DRIVER DOWNLOAD: Guy Cosmo & Patrick Byrne

DRIVER DOWNLOAD: Guy Cosmo & Patrick Byrne

The duo of Guy Cosmo and Patrick Byrne returned to GT World Challenge America powered by AWS for 2020 after a mixed schedule last season. They've teamed with K-PAX Racing and Bentley to bring the thunder this season. Cosmo and Byrne have also been active in our GT Rivals Esports Invitational to keep themselves behind the wheel of their Continental GT3. We caught up with them on this week's Driver Download.

QUICK FACTS

Team: K-PAX Racing
Car: Bentley Continental GT3

Patrick Byrne
Age: 29
Hometown: Spokane, WA
Favorite Track: VIR
Daily Driver: BMW X6M
Dream Car: Ferrari 812
Racing Hero: Ayrton Senna
Favorite Food: Authentic Italian 
Favorite Hobby: Hiking/Being outdoors
Occupation: Property/Land Management
Favorite Vacation Spot: Maui
Pets names: Magnolia
First Car: Nissan Xterra
Favorite Movie: Snatch
Favorite TV Show: Bosch

Guy Cosmo
Age: Secret Racing Age
Hometown: Palm Beach Gardens, FL
Favorite Track: love nearly all of them…
Daily Driver: BMW M3
Dream Car: Porsche 918
Racing Hero: Ayrton Senna
Favorite Food: PIZZA!
Favorite Hobby: Playing the drums
Occupation: 100% Racing Driver / Driving Coach
Favorite Vacation Spot: Paris
First Car: Toyota MR2 (my first FAVORITE car)
Favorite Movie: Any Disney Pixar movie & The Princess Bride
Favorite TV Show: Way too many to list… The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, New Girl, Brooklyn 99, Nashville, Ballers, Silicon Valley…

DEEP DIVE

Tell us more about your debut weekend with K-PAX at COTA?
Patrick: COTA didn’t go as planned; steep learning curve with the new car and tire combination. Proving that we have a lot of work ahead of us for the remaining season.

Guy: COTA was a tough one… we were so excited to kick off our relationship with K-PAX & Bentley and drive the car for the first time, and all of that was really great. Our performance, however, wasn’t quite what we had hoped for but we did what we could and are working hard to kick off the remainder of the season.

How did you get your start in racing?
Patrick: Started racing motocross and it snowballed into road racing when I was 14.

Guy: My father got me started in kart racing when I was 13.  It was a hobby for us to spend time together that turned into quite an adventure. I owe it all to my parents for allowing me to pursue my dreams.

What is your favorite racing memory?
Patrick: Winning the LMP3 Asian Le Mans championship, secured the championship in the last 30 min of the last race of the season in Malaysia. 

Guy: Taking my first Formula Ford victory at Bridgehampton Raceway while my father was in the hospital recovering from a heart attack.  That one was for him and I’ll never forget it.  Thankfully he’s been to so many of my races since then to share the victories with me.

What’s the story behind your helmet design?
Patrick: Really the design changes for each new helmet but the one thing that stays the same is the four-leaf clover known as a Quadrifoglio. This has always been a good luck charm for my family and has been on all the cars I have raced, need all the luck I can get.

Guy: My current design is the first major departure from what I always had, though it’s only got different colors while the basic design remains the same.  The blue represents me and my favorite color, the lighter blue representing my son Grayson and the white representing my wife Louisa.  Both of their names are on the back of my helmet so they are always with me.

Something interesting about you or a hidden talent?
Patrick: Any spare time I have I try and get out of cell range in the mountains and enjoy the great outdoors. Hidden talent is grilling.

Guy: I don’t know how interesting I am, but I’ve always had a great passion for music and still play the drums quite a bit. Lately I’ve been recording songs with friends, remotely and trading drum lessons for driving lessons with my musical hero and friend, Dave Weckl. Outside of that I’ve always loved any excuse to build websites for friends & family.

If you could invite 3 people to dinner who would it be and why?
Patrick: Bill Murray, Kimi Raikkonen, and Gordon Ramsay. I don’t think the conversation and laughter would ever end.

Guy: Lewis Hamilton, because despite what anyone says he is absolutely one of the greatest drivers of all time and I really like him. Harry Connick Jr., because he’s an incredible musician, performer & personality. Jason Bateman, because he’s just hilarious.

Patrick, the past few years you’ve traveled across the world to race in various sports car series. Even winning the Asian Le Mans LMP3 championship. Last season, you and Guy were a part of an episodic documentary series that followed your racing overseas. Tell us about being the subject of a series like that and having the cameras on you and the team all the time?

Definitely different, I’m not as characteristic in front of a camera like Guy is so I had to learn how to make a presence. It makes the racing weekend even more chaotic, but the camera man that tagged along was our good friend Robert Lyon so that really helped make things feel more natural. It’s for the better, having the camera really obligates you to search every city we visited for the best content, so we got to see the best of everywhere we went. Hopefully we can do another episode soon because it was a total blast.

Guy, you have an extensive background racing in just about everything from karts and formula cars to sports cars and prototypes. You’ve won many Championships and raced all over the world. What’s been your key to success in these different forms of auto racing? And what advice would you give an aspiring racecar driver today trying to take that next step to make it as a professional driver?

That’s a tough one… throughout everything I’ve done and everywhere I’ve been, I’ve just focused on being me and doing the best I can given the circumstances.  We’d all love to win every race we ever enter, but that’s just something that is absolutely not possible given all the other surrounding factors involved in this sport.  However, character, integrity, perseverance and remembering to enjoy all of it has been the basis of my efforts through everything I’ve done.  I am so fortunate to live this life and do what I do - I hope that shines through. 

As for anyone trying to make a career in this sport these days, that’s even tougher.  The biggest thing I’ve learned is that building and maintaining relationships are the most important part - but being genuine to others - and yourself - is absolutely the most important part of all.

Cover Photo Credit: K-PAX Racing / Bob Champan