Welcome, everyone to round one of the 2021 SRO GT America championship, coming to you from the wine country of northern California and Sonoma Raceway. We join our commentary team of Ryan Myrehn, guest color commentary analyst, our pal John Watson, and Amanda Busick in the pit lane. We start, with a new category, GT America, which is a mishmash, a mixture of GT3 and GT4 cars that are older generation automobiles. This is a short, 40 minute motor race. The track and the air temp are warming up, searching for grip on a cold and a green racetrack after overnight rain. You must find the grip and watch for tire degradation. Pirelli makes a great tire. The pavement here at Sonoma is very abrasive. Looking at the track, up through to sixth gear flying through turn one, uphill into two and the car gets light into turn three.
Lots of compression.
Third gear. Back to power. Hard on the brakes through turn four and into
The Carousel. Get a good exit onto the
backstretch. Into fifth gear, 140 miles
an hour, hard on the brakes for the hairpin.
Back to second gear. Watch out
there. Apply power into the esses, a
small lift, bounding over the curbs, down to first gear, back to power
again. Into the final turn, a tight
hairpin, get a good exit, and you go back to the front straight.
Rob Holland has raced a lot in Europe in British Touring
Cars, and also, GT World Challenge.
Holland raced an FIA World Touring Car Championship event here at Sonoma
five or six years ago and he’s run the Pikes Peak Hillclimb. The field forms up, two by two. George Kurtz and Jason Daskalos. Through the hairpin, and we are ready for a
green flag as the safety car pulls off.
Green flag, and away we go!
George Kurtz leads. The battle is
for third with Charlie Luck and Dmitri Novokov.
Sean Quinlan passes Rob Holland.
Down the hill, on cold tires.
Kurtz leads Daskalso and Charlie Luck.
Luck in the Masters GT3 division.
Dmitri Novokov and Jeff Burton are next in line. Wright Motorsports has a very quick Porsche. Jason Hardward in the Zelus Motorsports
Lamborghini, chasing Kyle Washington in the Porsche. Hardward moves by. It is his first pro race. One lap, clean, and done and dusted. The field is restricted to Bronze rated non
professional drivers. All the teams are
on a pro level. In third, we have Jason
Bell, pressing the Ford Mustang GT4, Rob Holland at the controls of the
Mustang.
Different cars make lap times in different spots on the
road. Plan your moves careful. Be smart.
Novokov and Burton both race for Rearden Racing, and both have raced
Lamborghini’s but not at this top level.
Rearden Racing dipping their toes into GT3 after racing touring cars and
GT4. Jason Harward is moving up quickly
as well. Meanwhile, Rob Holland continues
to fend off the challenge of Jason Bell.
Sean Quinlan in the BMW M4 GT4, he seems to be whistling off into the
distance at the moment. Out of The
Carousel, into turns seven and 7A.
Different championships use different track layouts. SRO using the full layout.
George Kurtz continues to lead this motor race. Kurtz is also looking at qualifying positions
for tomorrow’s race. Pit stop time, for
the #54 Porsche Cayman GT4 Clubsport for Black Swan Racing. They did not get out for qualifying. Charlie Luck moves around Daskalos and Dmitri
Novakov as well. Jason Daskalos is slow
in the Audi! He has a problem and moves
for pit lane. What seems to be the
matter? Maybe Jason Daskalos missed a
shift, or lost power. Black Swan is
running the same chassis in GT America and GT4 America later on. Jeroen Bleekemolen sharing the car for GT4
America. They will get a second car
before round two at Circuit of the Americas.
Oh dear. Novakov in
the Lamborghini #29 has rotated onto the wet grass. He was loose and gets on the whirligig. That is a darn shame. He’s back in the race but will have to dig
hard to gain places. Daskalos in the
lane and he will get back into the race, but he’s got to be upset about losing
time in a sprint race. He won’t recover
from that shemozzle. Jeff Burton is now
third ahead of Harward and Washington.
Sean Quinlan continues to lead GT4.
His lead has extended to three seconds as Holland and Bell scrap over
second place.
The BMW M4 GT4 teams think their cars are not the best on
tire stints. They are worried about
tires dropping off, and the tire life is shortened because of the abrasive
track surface here at Sonoma. Game over
for Tim Pappas and company. They will
have to scramble before the GT4 America races.
Phil Bloom is being harried by Ross Chouest and Adam Adelson. Alex Welch is motoring away. Meantime, Rob Holland still has Jason Bell
hounding him as well, look. Pappas’
steering is busted after contact with Elias Sabo. FIA Bronze level drivers are eligible for
this championship.
George Kurtz will catch the back markers in short order. Kurtz is putting laps on slower GT4 cars. Matt Dalton wants by Dan Miller. Oh dear. Drive through penalty for a false start for Kurtz! Oh my! He got the hole shot and maybe that was before the start/finish line. Jeepers creepers! It’s a 45 second delta at 50 kilometers an hour. Deary me! Kurtz could come back. Charlie Luck, though, is leading ahead of the Lamborghini of Jason Harward.
Dmitri Novokov also in the lane. Maybe flat spotted tires. Yikes! Jason Harward in his first professional motor race is second. Quite the paint job on that car. Every color a Lamborghini road car is available in, is in that paint scheme. So cool! Every one of these guys are learning how to get to the Platinum stage of driving. They are honing their craft. George Kurtz is back up to fourth as poor old Jason Daskalos is back to the pit lane. George Kurtz has to make up 15 seconds to get back to the leader which remains Charlie Luck as Luck is being monstered by Jason Harward.
17 minutes left on the board. Luck moves around the GT4 traffic, past Dan Miller. Sean Quinlan now leads Rob Holland by 6.2 seconds. Alex Welch is now chasing Jason Bell. Luck and Harward continue to scrap and Jeff Burton is losing ground indeed. Burton in the Lamborghini, Kurtz in the Mercedes, going for the final podium place. Ah. Burton spins in the hairpin at corner 11. Burton is back on track now. Kurtz will be racing in GT World Challenge America as well. Burton, meanwhile, gets on the paint and spins after mashing the throttle too soon. Burton is fifth behind Kyle Washington. Charlie Luck is building a lead over Harward. George Kurtz continues to move around lapped cars including Matt Dalton in the Notlad Racing Aston Martin in GT4.
Catching is one thing.
Passing is another. Kurtz is
booking it at the moment. The tires are
knackered, but he believes he can catch Charlie Luck. When you see your rival up the road, it’s
like waving a red flag at a bull. Alex
Welch has moved by Jason Bell for the final podium place in GT4. Ross Chouest has Adam Adelson right on his
six and they both have moved by Phil Bloom.
Adam Adelson races for Premier Racing in Las Vegas, Nevada. Kent Moore, the crew chief, was crew chief
for White Lightning Racing and their Porsche back in the early 2000s. The dayglow yellow on this Porsche Cayman
channels the old White Lightning livery.
Charlie Luck wants by Adelson and soon. Harward is probing. He wants it.
The door opens for Charlie Luck.
Adelson and Chouest both run wide.
George Kurtz is steaming his way towards Harward and Kurtz as Kurtz
moves by the BMW, Phil Bloom at the controls.
Kurtz has Adelson all over him.
Goodness. Harward, meanwhile,
right on Charlie Luck’s rear wing! This
is going to be close as race one is nearly done and dusted. Kurtz has no traffic at the moment. Kurtz is coming, and fast. He was on pole and is recovering from a drive
through penalty.
Harward and Luck were held up in lapped traffic. This is a cluster buster and here comes
Kurtz! This is going to be a real chALLENGE. Kurtz inside Harward through the
chicane. No dice. Harward outside and again, no dice. Kurtz comes back again, look. Kurtz moves up to second spot. Kurtz played that move perfectly. He can smell blood. Luck is the minnow. Kurtz is the shark. Luck is in the Masters class but this is a
battle for the overall lead of the motor race.
Three wide! Kurtz has the
preferred line, and bish, bash, bosh. He
makes the move.
Kurtz back to the lead. Harward runs wide in turn one. Sean Quinlan continues to lead in GT4 over Rob Holland. Holland is coming, ahead of Alex Welch and Jason Bell. Quinlan’s tires are beginning to fade. Top speeds between 133-136 miles an hour. Jason Daskalos meanwhile, has damage on the right rear of the automobile. It isn’t safe, and in changing the tire, it is game over for Daskalos. He’s run this championship off an on for the last 15 years or so. He ran GT Sports Club in 2020. There’s another race tomorrow. Save your equipment.
Quinlan is slowing and so Holland is moving in. But time is of the essence. Trouble for an Audi. Wondering who it is. The Audi is off the road. Quinlan is at his home track for his team,
Steve Cameron Racing, so they have many laps around this place. We need to see who was third in GT4 with that
Audi in strife. Kyle Washington moves
around Rob Holland. Ah. Welch was off the road. Game over.
George Kurtz has extended his lead over Charlie Luck and Jason
Harward. White flag lap this time by, as
Kurtz moves around The Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage with Gray Newell at
the wheel.
George Kurtz wins the first GT America Powered by AWS race
ever! Sean Quinlan wins GT4! Sixth overall for Quinlan. Luck holds off Harward and first in the
Master’s division.
Overall/GT3: #04 George Kurtz USA
Mercedes AMG GT3
More racing tomorrow.
No comments:
Post a Comment