Perfect weather, as we are ready now for the fifth race of the season for GT World Challenge America, the first 90-minute race of the weekend. The weather is perfect and a lot cooler. Here's the track preview with Steven Agakhani. The front straight is long, look at the gauges, go into turn one, heavy braking zone. Use all the road. Through turn three, easy off the brakes. Roll speed. Here's the esses, the lower esses from turns four and into the upper esses, downhill to turn ten, use all the road. Into 11, roll the car in , and into Oak Tree corner. Fly down the back straight. Stay relaxed. Brake to the 100 board. Check for lapped traffic. Down into The Rollercoaster. Use all the road on entry and exit, and fly down the front straight.
Michele Beretta on pole for K-PAX Racing. Three classes. Pro, Pro-Am, Am, all in GT3 cars. We have a great mix of Pro and Pro-Am looking ahead to tomorrow and race two. Steven Agakhani burned his hand on a tire warmer by mistake, grabbing it while it was still hot. Ouch! Loris Spinelli says the team is working really hard for race pace. The heat will be a factor. These tire ovens are extremely hot. US Racetronics wants to really go for it. Up and down the grid, everyone has had trials and tribulations. Now it is time to race. Round five of the season for SRO GTWC America.
Beretta and Agakhani on the front row. The field in perfect formation as flagman Tom Hansing waves the green! Misha Goikhberg moves to second and here comes Michael Dinan. Charlie Scardina loses some places after starting fourth. A K-PAX 1-2 while Michael Dinan is moving up fast. Steven Agakhani is being monstered by Chandler Hull, who is sharing with Bill Auberlen. Down Madison Avenue for the first time. Dinan is running very well and through Hog Pen, he had a massive lose in practice but saved it.
The BMW M4 GT3 is more well rounded than the old M6 GT3. No love lost between Turner Motorsports and US Racetronics. Asthon Harrison was caught out in qualifying getting balked on her final lap of qualifying, sharing with Mario Farnbacher in the Racer's Edge Motorsports Acura NSX GT3. Chandler Hull and Bill Auberlen, have had three podiums out of the first four races at Bimmerworld. Michele Beretta having a clean start driving with Andrea Caldarelli. Misha Goikhberg next up in the sister #3 K-PAX Lambo sharing with Jordan Pepper. Beretta and Goikhberg need to gap the field if they want to continue the K-PAX domination.
Agakhani is pushing, pushing, pushing to catch Michael Dinan. Turner Motorsports Technical Director Jay O'Connell, he is comnfident. Now then, the hot rivalry from NOLA last month is headed for round two. Chandler Hull is chasing these two chaps down. Ashton Harrison is pushing hard as well. Agakhani wants by Dinan. It is so, so hard to make the passes here. The Rollercoaster, and turn one, are the prime opportunities as they fly from Oak Tree down Madison Avenue, the long straight with a hill in it. Trouble for Jeff Burton off in the grass, seventh in Pro-am, 12th overalll, through the esses, out in the grass, sharing with Corey Lewis in the #91 Zelus Motorsports Lamborghi i Huracan GT3.
That is very dangerous, going off in the grass at 140 miles an hour. The Burton/Lewis team finished fourth in the opener at Sonoma but have had a tough old time of it since then. Full Course Yellow as Ziad Ghandour goes off the road in Oak Tree corner. He is back underway with little to no damage. In replay, he goes through the dust, and... boom, right into the tire barriers, tail first. In the old days, there was a giant oak tree on the inside of the corner, and the name sticks because son of Oak Tree is growing just outside the turn.
3,000 feet of new guardrail with three layer Armco barrier has been improved. More work space behind the pit lane and a new medical center as well. Every year there is more improvement to the facility. Many race teams are based here at VIR as well. This is an old school track built in 1957 and having lots of racing in the 1960s and the early 1970s as well. It closed in 1974 and was dormant as farmland for 25 years before reopening in March of 2000. We're green again and Michele Bereetta leads Misha Goikhberg. Michael Dinan has his hands full with the Mercedes. Chandler Hull slides and spins off the road and clips Harrison's car. Side by side stuff, and a huge crash for J.C. Saada and Samantha Tan. Oh my God! That was a massive accident!
J.C. Saada, thankfully, is out of his destroyed Ferrari 488 GT3. Thank God for that. Samantha Tan probably lost traction into the corner and now, the medical workers are checking her out. Drivers were scrambling all over the shop to find their way through that mess. Ashton Harrison lost places and got stacked up running into the back of Samantha Tan who abruptly lifted and she gets creamed by J.C. Saada! Saada could not see through all the dust. Scott Smithson in the #08 Mercedes also got a piece of this. That's the #08 Qelo Capital/DXDT Racing Mercedes. Will some of these cars come back tomorrow?
The BMW parts bin might run a wee bit short. There's a lack of spare parts due to the constant supply chain thing, but the M4 GT3 is so new, they just don't have the parts right now. ST Racing missed the races at NOLA due to a parts shortage. Saada was a victim of circumstance, and he got out of the car under his own steam according to Conrad Grunewald, who just raced the 24 Hours of Le Mans last weekend. That is a secondhand Ferrari for AF Corse. They have had a spare car to use in the past, but we don't know about this weekend. Ashton Harrison is OK, walking to the medical car. Tomorrow, #93 was to be on overall pole with Mario Farnbacher.
Race Control gives a warning to #96, Dinan, and #6 Agakhani, for unnecessary contact. Justin Wetherill moves the Triarsi Ferrari up. Conrad Grunewald and J.C. Saada will score no points. Can Charlie Scardina and Triarsi Competizione make it to 70% distance? Misha Goikhberg and Jordan Pepper are going to move up. We are just 17 minutes away from the pit window opening. Scott Smithson has gone a lap down. A broken toe link in the suspension of that Mercedes. He has rejoined the race but he has dropped a lap down. Smithson, sharing the #08 car with Bryan Sellers. Ashton Harrison, Samantha Tan, and J.C. Saada, out of the race with massive damage. Are they going to be repaired in time for tomorrow's race?
Wright Motorsports, up to third, in the #45 car with Charlie Luck, and Michael Dinan runs over some debris which could easily cut down a tire. Jan Heylen of course shares with Luck, and he was racing at Le Mans last weekend. Gareen flag. Steven Agakhani goes to the inside of Goikhberg as Michael Dinan is slicing and dicing. Dinan moves to second place. Goikhberg forces Agakhani off the road. Charlie Scardina, not close enough. Agakhani got freight trained. Jorsan Pepper is way down the order. Michael Dinan has something in the locker. He has a plan to go for it. Drive grumpy. Dinan, a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and an experienced GT4 driver.
Erin Vogel quickly spins the #43 RealTime Racing Acura NSX GT3 she shares with Michael Cooper, spinning on cold tires. Misha Goikhberg, the Canadian, driving down Madison Avenue and into The Rollerocaster, 100 feet of elevation change in a few turns. So, Michele Beretta in the lead ahead of Michael Dinan as we are ten minutes away from the ten-minute pit window for driver changes, fuel, and fresh Pirelli P Zero tires. George Kurtz has his hands full with Charlie Luck in the Pro-Am class. Crowdstrike with Riley Motorsports vs. Wright Motorsports. In Pro-Am, the scrap is Kurtz, Luck, and Jason Harward in the #88 Zelus Motorsports Lamborghini Huracan GT3.
In the Pro fight, Misha Goikhberg has Steven Agakhani right on his six. Goikhberg has the savvy, the experience. He ran with a different team in a different championship in a Lambo, last year. Cut down left rear tire on the George Kurtz Mercedes and they drop the air jacks a tad earlier. No driver change yet. Kurtz and Braun have a few podium places and one win, but they need to still do a full service pit stop with the rest of the field. Big wheel hop through Oak Tree for Steven Agakhani, as Michele Beretta leads by 6.6 seconds. 1:45 and change is the Crowdstrike fastest lap. Beretta off and on in Oak Tree as Agakhani moves on Goikhberg.
Agakhani to third place. Michael Dinan being chased down. As the tires get longer in the tooth, the opportunities will open up. Ryan Dalziel will take over the #13 Ferrari from Justin Wetherill for the next stint. Triarsi Competizione are on pace this weekend which they weren't at all at NOLA last month. Ryan "Razzle Dazzle" Dalziel, is ready to roll. Justin Wetherill, leading Pro-Am. They have a lot of history in single make Ferrari racing and they ran a long distance race at Sebring last fall, a 24 hour event for another championship.
Beretta should duck in at right around the spot when the pit window opens up. Goikhberg and Agakhani touch at hig speed and Agakhani tags Goikhberg who spins off and gets undertray damage! Beretta has new fast lap at 1:45.824. In replay, Agakhani had a run and biffed Goikhberg causing him to spin and he had a flat tire as well. The first hit cut the tire. Pit stop time for Bimmerworld. Jordan Pepper takes over from Misha Goikhberg. Maybe the stewards just call this hard racing. Race Director for SRO America Brian Till says he wants to see contact curtailed.
Loris "Spaghetti" Spinelli is now at the wheel of the #6 US Racetronics Mercedes as Michele Beretta dives for the lane. They are overcutting the competition. Beretta has won two races with this team sharing with Andrea Caldarelli at K-PAX Racing. Caldarelli wants his first win of the season. Winward Racing won the second race last time out. They are not here this weekend as I believe they were racing in GTWC Europe at Paul Ricard last weekend. K-PAX has the joker for tomorrow if they need it.
Robby Foley has taken over the #96 Turner Motorsports BMW M4 GT3. K-PAX Racing is one of the best teams on the pit stops. Fresh tires, professional drivers. Giacomo Altoe cuts the fastest lap at 1:45.1. That is smokin'! 1:45.102 reset fastest lap by Colin Braun, but he is down the order in the #04 Crowdstrike Mercedes. Altoe in the TR3 Lamborghini, and Altoe just ahead of his old team at K-PAX who he drove with at Sonoma Raceway at the start of the season. Charlie Scardina has not pitted yet. Several drivers need a reset. Contact between K-PAX and US Racetronics, under review. Altoe dinged for a speeding violation in the lane.
Foley and Spinelli at it again, look. Steven Agakhani has a sore hand from trying to save a hot tire rack that was falling over. It does not affect his driving. Agakhani does not see it as fair that other teams are pushing them around. They never intend to throw anyone's race away. The thought is that it is unfair that K-PAX can do whatever they like. It is absured that Beretta moved the Mercedes out of the way. The pit window is closed now. Agakhani is frustrated but now, Caldarelli has the gap. Spinelli will have to chase him down. Contact set to be reviewed post-race between Agakhani and Goikhberg. Spinelli has cleared Foley and now he is chasing down Caldarelli.
Caldarelli will manage the gap. The gap is 5.5 seconds. Ryan Dalziel is leading Pro-Am in the Triarsi Ferrari and laid down a 1:44.4. Jan Heylen is chasing him down. Two veteran drivers. Dalziel is being harried by Heylen in the #45 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3R. Jordan Pepper next up in the #3 K-PAX Racing Lamborghini. Corey Lewis was shown in the lane and now is back out and the same is true with Onofrio Triarsi in the sole remaining Am car in the field after that incident eliminating AF Corse, ST Racing, and Racer's Edge Motorpsorts.
Charlie Luck, from Richmond, Virginia, is at his home track. His son-in-law, and co-driver, Jan Heylen, is going for it. Jordan Pepper, the South African drver, sixth overall. Spinelli, second place, 4.8 seconds down on Andrea Caldarelli, but closing up fast. Two Italian drivers going for it. Spinelli, if he can catch and beat Caldarelli, that will be a feather in his hat. Spinelli is a Lamborghini specialist, believe it or not, racing in Lambo Super Trofeo in Europe and North America, as well as a world finals win.
Pepper has caught Jan Heylen and since this is a deal not for class position, Heylen should let the Lamborghini through on the straightaway. Corey Lewis now tenth for Zelus Motorsports and there goes Pepper past Heylen. Spinelli has halved the gap to Caldarelli. The performance of the cars see that the Mercedes are the stronger package here at VIR. 1:44.1 is Spinelli's fastest lap and he is pushing and poor old Spinelli has just gone off the road! He does so through Oak Tree corner!
He gets into the corner a little too hot and slams the tires with the left front. Now, Spinelli is back on track but he has lost places to Foley and Dalziel. No smoke from the tire rubbing on the wheel well. You have to nail it, and roll speed through the turn but not so fast. Foley and Ryan Dalziel both passed Spinelli. Andrea Caldarelli now leads Robby Foley by 10.2 seconds. K-PAX knows how to make changes with the cars, and they don't panic because of their level of experience. Regroup and come back stronger next time.
With 27 minutes on the board, Dirk Mueller is third in Pro-Am for DXDT Racing sharing with David Askew. They want a podium. Madison Snow is now driving the Zelus Lambo with Jason Harward who have moved up from last. Ian Lacy Racing who have moved up to GT3, and they had Roman de Angelis test the car and now they are back in he fight as well with Drew Staveley and Frank Gannett. Michael Cooper gets demoted by Bill Auberlen and Colin Braun is also pushing. These are three ace North American sports car drivers. You don't want to be outside in turn four, Left Hook. That's a scary corner.
You have to be committed and on the knife edge here at VIR but if you step over the line the track will grab you. Braun and company are eighth in Pro-Am and they will take a hit before tomorrow's race. Kurtz had a cut down tire of course and Michael Dinan, he got lucky, dodging a bullet. Harrison and Farnbacher won't score points. Spinelli is in the lane. Right rear tire change and things go bad to worse, and they are topping up with fuel. What's wrong? This is frustrating and everyting is going pear shaped at US Racetronics. They were caught out by a tire.
Braun is half a second back from Auberlen. Pepper, hopping over the curbs! Wow. The rear end of the car is damaged. That is an evil handling Lamborghini. Buckjle up for a rodeo ride. Riding a mad bull. Just settle in, take it easy, you will score points. Don't throw it at the fence. The bulk of the grid, for them, race one at VIR will be one to forget. Years ago, in different championships, wheel nuts were backing off under braking and so the threading on the wheel nuts has changed since then. Bill Auberlen and Colin Braun have caught Drew Staveley. Braun is right on Auberlen's gearbox.
Jan Heylen passes Jordan Pepper. Dirk Muller, though, driving for DXDT Racing with team boss David Askew, they are running very well. This is their most locally based track. They want to rebound. Dirk Mueller took over from Ryan Dalziel. Mueller was with the Ford GT program at Chip Ganassi Racing, linked with Multimatic, and Mercedes-AMG has a link with Multimatic as well. This is a hammer and tongs battle between Auberlken and Steveley and Auberlen gets hit and spins out. Braun tagged him. Auberlen will not be a happy bunny. A grumpy bunny.
In replay, we can see that the Mercedes had a head of steam but was not alongside and Auberlen did not want to give it up, slamming the door in Braun's face. Three podiums for Bimmerworld, but no wins yet. Bill Auberlen has a quote "Take It To The Limit" dedicated to his father. Auberlen has really enjoyed racing with Chandler Hull and against his contemporaries. Braun passes Drew Staveley for sixth place. Foley and Auberlen are competitors here but they race together in IMSA. That's a strange deal.
Braun in the lane serving an incident responsibility penalty. Auberlen will find no solace in that. Auberlen is down the order, away from Staveley, and Michael Cooper has passed by. Andrea Caldarelli leading by 13 and a half seconds. Misha Goikhberg says that the incident between he and the #6, let the stewards decide. Goikhberg claims Agakhani drove him all the way to the grass, and of course Goikhberg is sharing with Jordan Pepper. Misha is having a good time. Nicely handled. Live to fight another day. Onofrio Triarsi is running very well for his team. The Ferrari and that specific team is becoming a strong combination. Charlie Scardina really ragged the car in qualifying.
Driving a Ferrari around VIR is a heavenly experience. 90-100 feet of elevation through The Rollercoaster and into Hog Pen. Spinelli is pushing and now Pepper is losing time. 1:45 for Spinelli. 1:49 for Pepper insofar as best laps. At high speed, the Mercedes AMG GT3's have had the bonnets flutter but stay on the cars. Pepper, managing the gap in a wounded race car which was repaired too, after a testing accident. That Lamborghini is definitely porpoising, something we have heard a lot about in Formula 1 this year.
Caldarelli is not always spectacular but extremely efficient. K-PAX team manager Tommy Sadler is beginning to see the magic of Caldarelli, a seasoned veteran. They are going to go five straight in 2022 and their ninth straight victory for Caldarelli and company since last year. Co-driver Michele Beretta also has done very well. So, they will be on pole for tomorrow's race. K-PAX Racing stay perfect in 2022! Five wins for Andrea Caldarelli, and a third straight win for Michele Beretta.
Pro-Am, Ryan Dalziel and Justin Wetherill are going to win this race. They taste the chanpagne in Pro-Am. Jan Heylen and Charlie Luck next up followed by Dirk Muller and David Askew. Michael Cooper passes Drew Staveley. RealTime Racing are fifth. They just have not been at the pointy end this weekend. In Am, it is Triarsi Competizione for Onofrio Triarsi and Charlie Scardina.
Overall/Pro: #1 Caldarelli/Beretta K-PAX Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3
Pro-Am: #13 Dalziel/Wetherill Triarsi Competizione Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo 2020
Am: #23 Triarsi/Scardina Triarsi Competizione Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo 2020
Some teams have boatloads of work to do to make the grid for the race tomorrow. We will have some post-race penalties and discuss those tomorrow before the second and final race of the weekend. See you tomorrow for race two. Take care, everybody.
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