Welcome to the opening race of a new era of World Challenge, the Blancpain GT World Challenge comprising of 18 races across three continents.
It is a new evolution. Alvaro Parente is motivated and ready with the new 2019 Bentley Continental GT3. Ryan Dalziel is another chap to be taken seriously, co-driving in the #63 DXDT Racing Mercedes AMG GT3. Martin Barkey, steps up to GT3 in an Acura NSX. Returning to the series is Patrick Long, 2017 champion in a Porsche 911 GT3R. He is of course, a Porsche factory driver. We are on a 3.4 mile track with loads of elevation change. Watch the orange curbs. The mechanics will flip out if you do that and your performance will suffer. Use all the road. Don't go past the white lines. On the back straight you are at 150 miles an hour plus.
Watch turn 12 and outbrake your competition. Turn 13 is a double apex turn. Add throttle. Watch the road. The final three turns are a triple right. Balance the car. Penultimate corner, turn 19, use all the road, hit the throttle early. Late apex into turn 20, floor it to the finish line. That's your track map. K-PAX sweeps. More cars will come to the championship. There will be some major surprises. Daniel Morad is the fastest Porsche ahead of Wolf Henzler and Marco Holzer. Rodrigo Baptista is really going places in GT3 racing. Miguel Molina and Toni Vilander in the R. Ferrari Ferrari 488 will be ones to watch.
Daniel Morad, Patrick Long, these two blokes are rivals for Porsche. New double wishbone suspension on the Porsche's is going to help them with handling. The engines have fired. We're ready to race. It is all SprintX for GT3. The format has changed. 90 minute races with mandatory driver changes and fueling. There is a 70 second pit stop delta. Plus, there is a four tire change. Right bang in the middle of the motor race. One of the Ferrari's spins. That's Alfred Caiola in the #99 Ferrari from One Eleven Competition. It's stone cold outside in Austin, Texas.
The cars scrub their tires behind the safety car. K-PAX has to get used to their new Bentley. Toni Vilander and Miguel Molina need points on the board, to battle with Bentley. The Bentley has a lower center of gravity and they changed the weight distribution to 50/50. Safety car into pit lane. The field flies onto the front straight, and we are green! Go! Daniel Morad wants to move inside and the Ferrari defends from Patrick Long. Molina gets snookered, look. The Bentley's are stretching an advantage as we have a huge field for this motor race.
Andy Soucek's lead is growing. Daniel Morad is up to third in the Alegra Motorsports Porsche. We have live onboards for the series. Miguel Molina is probing for position like a shark in the water chasing a minnow. Patrick Long is on the tail of Molina into turn 19, look. Molina slams the door in his face. Patrick Long dives for the apex and there was some paint traded. Wei Lu in the black TR3 Ferrari 488 GT3 moves up. He is leading Pro Am. The downforce on these GT3 cars is amazing. Physically, these chaps are on the limit. Tires are hitting the sweet spot. Through the triple apex right hand turn. Holzer is laying back for the time being. He was seconds off in qualifying. Rodrigo Baptista turns fast lap at 2:06.8.
The downforce is major on the front end through the s curves. Anthony Imperato is second in the #91 Wright Motorsports Pro Am Porsche passing the #71 P1 Motorsports Mercedes of J.C. Perez. Patrick Long wants to dispose of Daniel Morad, now. Wei Lu and Jeff Segal will race in the European Le Mans Series later in the year. TR3 will hopefully compete in more races. Martin Barkey has the #80 Racer's Edge Acura NSX GT3 and Till Bechtelsheimer is doing well in another Acura. A GT4 Mercedes is off the road. We are going to go under the safety car here, folks.
David Askew has crashed, and he was right with Barkey and Bechtelsheimer. Askew spins and slaps the wall, hard. We have the safety car on the track. David Askew has been building the team and he believes he's at the top of his game. Colin Braun and George Kurtz are the sister car with Crowdstrike sponsorship. Michael de Quesada is the co-driver for Daniel Morad. Steve Agakhani and Richard Antinucci are running well, and are driving a Mercedes AMG GT3. Antinucci ran a brief IndyCar stint and in Europe. Steve Agakhani is 15 years old and already driving in major league sports car racing. Alan Metni and Joe Toussaint have the Am championship Porsche.
So many new drivers and cars to keep up with. Andy Soucek laid down the fastest lap of the motor race so far. Ryan Dalziel says David Askew is OK. The car will need to be fixed, though. They will fix it for tomorrow's race. We have gone to a red flag, so the barriers can be fixed. The race has been stopped. We wait. Everybody loved the SprintX idea. But, this new hour and a half format is going to work. This reminds yours truly, of watching a Formula 1 race, in a way, with how the flow of the races will turn out. K-PAX team boss Darren Law says there's been a lot of sharing of info with M Sport in Europe. The SprintX races will have the same drivers in each car. Darren Law says that the co-drivers get along really well, especially Andy Soucek and Maxime Soulet.
Rodrigo Baptista will be with Bentley at the 24 Hours of Spa. Becoming a factory driver is any driver's dream. Pit stops are coming. That is new to this series. Going back to last year's California 8 Hours, K-PAX will know exactly what to do. Darren Law was a great driver, and now has moved into a team manager role. Daniel Morad gets the jump as we look at the start again. Marco Holzer got squeezed outside. Soucek stepped on the gas early and pulled away from everyone. Patrick Long and Miguel Molina of course were into their scrap.
Patrick Long is really looking forward to jumping between IMSA and Blancpain World Challenge. Long is co-driving with Scott Hargrove, the rapid Canadian driver. If you need speed, you've got it. You cannot dig a big hole in this championship. Mistakes will turn your run for the championship upside down. We have an open time window, and wait for 15 minutes or so before we get restarted. The clock remains in an hour 15 minutes. Martin Fuentes and Cesar Bacarella are racing a Ferrari together. Bacarella has run in Ferrari Challenge and also has the NASCAR Xfinity Series. He's done extremely well in stock cars, too. Martin Fuentes has been a stalwart World Challenge contender for the last couple of years.
Leverage continuity early with a new car and experienced drivers. That's the key deal. It's horses for courses. The Bentley and Porsche are good here at COTA and the Ferrari will maybe be better on a twisty, point and squirt type circuit. Refocus and get ready for the restart. Coming off the exit of turn one on the initial start, there was argy bargy between Daniel Morad and Rodrigo Baptista. No dramatic damage to Baptista's Bentley, thank goodness. The drivers are getting back into their cars, ready to restart this motor race. It is a shame that CRP Racing and Nick Short, team boss, are absent from the championship this year.
Miguel Molina was warned by the stewards about blocking. Refueling is tight in the window. No mistakes. Five minutes to the restart, from Race Director Alain Adam. Parc Ferme is open, and we will restart in two minutes. This has been a long pause in real cold weather. The tires need heat as the engines are re-fired. There is a rule in place if you are chasing a driver, only flash the lights three times. Don't press the button and let the lights flash in another driver's field of vision. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1... safety car dispatched. We are ready to race again. It's on. Kudos to the marshals here at COTA for a quick barrier repair. There will be two formation laps.
There is a set speed for the safety car, but the speed can be increased to pull the tire pressures and temperatures up. Daylight will be diminishing as we get to the end of this motor race. Great onboard camera shots as we watch this motor race unfold. Scrubbing the tires, won't get too much heat in them. But there's a lot of acceleration and braking to a certain point to heat the brakes up so they grab and so they warm up the tires from the inside out. No tire blankets allowed. Watch Wei Lu and Jeff Segal in the TR3 Ferrari, and the Am leader, Allen Metney in the #991 Porsche 911 GT3R. It's still hazy around the circuit. We have well over an hour, and the light will fade but it won't be pitch dark.
Alain Adam, Chief Steward, will not allow drivers to take advantage and pounce too quick. Don't get a jump start because then you'll be dinged with a penalty. As you exit the last turn, gradually increase your speed. Don't slam the welly down on the accelerator. At the green flag, you can't improve your position until you cross the timing line. That's how it works in Europe and Asia, too. Don't be the guinea pig. Safety car lights out. What will Daniel Morad do? Will he fly past Rodrigo Baptista? HGreen flag. We're set to race. Go! Look at Miguel Molina, fighting Daniel Morad. He's trapped on the outside as Pat Long hits the tail of the Ferrari. Oh boy.
Down through the kink in turn ten. Whoa! Morad slams the door in Baptista's face! Baptista wants it and makes a pass. Morad isn't done yet. Gently, boys. Long tries to pass Molina, but realizes discretion is the better part of valor. Can Patrick Long pick up the draft? Marco Holzer is also pressing hard in the next Porsche in line. Baptista is finding clean air as Morad cleans his tires. Rodrigo Baptista's lead has ballooned to two seconds. The second Alegra Porsche has Marco Holzer driving. TR3 and their Ferrari are running really well. Jeff Segal ran very well last year and so did Wei Lu. #991 rotates. Joe Toussaint from the U.S. is off the road. That is an all American team. Miguel Molina is holding off Patrick Long at the moment.
Andy Soucek continues leading the motor race as Rodrigo Baptista runs 2:06 dead, and he's speeding up, gaining pace. Anthony Imperato and Till Bechtelsheimer are in a battle as is Martin Barkey and Steve Agakhani. Cesar Bacarella still leads Am. Bacarella is in the Squadra Corsa Garage Italia Ferrari with the Mexican/Italian flag paint scheme. Hublot watches sponsor the car. Brent Holden is up at the sharp end driving with James Sofronas in the #14 GMG (Global Motorsports Group) Porsche 911 GT3R. James Sofronas has run in World Challenge for 26 years. Molina is reeling in Morad again. Is he having traction issues with the tire pressures in his Pirelli's? Hmmm. Morad is starting to fade, just a shade.
The Bentley's are motoring, 4.5 seconds up the road from everyone else. They are on a Saturday cruise with an hour to go. The pit stop window should open soon. When it is so cold, the air is dense to help the aero and the engines, but it hurts the tires in a way. It does give you a lot of grip, but there isn't much grip in the track itself. Patrick Long is pursuing hotly, the Ferrari. Long has been racing with Porsche for 16 years. He is the only North American Porsche factory driver. He's a speedy driver, but is a real talent who can also coach young drivers. He races historic Porsche's and he really is a Porsche stalwart. Ford wanted him for their GTLM program in IMSA, but he stayed with Porsche 110%.
Long got an offer in F1, but, he knew that wasn't the way to go. He's made the right decision driving sports cars, for Porsche. He's run with Wright Motorsports now, for four years. He ran in IMSA last year, but now, John Wright and company are back in Blancpain World Challenge America. The Bentley's are running within a tenth of each other. The pit stop is coming up in oh, eight minutes or so. K-PAX was looking at their radars and weather apps, and knew they were behind the eight ball for a bit. They struggled in Q2. But, they are looking OK today. Yet, they'll have more work to do for the race tomorrow. They are sixth and 12th for tomorrow's contest.
Miguel Molina is still pressing Daniel Morad, but Morad is getting warned for track limit abuse and doesn't have many more freebies before he gets dinged by the stewards. Don't risk a drive through penalty, especially so close to pit stops. Is it per car, or per driver? We don't know the warning system. No mulligans will be taken I'd assume. If the driver who did the violation gets to the point of the drive through and changes drivers, the co-driver will maybe have to serve the penalty. Get to 40 minutes, in about 14 minutes time, and we are five minutes ahead of pit stop time. Some argy bargy, look, for Molina and Morad as Patrick Long is the shark in the water, chasing the minnows, look.
The pit crews will have the spotlight on them. It's truly a team sport here. Out laps on cold tires are going to be far slower, so look out for that scenario as well. Warning flag to car #24 for disrespecting track limits. Marco Holzer will be penalized it seems. Don't stay out for more than two laps as Molina tries to pass, argy bargy, look. Morad is still there, and no dice. Molina gets the door slammed in his face. Stay out for a couple laps and get the track position before hitting the lane. That way you can say "I brought it in up front." The Bentley's are cooking right now, running 1:07 laps while everyone else is dicing and running 1:09 laps.
The Bentley's will be in soon. Molina nabs Morad, look. Pit lane window is open for ten minutes. Anyone can go for it now, if they choose. The minimum pit time is 70 seconds. Holzer ducks into the lane, look. So, he's rolling rhe dice it appears. The Bentley's will stay out for now. Oh. Soucek is in the lane, look. One disadvantage is if there is a yellow. 80 kilometers an hour, 50 miles an hour is the pit lane speed limit. #22 gets slapped for track limits one more time. Good stop for Bentley. You can't roll the tire to a mechanic. 72.4 seconds for the #9 car. Where do they end up in the running order? How will Parente run on cold tires? Baptista will have the pace. Maxime Soulet will replace Baptista. Wolf Henzler is now in the Porsche. Baptista is in the lane. Maxime Soulet will be running the rest of the race.
Soulet can get track position if he matches the time. Here we go. Baptista in the lane. One tire gun. Lay the tire down on the side. But carry the tire. Don't roll it or throw it. Baptista did a great job, and now, Alvaro Parente is stuck in traffic. Dear me. Can Soulet beat him? Yes. He can. Parente will be way quicker in the esses. Soulet is tiptoeing as Parente is screaming down through the esses. A bit of risk and a lot of reward. That's what this racing game is all about. Parente knows this is go time. He has to book it, now. Maxime Soulet has to go for it. Load the tire and just push, push, push like no tomorrow.
More pit callers, look. Ferrari and Porsche in the lane. Who will execute? Cut it tightly to the 70 second delta. Morad, in, and Molina, in. These boys are going to have to fly to catch up to the Bentley's. Here come the two Bentley's, as Parente is flying. He wants a bite of the cherry, but Soulet has the grip on his tires. How hard will Parente push? He has the draft. It's now or never time. He's working over his team mate. Don't take each other out, boys. These four blokes are very experienced. Alvaro is pushing, and Soulet gives him room. Soulet finally had enough and said, "no, Alvaro. You can't pass me, sunshine." That could've been ugly, and then, the team manager would have boxed both of his drivers' ears.
Whoa! Parente slides across the curb! Yikes! He's flying and has the aero wash from his team mate. He snagged that giant orange curb and paid the price for it, look. Wolf Henzler is off and on and continues with no damage. He loses a couple seconds, which can be devastating. GT3 is so, so competitive. That was ugly! The two Alegra cars nearly wiped each other off the road! Dear me! The pit window is now closed. So, it's race on from here on out for the next 39 minutes. Scott Hargrove is quicker than Toni Vilander. So many teams want to be a part of this Blancpain GT America championship. The Bentley's are in the pound seats at the moment. Meantime, the #31 TR3 Ferrari of Jeff Segal, is pushing hard to catch Vilander. Next up is the #91 of Dennis Olsen in the Henry Rifles sponsored Porsche.
Ryan Eversley and Kyle Marcelli follow. There's damage after the #24 and #22 got crossed up and there's a penalty assessed to the #22 car which puts Alegra Motorsports definitely behind the eight ball. The Alegra boys have ruined their race after the off course running. Maxime Soulet is taking a different line on the road in the braking zone. Martin Fuentes leads Am in the Hublot sponsored Ferrari as Anthony Lazzaro has taken the controls of the Risi Ferrari 488 GT3 from Pierre Malachek. James Sofronas and Chris Gegnazzi in the One Eleven Motorsports Ferrari. Matt Plumb is driving the sister Pro Am car. Kyle Marcelli has been flying as well.
Darren Law says that the pit stops were executed really well. We are just over a half hour from the end of this motor race. The two drivers for K-PAX have raced very cleanly. It looks to be game over for Porsche #24. A battle ensues between Anthony Lazzaro and Kyle Marcelli in the #80 Racer's Edge Acura NSX GT3. Michael de Quesada did the drive through, and is caught behind Kyle Marcelli and Ryan Eversley. These two are driving Acura's. Stefan Johansson manages Kyle Marcelli along with IndyCar stars Scott Dixon and Felix Rosenqvist. Networking in racing is just as important as it is in any other field of business.
Martin Barkey has done well in GT4 and has now stepped up to GT3. Alvaro Parente is closing back up on Maxime Soulet. What will Sector 2 be? Soulet is faster than Parente. Parente wants to apply the blowtorch if Soulet gets stuck somewhere. What happens if a car is quicker and he is behind the sister car? That's a tough call. Parente is pressing Soulet again, look. Soulet is trying to find his feet with tires that aren't in the zone yet. Soulet opens the radius on the corner to give himself and Parente some room. Soulet chops back across Parente. These two are still going at it. Lapped traffic is coming up.
Scott Hargrove remains third ahead of Toni Vilander, but they can't get within a half a second of the Bentley's. This could be Bentley's race. It's horses for courses. They look unbeatable, and Porsche, Ferrari, or Acura, could pounce. Richard Antinucci gets a warning flag for track limits in the #6 U.S. RaceTronics Mercedes AMG GT3. A Ferrari has spun. The #8 car with Trevor Bakke at the wheel of it. He is a young bloke who has little experience. He has some speed, and ran Ferrari Challenge last year. But this is his first year in a full on GT3 car. It's a gradual step between Ferrari Challenge, such as Copa Shell and Trofeo Pirelli. But it is a regular 488 Ferrari, not the GT3 machine.
Marcelli is third in Pro Am, seventh overall. He is running quicker than Dennis Olsen in the Porsche, the #91 car. Jeff Segal leads Pro Am at the moment. One of the really good drivers in this series, he runs a business of operating race car simulators. He does it where you can link into a simulator wherever you live. The driver does the driving, but he is one of the people analyzing the data which is really hard work. Segal has an 11 second cushion on the #91 Dennis Olsen driven Wright Motorsports Henry Rifles Porsche. 20 minutes, now 19, on the board. It's coming down to crunch time. Dennis Olsen has taken over from Anthony Imperato.
Romain Dumas is a Platinum graded driver. Imperato is Bronze Star driver, and has to have a Gold rated driver according to the FIA driver rating system. James Sofronas is the meat in the sandwich, chasing Anthony Lazzaro in the #82 Risi Competizione Ferrari 488 GT3 with the #99 Mastt Plumb driven car, the Porsche. But, poor old Sofronas has a cut down Pirelli tire! Uh oh. Thankfully he didn't take anyone off the road. Good thing for the runoff here at COTA. That took the sting out of that little scrap. Jeepers. Michael de Quesada moves past Ryan Eversley. The #71 P1 Mercedes has Maximilian Buhk at the wheel, clawing his way through the field. He's a champion and winner in GT3.
Eversley has Buhk all over him for fourth in Pro Am. P1 has had a lot of personnel changes. Kent Stacy is the engineer on the team. Final warning for track limits for the #61 Ferrari of Toni Vilander, closing in on Scott Hargrove, pushing again like no tomorrow. No more track limit violations risking a drive through. Take it easy, Toni. Gaining confience helps lap time, and that will help the Acura NSX and it's drivers. Another track limits drive through for the #22 Alegra Porsche. They've had a fraught, pear shaped motor race. Dennis Olsen passes Toussaint. Ryan Eversley is racing the Gradient Acura, formerly campaigned through former baseball player C.J. Wilson. Eversley won the TCR championship in World Challenge, in a Honda Civic, last year.
RealTime Racing had a lot of competition from Bryan Herta Autosport and Hyundai, last year. Now, we have Scott Hargrove holding on with all he's worth over Toni Vilander. Wow. TRhe battle is really on, with ten minutes to go. Cars #8 and #87 penalized for speeding in the lane. The #8 Vital Speed car and the #87 Greg Liefooghe BMW M4 GT. Ryan Eversley has to dive pasted Travor Bakke while holding off the challenge from Buhk. Buhk and Eversley hip check each other. Easy there, boys. Buhk slides inside and makes a great move. That was a cool move. Hard and fair racing indeed.
Around the outside of the triple apex decreasing radius corner. Holy moly! You want to taske the bloke to the cleaners and slam the door in their face so that the knob breaks, but this time, he didn't do that. Eversley gives Buhk a lane instead of plowing the chap off the road. The #87 BMW M6 GT3, Gregory Liefooghe and Henry Schmitt. Dane Cameron and Brett Curtis, the two of them will be in an Acura for RealTime at the next race at Virginia International Raceway later in the year. Five minutes to go in the opening race of the season, and the Blancpain GT World Challenge, a global championship for drivers and makes. Three continental series, America, Asia, and Europe. Vilander gets to within 1.2 seconds and Hargrove is still ahead but is being reeled in.
GT3 cars are a gorgeous sight. They are lovely automobiles. They moved the motor in the Bentley, but it has a great engine note from the turbo V8. It's a beast of a car. Two laps left. White flag next time by. Hargrove has to hold off the challenge of Vilander. Marcelli has faded a tad, and Martin Fuentes has a manageable margin in the Am class. Martin Fuentes could win the Am division. Toni Vilander had commitments in another sports car championship, and he does Finnish TV commentary for races as well. Plus, he has his family. But, he is going to race as much as possible. Vilander is there, as we watch for the white flag. One to go for Maxime Soulet, Alvaro Parente, and Bentley.
They have a comfortable margin Soulet over Parente. It will be a Bentley 1-2 and this will be the first win globally for the new Bentley Continental GT3. Vilander and Hargrove are under half a second apart for the final podium place. Hargrove has to hang on. But, for Bentley, this will be a victory. Final time through the stadium section and the triple apex right hand corners. Plenty of room for the Bentley, and now, Bentley and the Continental GT3 will win at COTA! Martin Fuentes and Cesar Bacarella win in Am. Final podium place. Hargrove vs. Vilander. Hargrove wide through turn 19. No more chances on track limits. Hargrove holds off Vilander for third. Jeff Segal and Wei Lu win Pro Am. Am honors go the way of Caesar Bacarella and Martin Fuentes.
So, here are your winners.
Overall/Pro: #3 Baptista/Soulet K-PAX Racing Bentley Continental GT3
Pro Am: #31 Lu/Seagal TR3 Racing Ferrari 488 GT3
Am: #7 Bacarella/Fuentes Squadra Corsa Garage Italia Ferrari 488 GT3
Race one, done and dusted. Race two, set for tomorrow afternoon. Join us then, for more Blancpain GT America action as the season opening weekend of racing continues.
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