Welcome, everyone, back to "Music City USA", Nashville, Tennessee, for day two of racing on the streets of the city, with SRO GT America as we prepare for the second 40-minute encounter featuring GT3 and GT4 machinery, on this Sunday morning, just before the IndyCars take to the track for their race. Once more, we join the SRO commentary team of Ryan Myrehn and Bob Varsha for play-by-play from the booth, Mr. Varsha, filling in for Calvin Fish, our mate, who is covering another sports car race in a different part of the country this weekend, and Amanda Busick, reporting from the pit lane.
Yesterday, we saw Onofrio Triarsi and Robb Holland win. This morning, the engines will fire to life once again. Much different conditions today. It is a warm morning in the honky tonk capitol of the world. It is 91 degrees, ambient. Hot and humid! 67% humidity, now 63%. The Triarsi Competizione Ferrari's have a front row lockout. Onofrio Triarsi and Justin Wetherill, who had a massive scrap with the Audi of Jason Daskalos yesterday. Four GT3 winners in nine races and eight of nine in GT4. Unbelievable competition! Crowdstrike guest Richard Heinemeann gives the command. Driver's start your engines! 40 minutes of racing coming up. Top speeds at the Korean War Veterans Memorial bridge is 150 miles an hour. 2.17 miles is the layout and record laps everywhere on this 11-turn course.
Oh dear. Jason Harward's Zelus Motorsports Lamborghini is stalled on the pre-grid. Harward is in a major spot of bother as the marshals wave the field by. Harward may be able to regain his place as team boss Tigh Isaac checks and now, Harward is fine, and up and running. It is like a computer. Turn it off and then turn it on again. That is how these modern race cars work. Ross Chouest is your new GT4 class points leader. We have a large field although, after his accident, Todd Coleman, game over. The damage to his Toyota Supra GT4, too extensive.
With Jason Harward, it is transmission woes or electronics that control the transmission. The car is not shifting. The car will not shift into gear properly. Justin Wetherill said that hopes and dreams of winning are what he will use to try and pass his teammate. I mean, it seems he really wants it. Poor old Jason Harward, he will take a hit in the points championship. The street course here at Nashville is the last place you want transmission trouble to strike because you are constantly shifting the car, spending hardly any time in top gear. OK. It is time for a start. The field is ready. Are you ready? Get set, and... punch it! Race two is underway in Music City!
Fanning out behind, it is the Ferrari team mates at the top of the shop, scrambling for position already. Triarsi gets it and Jason Daskalos is making a move while defending from Scott Smithson. Patched pavement, and oh man, Ross Chouest spins and clobbers the wall! That was off the nose of Chris Cagnazzi's Mercedes! Wow! Big damage for Chouest! The only driver to score points in every round but that streak comes to an end. Triarsi is pulling away and now Wetherill and Daskalos will have a ding dong for second place. Green flag remains out. Chouest drives away making his way to the pit lane.
Can he come back and score GT4 points? So much great history here in Nashville, with music, and with motor racing. This race is a fan favorite as Marko Radisic wants by Edgar Lau in GT4 in more of an industrial part of the city, a warehouse district on the opposite side of the river. This track is on the eastern side of Nissan Stadium which will be converted from a football stadium into a baseball stadium and the Tennessee Titans will get a brand new $1.8 billion stadium on the far end of the river. Edgar Lau is making hay while the sun shines and he is driving superbly in hot pursuit of the Aston Martin of Jason Bell. Big time manufacturer participation in this series between GT3 and GT4. All dream cars.
Marko Radisic has made a move on poor old Chris Cagnazzi who is dropping like a stone. In this Sunday morning race, passing is a lot more. Passing is very difficult here on the streets as Adam Adelson lunges on Chris Cagnazzi. Very few of these drivers save for Andy Pilgrim, are not professional drivers. They are competent but don't have the experience. Read the grid. Know who you are racing. Do my competitors watch their mirrors? These cars are so evenly matched. Use creativity and bravery to make passes as Adam Adelson is now fifth. He has run well not only in GT America but in Pirelli GT4 America as well sharing this Premier Motorsports Porsche Cayman with Elliott Skeer.
This is one of two standalone races for SRO America, the second one, besides the streets of St. Petersburg, Florida, that we saw way back in February. Mirco Schultis, the German, in fourth place now in SRO3, driving the fan favorite Callaway Corvette, chassis 001. This is the C7 edition of the Corvette, the front engine car. Schultis has an affinity for Chevrolet and he ended up with a Chevy truck with the roof cut off and has been a Chevy fan ever since. He has also run prototypes in the old American Le Mans Series, he ran Chevrolet powered prototypes. We have seen the factory Corvette's have amazing success in the great worldwide endurance events and the car speaks to America, abroad.
The Callaway Corvette is a privateer team. It is the same Callaway, Reeves Callaway, as the Callaway golf family. Reeves Callaway has been tuning Corvette's for a long time. The tuning is done with the blessing of GM, but they could never race against the factory, for obvious reasons. Triarsi's lead over Wetherill is growing for sure. Daskalos continues in hot pursuit of Wetherill. Mirco Schultis continues to try and catch Daskalos who is making bold moves around GT4 traffic. Know who you are passing. Make sure the bloke in the slower car sees you, and then punch the gas pedal.
Justin Wetherill, as a teenager started fixing computers under an opaque name like "You break it, I fix it", and since then, he has built the company into franchises and is very successful. He has chosen Ferrari as a car he wants to drive. Sports car racing has something for everybody. Japanese cars... the Supra, England... Aston Martin, German cars... we have Audi, Mercedes, and Porsche. If you are into the American muscle, well, there's the Ford Mustang, or the Callaway Corvette. So many different shapes and sounds of the cars. Ten mnutes of 40 done and dusted. Hslf an hour to go. The paddock is open to the public and the drivers, before the race, were signing autographs for fans. The drivers were so happy!
The fans cheered like crazy for the drivers who took the podium. It is a Walter Mitty moment for the fans. We have the IndyCars and the Stadium Super Trucks here too. A great bang for your dollar weekend of motor race on the streets of Nashville to introduce the sport of sports car racing to new fans. The road racing enthusiasm is amazing and customers who pay the money for the tickets, they love it. Chris Cagnazzi is going like the clappers looming large in Edgar Lau's rearview mirror. The stadium configuration will change and new buildings will be built. Track designer Tony Cottman built this place to resemble a musical note.
Let's hope the street course stays. That would be fabulous. Yours truly, in my hometown of the Twin Cities, we had a road race through the streets of downtown Minneapolis in the mid 1990s, but it did not last. It only ran three years between 1996 and 1998. Jason Bell slammed the door in Edgar Lau's face and now, Chris Cagnazzi is making inroads on both of them. He wants a bite of the cherry. He has caught Lau in the Mustang. How defensive will Lau be? He raced the SCCA Runoffs at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in a Mustang and has run sports car races in Asia in the past. Cagnazzi is close enough to make a lunge. He will try again, but Lau slams the door again, look.
Cagnazzi will have to be patient as they come to the bridge. Jason Bell has made good his escape to the tune of a second. He is poised to gain ground and regain the points lead after Ross Chouest's retirement from the motor race. The speeds at turn ten through these tight confines of the streets at Nashville are no faster than normal street driving, anywhere from 32.9 to 33.5 miles an hour. That is how you create passing zones, a battle of skill under braking, from 150 miles an hour to 35 in a split second. This track has everything and a lot of use of the gearshift knob or paddle shifter.
Cagnazzi still in the fight. He had the fastest race lap in the first race in 2021 and then won race two last year as well. Lau has the legs somehow. 4-liter turbo V8 in the Mercedes. 5.2-liter Coyote naturally aspirated V8 in the Mustang I believe. The Mustang has the straightline speed but on top end it just might not have enough steam. Robb Holland leads the motor race in GT4. But Jason Bell is not giving up. Robb Holland could be losing pace a tad. Eight drivers have won in nine GT4 races in 2022. The last three laps, Jason Bell has taken a second and a half out of Robb Holland's lead. The track temp is climbing and maybe the GMG team have nailed their long run setup for Jason Bell and the Aston Martin.
Bell will have a 15-point edge on Ross Chouest who has retired from the race. The parity in GT4 is amazing. Half a dozen GT America races to go when we are done and dusted here at Nashville. Onofrio Triarsi leads overall in the Ferrari and his lead has dissipated a tad. It was up over four seconds a wee while ago when we last checked. It is now under three. OK. GT4 lead battle, is hot! Chris Cagnazzi says "OK, Edgar, I am not going to play games anymore, sunshine. I will pass you. Get out of my way." Bish, bash, bosh, Cagnazzi to second place in the Mercedes! Wow! Traffic giveth. Traffic taketh away.
Adam Adelson, too, sees an opening. Can the Mustang pull the Mercedes back in? There is lapped traffic with one of the BMW M4 GT4's on the outside. Jason Daskalos wants by as well, but Chris Cagnazzi is taking no prisoners today! Daskalos also gets shoved straight into the barriers! That is the third place SRO3 car. Daskalos says "oh no you don't." He moves by. Daskalos, not a happy driver. The Audi R8 LMS GT3 is long in the tooth but is still racing well in GT America. The Audi and the Callaway Corvette, out of current GT3 homologation, but they are still competing here.
Daskalos' car is not working the way he wants it to and here comes Mirko Schultis in the Callaway Corvette. The two oldest cars in GT3 still racing each other. Schultis' starts are a tad sluggish but as he goes throughout the race he gains energy. It's like leveling upwards in a video game. But this is no game. It is a true motor race. Cagnazzi still on Daskalos' six. This is not going to end soon. Yup. Schultis cannot pass as we see i replay. Daskalos hanging on by his fingernails. The team are readying for a pit stop. The steering on that Audi is cattywampus. Schultis wants it, and Daskalos is fighting an evil handling Audi.
This little party is about to have a third uninvited guest as George Kurtz in the Mercedes AMG GT3 is catching Daskalos and Schultis hand over fist. Yikes! Wetherill passes team boss Triarsi. Say what? Wow. That was a planned move? Or, is Wetherill quicker? Jeepers creepers! Triarsi is only in race two of his season while Wetherill is in the fight for the title. He dropped out of race one at Watkins Glen and that's it. Maybe Wetherill is being allowed by his boss to go for maximum points as Triarsi is sliding all over the shop and his handling is fading in the Ferrari. Schultis late on the brakes passes Daskalos and we see Kurtz again motoring away, on the move to catch these two blokes.
Kurtz's streak of four straight wins was snapped in yesterday's race. Maybe he is being discrete and wants to keep his championship lead intact. BoP of course is balance of performance dealing with weight and power to ensure parity between the cars, and all competitors whine about it that it isn't fair. Nobody said life would be fair. Triarsi is reeling Wetherill back in. But maybe Triarsi is riding shotgun for his teammate. Rusty Bittle leads the Invitational class in the #7 Porsche Cayman. Triarsi Competizione says there are no team orders. It is just hard racing.
Maybe Wetherill is being pointed by to score a win. I have nothing to prove, is probably what Triarsi thinks. That was not intentional I don't think. Triarsi is pushing hard to catch his teammate. Maybe it is the announcer's curse. We have it figured out until we don't. Criminy! Wetherill has been a winner for this team in Fanatec GT World Challenge powered by AWS alongside driver coach and co-driver, Scotsman Ryan Dalziel, domiciled in Florida these days. A proud Scotsman, who, in his open wheel Formula Atlantic days, did well and one year at the prize giving at the end of the season, dressed in a kilt.
Dalziel and Wetherill have worked together for a number of years now. Ryan Dalziel racing in the other sports car race we covered at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. Triarsi Competizione today, here in Nashville, have put on a clinic with ten minutes left on the board. What will the rules makers do about BoP seeing this clinic by the Ferrari's, as we see a scrum between Adam Adelson and Andy Pilgrim. Rookie vs. true veteran. Both of them have had quiet races but now are dueling for GT4 position in two Porsche Cayman's. Adam Adelson wants to race at the 24 Hours of Le Mans one day. Pilgrim is a Le Mans veteran who has been on the podium and he has had a distinguished career with GM.
In 2001, he co-drove with Dale Earnhardt Sr. and Dale Earnhardt Jr. in a factory Corvette and it was a short time before Dale's untimely passing in the 2001 Daytona 500. What that might have led to for the Earnhardt's. Wow. Dale Earnhardt Sr. wanted to race sports cars after his NASCAR career concluded. He wanted to go to Le Mans. It never came to pass. Andy Pilgrim moved to race with Cadillac in the old Pirelli World Challenge, the precursor to SRO America these days, co-driving with another GM stalwart, Johnny O'Connell. Sean Whalen in the Zelus Aston Martin has big damage to the suspension. Car #888 is crabbing.
Meanwhile, the Ferrari parade continues. Onofrio Triarsi has now closed in. How aggressive will he be with the sister car? The GT4 cars will get in the way. Nashville does not have the runoff of places like Sonoma or Road America. Concrete walls all over the place, as Chris Cagnazzi is reeling in Jason Bell. Cagnazzi is undeterred and going for it. He won race two in Nashville in 2021. His best finish is second in race two at Sonoma back in April. Insofar as Sean Whalen, or actually on the Jason Harward Lambo, there was a faulty wire in the steerng wheel, a faulty connection. Cagnazzi late on the brakes dives past Bell for second spot.
Clean racing from both drivers. Bell would have charged down the inside in the past, but working with co-driver and driver coach Andrew Davis, Jason Bell is now thinking about the big picture since his rival Ross Chouest is out of the motor race. Chouest will score nil points. Cagnazzi is not a factor deeper into the top ten in the GT4 standings. Robb Holland though, leads GT4, four seconds up the road as we see Adam Adelson being reeled in by Andy Pilgrim. Adelson on the defense and Pilgrim cannot pass yet. Bide your time, discretion the better part of valor. Pilgrim, the cagey veteran, knows what he is doing.
Adelson taking the pressure. They drive different lines into the turns. Pilgrim wants fifth spot. Avoiding bumps and manhole covers are things that you have to watch out for that aren't on a traditional circuit save for Sebring. That will be an event, two races from now. George Kurtz still in recovery mode. He is fourth and chasing down Mirco Schultis. The Triarsi Ferrari's have the lead all to themselves. The gap is 12 seconds from third place Jason Daskalos to fourth place Mirco Schultis. White flag next time by. So, this race is almost finished. Kurtz driving for the fabled Riley Motorsports out of North Carolina.
Two of the best sounding cars in this race, the V8 power for both the Callaway Corvette and the Mercedes AMG GT3 Evo. Kurtz off the road and debris in the middle across the bridge. Man, oh man! No time to make a move. Justin Wetherill and Onofrio Triarsi take the white flag. If Triarsi will win, he must pass his teammate. Final lap. Time has elapsed. GT4 traffic in the distance. Robb Holland has really turned it on this weekend. Traffic ahead for the leaders. He clears the Supra and there is the Cayman of Adelson ahead. On the brakes, Triarsi shows the nose. No dice.
Triarsi wants it. Wetherill slams the door in his face. Justin Wetherill clears Adelson and on the sprint to the flag, Wetherill wins it! If I had a hat, I'd have eaten it if Triarsi had made a lunge on Wetherill. Margin of victory, 3/10ths of a second, as Robb Holland wins GT4. He has been based in Europe at the Nurburgring where they have a shop. Break out the broom! Robb Holland wins it. His Porsche Cayman, squeaky clean. Holland does the double! Cagnazzi did all he could to close in and finishes second which will be a shot in the arm for his championship quest.
Onofrio Triarsi earns the fastest lap of the motor race at 1:29.170. The celebration will be vigorous. Five winners in ten races in SRO3. Still eight winners in ten GT4 races with Robb Holland doing the double here in Music City.
Overall/SRO3: #37 Justin Wetherill Triarsi Competizione Ferrari 488 GT3
GT4: #99 Robb Holland Rotek Racing Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport
The Prancing Horse sweeps the weekend here in Nashville. Time to celebrate in one of the great party towns in the United States. Wow! What a couple of great races we have been privileged to witness here in Music City. All of this taking place on a 90+ degree day here in Nashville. Wow. Ross Chouest, the only retirement from this event. Mirco Schultis, the Master's class winner, swapping between Germany and Florida, running, and doing motorbiking. No airconditioning in the Corvette. It is hot. But Schultis made it to the end, a tough cookie he is, as all racing drivers are.
They went through engine and gearbox issues but have finished this race today. 180 degrees in the Corvette?! Yikes! Egad! Robb Holland is now the first two-time GT4 winner in GT America and he credits his team at Rotek Racing for doing a phenomenal job with both the Porsche and Mustang for Holland and Edgar Lau. Every person on the team and their sponsors, get all the credit. They are doing a lot for charity here in Nashville as well. A fabulous weekend of racing here in Nashville. I hope we return several times. Thanks for joining us.
Next time out, we will see you at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin for the full slate of SRO America action. Those races are coming up, the weekend after this one. We will see you, live, at Road America. So long for now from Music City USA, Nashville, Tennessee. The Wisconsin dairy country awaits. Bye bye.
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