It is a new season for SRO GT World Challenge America powered by Amazon Web Services. This is race one of two in the first round at Circuit of the Americas, in Austin, Texas. This year, unlike the same championships in Europe and Asia, the U.S. championship of the SRO has changed to Pro/Am driver lineups. Professional drivers are no longer eligible to compete in the series in the United States. It is a cool and overcast day at Circuit of the Americas, a Formula 1 caliber palace of speed. We have new evo cars and cars that are not upgraded. Pro/Pro driver combos are not allowed, but Silver/Silver are. Shelby Blackstocn and Trent Hindman, and loads of other drivers, are in this race. Fred Poordad for Wright Motorsports in a Porsche is one of the drivers, sharing with Max Root. James Sofronas who is a veteran campaigner in this series, is ready to roll. It's a slick track and it's cold.
Watch the #1 Ferrari for Rodrigo Baptista and Martin Fuentes. The BMW M6 GT3 for Steve Cameron Racing of Henry Schmidt and Greg Liefooghe will be tough to beat and the sole Bentley will be Guy Cosmo and Patrick Byrne who drove prototypes together in Asia last year but are now in the World Challenge in the U.S. Watch for the two Vital Speed Ferrari 488 GT3's. We look at the esses at Circuit of the Americas. Max Root, Fred Poordad's co-driver says that the Wright Motorsports Porsche is back together after a crash. However, Max Root has one start and Fred Poordad makes his first start, today. He tested for Porsche at Sebring and ran the rookie test in Bahrain for the FIA World Endurance Championship in 2019.
Matteo Cressoni, Mark Issa, Rich Baek, Bryce and Russell Ward, are other drivers we will keep an eye out for today. Lights out on the safety car and we are ready to race. Green flag. Go! James Sofronas and Shelby Blackstock are racing each other and here comes Zaid Ghandoor and George Kurtz. Patrick Byrne gets shuffled back. We have an hour and a half on the board in this race. Ghandor is being monstered by Martin Fuentes and he has already gone around George Kurtz sharing with Colin Braun. We have cool weather for this race. All of the Ferrari's are not evolution cars. Two of the three Mercedes' are and so are the Porsche's.
Patrick Byrne in the Bentley slides a little bit but stays in it. James Sofronas slams the door in shelby Blackstock's face, but Blackstock comes back and still gets chopped. Will the stewards have something to say? Maybe. It's a stewards nightmare because this track at COTA has so much runoff. It's undulating and twisting, with lots of elevation change. Many of these cars are very evenly matched. Zaid Ghandoor is pushing hard. These cars can use heated tires in a tire blanket. Martin Fuentes is up to third and we continue to watch Shelby Blackstock monstering James Sofronas.
Sofronas is a full-season campaigner as Ghandor tries the apex but can't do it. James Sofronas has Jeroen Bleekemolen as his co-driver. Martin Barkey is also in the fight in the #80 Racer's Edge Acura NSX GT3. Lots of heaving in the race track and lots of bumps from hard winters in Austin, and the track has been repaved in places. No one wants to deal with track limits but they will have to. Shelby Blackstock has gone around James Sofronas again. Traction control will help on this track but don't strain the tires.
These GT3 cars do have ABS. George Kurtz has a run on Said Ghandoor. Martin Barkey is still in the fight as well as this scrap continues from third through seventh place. Shelby Blackstock is motoring right now, three seconds ahead of James Sofronas and Martin Fuentes. His co-driver Trent Hindman is a great driver as well. Shelby Blackstock has gone through open wheel racing and is now a sports car driver. He is the son of country music singer, Reba McEntire and her husband, record producer Narvel Blackstock. Shelby and Trent did a road trip to get here from Los Angeles to race. 2:07.249 for Shelby Blackstock, fastest lap so far.
Hindman is also a wheel man. Meanwhile, Martin Fuentes is reeling in George Kurtz. Kurtz is sharing with Colin Braun. He is also successful in prototype cars in a different championship. Henry Schmidt and Bryce Ward, BMW vs. Mercedes are battling for ninth place. They are catching Trevor Back in one of the Ferrari's and another Mercedes for David Askew. Patrick Byrne in the Bentley chases Mark Issa who shares the second Vital Speed Ferrari of Rich Back. These boys need a yellow to catch the leaders even though just 14 cars are in this race.
Martin Barkey, the Canadian, won three races last year sharing with Kyle Marcelli. Last year they ran against RealTime Racing who are not competing in 2020. They ran with Dane Cameron, Mike Hedlund and/or Bret Curtis. Said Ghandoor is known as "Z Hog" from his days as a rally driver. Martin Fuentes is still trying to catch James Sofronas, but the Porsche driver is a couple seconds ahead. Rodrigo Baptista is confident, as he raced a Ferrari last year at the 24 Hours of Le Mans and he is now racing against his old team, K-PAX Bentley.
The Pirelli P Zero tires are very identical to the ones from last season. Martin Fuentes is right in the game as well. The Fuentes/Baptista duo will be one to watch. Bryce Ward is pushing David Askew. The Winward team has taken over the HTP Racing program in Europe and they get tech support from Mercedes. Patrick Byrne in the Bentley has caught these two blokes. K-PAX won one of the races here at COTA last year. Guy Cosmo will drive the second half of the race. Bryce Ward is the father, Russell Ward is the son, and they drive together in the Winward Mercedes.
The third generation Bentley Continental GT3 is a much better driving car than it's predecessor. They are looking at the big picture in this championship at K-PAX with team manager, Thomas Blom. Askew almost runs into Ward. Some argy bargy between those two. These drivers, some of them, raced their cars during the winter for Bronze rated drivers. Work on race craft and manage stress. Be calm and focused, not uptight and worried. David Askew is improving as a driver and right now Patrick Byrne is giving him a run for his money.
James Sofronas' best lap is 2:07.4. Seven minutes before the window for pit stops opens. Martin Fuentes is pushing like no tomorrow to try and catch Fuentes. Byrne has passed Bryce Ward and David Askew went around Byrne before that. The drivers study the cleanest routes for passes while they are going for it. Be disciplined, go on the attack, and be in damage control all at the same time. In the next five minutes we will see pit stops. This race is in the SprintX format, so, 90 minutes in length, identical length to a typical Formula 1 race.
Shelby Blackstock's margin has ballooned to nine seconds before he turns the car over to Trent Hindman. James Sofronas is matching or bettering Blackstock's pace, before he hands over to Jeroen Bleekemolen. Sofronas has run in World Challenge for 27 years. Bleekemolen is running for the global Porsche Cup. He is driving Porsche's this year, having run with other manufacturers. Last year, the Porsche Cup went to Alan Brynjolfsson who ran many SRO races last year along with Trent Hindman. Pit stop time for Martin Fuentes who will hand the Hublot Ferrari to Rodrigo Baptista. You are allowed one joker pit stop this weekend.
One glitch makes a mess of the pit stop. Sticker Pirelli tires onto the car. Eight of the 14 cars have pitted, so over half the field. Put your professional driver into the car as we are near halfway. Shelby Blackstock will be ready to hand the Acura to Trent Hindman. Trevor Back turns over his Ferrari to Jeff Westphal. Sofronas in the lane to turn over to Jeroen Bleekemolen. George Kurtz has handed off to Colin Braun, Fred Poordad has handed over to Max Root. We've also seen a slow stop in which Martin Barkey handed the Racer's Edge Acura to Kyle Marcelli. Drop the car off the air jacks, and wait a couple seconds before the release.
Uh oh. Guy Cosmo has spun on cold tires. No tire warmers in GT3. That's a correction from something mentioned earlier. Colin Braun has leapfrogged Rodrigo Baptista by the look of it. Mark Issa was second overall and is now in the lane and so is Shelby Blackstock. Tires, fuel, and a driver change to Trent Hindman. Two mechanics, and one rattle gun for tire changes. The team seems happy with their pit stop not leaving anything on the table. Colin Braun to third, Rodrigo Baptista to fourth.
We are past halfway in the race and have 40+ minutes on the board yet. Colin Braun is racing at his home track. He has run here already in another series. Colin Braun has set fastest lap of the motor race at 2:05.8. Trent Hindman is pushing and has run a 2:06.1. Racer's Edge team boss John Mirachi is confident. Kyle Marcelli in the sister car is running well. The team had to serve a penalty for contact that Barkey was involved in. This team also has a strong position for the Sunday race. Trent Hindman, meanwhile has the advantage over Jeroen Bleekemolen.
Max Root, driving the #20 Wright Motorsports Porsche is also running really well. He didn't get to qualify for race two but will still run. Matteo Cressoni aboard the #24 TR3 Racing Ferrari is surely pushing hard. We watch Jeff Westphal and Trevor Baek racing. Westphal is running in four different sports car championships this year. Colin Braun has taken over the #04 Mercedes from George Kurtz who is running his second season in GT3. Kurtz says the evo kit is making the Mercedes easier to drive.
The sun is coming out after some rain in qualifying with less than half an hour to go in this motor race. Kurtz was a GTS-Am champion and the sister car is in the lane, Ryan Dalziel at the controls sharing with David Askew and there is a problem with the bodywork on the car, a vibration perhaps. Matteo Cressoni is scrapping in Pro Am with Jeff Westphal. Ryan Dalziel was dealing with a vibration in the front splitter on the Mercedes. This is not a worrisome issue, though. Trent Hindman leads Jeroen Bleekemolen, Colin Braun, Rodrigo Baptista and Kyle Marcelli. 20 minutes to go. Hindman has a big lead and Jeroen Bleekemolen might just have to settle for second as we see the sun breaking through, warming the track up a little.
Bleekemolen is really good at this circuit and he ran the GT4 SprintX race earlier in the day, a race you might just hear about pretty soon on the blog. Max Root leads the Am class and he has been running in Porsche Cup and tested at Sebring for Porsche last weekend. He has had 45 podiums in 49 races and few DNF's. To finish first, you have to finish. That's how motor racing works out. Trent Hindman laps past poor old Guy Cosmo. The K-PAX Bentley has just not been set up right. The team won races last year but they did not have the season they wanted. Yet, they are very capable. Jeroen Bleekemolen continues to run second, and lead in Pro Am.
James Sofronas says they want the overall win, but now, they know they can win the class in Pro Am and they are pacing it to the end of the motor race. Sofronas is the team owner for GMG Racing and he is involved with five cars, 25 crew members and a lot of support staff. Joe Foster and Brad Kettler, two people who have lots of sports car racing experiencing are helping out in both GT4 and GT3 as well as getting into the new GT2 division coming up soon at Virginia International Raceway. They raced in the winter at The Thermal Club, a race track country club for motorsports enthusiasts. Sofronas is formulating plans for customers and is ready to go for it in GT2 at Virginia International Raceway.
He has brought on Brad Kettler, the man who led Audi to so many wins over the years. Kettler immerses himself into the technical end of racing. Root and Westphal are scrapping for position but not in class as we get closer to the end of race one at COTA. Jeff Westphal is still being chased by Am class leader Max Root. The classes here are separated by driver ratings not by car. All these cars are GT3 cars of course. Max Root goes around Jeff Westphal. No risk. Westphal ran a shade wide. Less than five minutes on the clock. Root is racing the same Porsche that was driven by Scott Hargrove and Patrick Long last year.
Kyle Marcelli has been digging deep chasing after Rodrigo Baptista. Just two and a half minutes to go in the race now. No dramas. Trent Hindman is a metronome, running consistent 2:06 laps. These new driver regulations have paid dividends for Racer's Edge and team boss John Mirachi as we mentioned earlier. It's the final lap. A clinical performance and Hindman will have pole for tomorrow's race that you'll hear about, tomorrow night. They've driven this race right. Five turns left. Circuit of the Americas is quite the track. One corner left. Acura, Racer's Edge and the team of Blackstock and Hindman are your winners!
Jeroen Bleekemolen and James Sofronas are second. Colin Braun and George Kurtz complete the podium. Max Root and Fred Poordad have rebounded and will win the Am class.
Overall/Silver: #93 Blackstock/Hindman Racer's Edge Acura NSX GT3
Pro Am: #14 Sofronas/Bleekemolen GMG Racing Porsche 911 GT3R
Am: #20 Root/Poordad Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3R
Stay tuned. There's more SRO America racing to come, from Austin, Texas. See you for race two, tomorrow night. So long, for now.
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