident. “They put this special duct tape called Bear Bond on the car and patched it right up,” said Boyd, who wants a career in motorsports engineering but would also like to drive in competition someday. “They had heat guns covering up the side pod. There was a huge crack in the side of the door, there was a hole in our radiator and a chunk out of the front wing. We just took that tape, patched it up, cleaned the car and sent him back out there. I would love to be a race car driver on this track one day and become an engineer in aerodynamics or any way of modeling parts to take a different approach and philosophy in how to sculpt a car to be the most efficient at cutting through the air.” – Knox took his first laps at Sebring this week since his only previous experience on the track over a decade ago in the Viper Racing League. “Not much has changed in 13 years,” Knox said. “It’s still very rough. Bumpy. In 13 years, I’ve done a lot, so getting back and remembering the track was a little mixed. Some of it I remembered, some of it I didn’t, but I got up to speed really quick and I’m ready to go.” |
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| About Lone Star Racing: Based at Motorsport Ranch within the greater Dallas-Fort Worth area in Cresson, Texas, Lone Star Racing is competing in the No. 80 Lone Star Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 in the 2025 IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup in the GTD class. Lone Star Racing and its team members have won races across North America spanning sprint and endurance racing formats. The crew has worked together on many different teams and various types of cars, developing a strong bond and proven capability that gives them a competitive and winning advantage. Lone Star Racing competes with the support of primary partner ACS Manufacturing, Inc. (www.ACSManufacturing.com). Look for Lone Star Racing and team owner/driver Dan Knox on Facebook and follow the team on YouTube at Lone Star Racing, on Twitter and Instagram at @LSRTeam and on the official team web site at www.LoneStarRacingTeam.com. |
ORLANDO, Fla. (FNN) — During Women’s History Month, leaders across the United States are recognized for their contributions to progress, equity and community empowerment. Among them, Florida National News (FNN) recognizes retired U.S. Army Commander Jocelyn Thomas, a military veteran, author, speaker and advocate for women’s sports.
Thomas has built a career defined by service, leadership and storytelling, transitioning from two decades in the U.S. Army to a growing influence in the sports and media industry.
Photo Credit: U.S. Army Recruiting Battalion, Facebook page – Tampa (Captain Jocelyn Thomas speaker)
Commander, United States Army (Retired)
Thomas entered the United States Army at just 19 years old, beginning a distinguished 20-year military career that would take her across the United States and around the world.
During her time in service, she held numerous leadership roles including Company Commander (twice), Battalion S3, Battalion Assistant Support Operations Officer (SPO), Executive Officer, Platoon Leader, Platoon Sergeant and Team Leader.
Her assignments included Georgia, Virginia, South Carolina, Texas, Korea and Florida, along with combat deployments to Afghanistan, Kuwait and Guantanamo Bay.
As a Company Commander, Thomas led a military unit responsible for approximately 100 to 250 soldiers, overseeing mission readiness, operational planning, training and the well-being of service members under her command.
Her responsibilities included:
- Tactical Leadership: Planning and executing company-level operations and maneuvers
- Training and Readiness: Ensuring soldiers were prepared for combat while maintaining equipment and operational standards
- Personnel Management: Mentoring and developing subordinate leaders, including platoon leaders
- Disciplinary Authority: Upholding military discipline and accountability within the unit
“Being a woman in the Army is a unique experience unlike any other,” Thomas said. “I want people to know that beneath the uniform, I am my own person.”
She describes herself as influential, trustworthy and hardworking. In addition to her military accomplishments, Thomas is also a certified personal trainer and wellness coach, reflecting her continued commitment to leadership, discipline and personal well-being.
Crewing Coordinator at ESPN
Following her military retirement, Thomas transitioned into the sports and media industry, where she currently works as a Crewing Coordinator at ESPN.
In this role, she supports live sports productions, managing behind-the-scenes logistics and coordinating on-air talent to ensure seamless broadcasts.
Thomas is also a Disney Military Fellowship Program Ambassador, representing the program that helps military veterans transition into civilian careers within The Walt Disney Company and ESPN.
Her leadership, organization and communication skills have proven valuable in the fast-paced environment of sports broadcasting.
Sports Events Manager at ESPN Wide World of Sports
Prior to joining ESPN, Thomas worked as a Sports Events Manager at ESPN Wide World of Sports, where she helped oversee major sporting events from planning through execution.
Her background as a U.S. Army Operations Officer provided the leadership and logistical expertise needed to manage complex sporting events and coordinate teams working behind the scenes.
Advocate for Women’s Sports
Thomas has also become a passionate advocate for the growth and visibility of women’s sports, particularly women’s flag football.
Her work includes storytelling and coverage for initiatives such as:
- She Is Football Weekend with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers
- Girls Flag Football Week with the Atlanta Falcons
- Coverage of Alabama State University’s Women’s Flag Football Team during the 2026 season
Through these efforts, Thomas continues to amplify opportunities for female athletes and expand awareness of women’s football programs across the country.
Author and Motivational Speaker
Beyond sports media, Thomas is also a best-selling author and national keynote speaker, sharing lessons on leadership, resilience and perseverance.
She has delivered presentations for organizations including:
- Collegiate Sports Management Group
- ESPN Wide World of Sports
- Military Influencer Conference
- The Mayweather brand
- Streaming platform Twitch
Thomas has also spoken at universities and institutions such as Spelman College, Full Sail University and the University of Tampa, along with numerous military programs and high schools.
Her philosophy remains simple yet powerful:
“Success is a marathon, not a sprint.”
Impact on Women and Future Leaders
Thomas’ journey from Army commander to sports media professional reflects the growing influence of women leaders in fields traditionally dominated by men, including military leadership, sports broadcasting and athletics.
Through her advocacy for women’s flag football, leadership mentoring and public speaking, Thomas continues to inspire young women, athletes and veterans pursuing new careers after military service.
Key Achievements and Milestones
- 20-year U.S. Army combat veteran
- Three combat deployments
- Two-time U.S. Army Company Commander
- Leader responsible for more than 10,000 soldiers during her military career
- Disney’s first Military Veteran Intern (Fellow) at Disney Sports
- First Disney Fellow to complete the fellowship program and be hired full-time by ESPN
- Crewing Coordinator at ESPN
- Former Sports Events Manager at ESPN Wide World of Sports
- Best-selling author and national keynote speaker
- Sideline reporter and journalist for the Atlanta Truth Women’s Professional Tackle Football team and Alabama State University Women’s Flag Football team
- Mother to Legend Thomas (8)
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About the Florida National News Women’s History Month Series
Each March, Florida National News proudly celebrates Women’s History Month by highlighting the achievements, leadership, and impact of women across Florida and beyond. This special editorial series spotlights trailblazers in arts, culture, and fashion; business and entrepreneurship; education and academia; government and public service; media and communications; military and veterans; nonprofit and community leadership; philanthropy; and sports and athletics—women whose stories inspire progress and empower future generations.
DETROIT (FNN SPORTS) — The Osceola Magic (25-10) saw their five-game winning streak come to an end Friday night, falling 132-118 to the Motor City Cruise (22-13) at Wayne State Fieldhouse.
Motor City was led by Wendell Moore Jr., who scored a game-high 24 points, while Quincy Olivari added 20 points. Isaac Jones contributed 22 points on 8-of-12 shooting as the Cruise bench outscored Osceola 63-39.
For the Magic, Phillip Wheeler led the way with 23 points on an efficient 8-of-9 shooting performance. Lester Quiñones added 21 points, while Colin Castleton recorded his 10th double-double of the season with 19 points and 11 rebounds.
Both teams came out firing in the first quarter, each shooting above 50 percent from the field. The Magic took a 41-33 lead after the opening period behind 12 points from Quiñones and 11 from Jarron Cumberland, including three shots from beyond the arc.
Scoring slowed in the second quarter, with neither team surpassing 40 percent shooting. Motor City trimmed the deficit, but Osceola maintained a 61-56 lead at halftime.
The Magic extended their advantage to double digits early in the third quarter before the Cruise shifted momentum. Motor City erupted on a 15-0 run over a four-minute stretch midway through the period to take its first lead of the game. Jones scored 11 points on perfect shooting in the quarter, while Moore added 10 points. The Cruise closed the third quarter on a hot streak to take a 105-94 lead into the final frame.
Osceola was unable to recover from the third-quarter surge as Motor City maintained control in the fourth to secure the victory.
Up Next
The Magic conclude the regular season Saturday, March 28, with the second game of their series against the Cruise. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. ET and will stream on NBA G League platform NBAGLeague.com.
Osceola will host an opening-round game in the 2026 NBA G League Playoffs, presented by Google, on Wednesday, April 1. The opponent and game time will be determined at the conclusion of the regular season.
Game Notes
- The Magic have scored 4,166 total points during the regular season, their highest total since the 2019–20 season.
- Quiñones now has 815 points this season, the second-most in a single season in franchise history, surpassing Troy Caupain’s 2018-19 mark.
- Reece Beekman recorded his 70th steal of the season, tying TJ Price for the third-most steals in a single season in franchise history.
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