It is time, for the final race of the day. We've saved the best for last. It's race two for the big boys and the big toys as the GT3 cars of Fanatec GT World Challenge America come out to play at Road America. A weekend of high speeds and high drama culminates today with race two. Winward Racing scored their first overall win as Racer's Edge and Triarsi ran well and won. U.S. Racetronics and Turner Motorsports, after crashes yesterday, unable to answer the bell for this motor race as we join Ryan Myrehn and Calvin Fish in the broadcast booth and Shea Adam in the pit lane. The first race here in September, 1955. Phil Hill won it in a Ferrari in a photo finish. We are set to turn the GT3 cars loose.
We do have a winnowed down field. Andrea Caldarelli is on a bit of a drought along with Michele Beretta. Both K-PAX Lamborghini's struggling for speed. Jordan Pepper and Misha Goikhberg have also been haing a wee spot of trouble, but they are running better. The Pro-Am title fight will also be big. Russell Ward says that pole position will make things much easier for his co-driver Philip Ellis. They are running in the Pro class while the other front row car is a Pro-Am entry, the Racer's Edge Acura of Ashton Harrison and Mario Farnbacher. All the cars are on the same playing field being GT3 cars.
Russell Ward just like his co-driver drove a massive stint in yesterday's motor race. No US Racetronics Mercedes or Turner Motorsports BMW in today's race. Pro-Am is only a six point swing between Racer's Edge, Riley Motorsports, and Wright Motorsports. Also have a Captain Cook at Chandler Hull and Bill Auberlen at Bimmerworld in the #94 BMW M4 GT3. The engines are fired and the cars are rolling on track on the recon lap. Loris Spinelli had the pole for this race but of course could not answer the bell. Jordan Pepper, Bill Auberlen, Bryan Sellers. A lot of great drivers.
Michael Cooper starting the #43 RealTime Racing Acura NSX GT3 with Erin Vogel, the hometown team from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The field is formed up. Safety car to the lane. We are set for a start, Phil Ellis leading the way. Green flag! The race is underway! Ellis to the lead of the motor race as they fan out three wide and here comes the Lambo. Jan Heylen up to fourth. Bull Auberlen swamped to the back of the pack. Andrea Caldarelli side by side with Jan Heylen. Bryan Sellers pushong and now, Bill Auberlen is flying into turn five. Jan Heylen off the road and back on as Bryan Sellers makes his move. Heylen forces the issue.
Auberlen running after Sellers. Ellis, Farnbacher, Pepper, as Corey Lewis is going for it and the hood is up on Colin Braun in the #04 Riley Motorsports Crowdstrike Mercedes AMG GT3! Hopefully Colin Braun can see! Good gravy. This is a different car from yesterday and it has gone pear shaped. They need a yellow and he is having a bear of a time. To the lane he comes and they just need to tape it down with some bear bond. Ellis leads Pepper, Farnbacher, Caldarelli, and Heylen. Bear Bond tape is going to be what they eneed and a blowtorch to expand the bonnet. He has driven blind for a lap.
The hood is split. This car is damaged in the front end. Is the windscreen cracked? By North American racing rules, if it is, they cannot race and have to retire that motorcar. They will go a lap down if they are not careful. Dust there, and I wonder if someone is off the road. Riley Motorsports just took the bonnet off that car. Philip Ellis leading the motor race, the Swiss domiciled German. He of course is sharing the car with American Russell Ward. Winward have raced in multiple GT championships on multiple continents.
Jordan Pepper has moved past Mario Farnbacher who has a buffer between himself and Jan Heylen courtesy of Andrea Caldarelli and the #1 K-PAX Lamborghini. Andrea Caldarelli has already made up four places from P8 to P4. Braun is now a minute and 44 seconds behind. He has 20 seconds to work with but is down on pace sans the bonnet. Nill Auberlen closing in on Bryan Sellers with Dirk Mueller next up in the sister DXDT Racing Mercedes. Mueller has done very well in GT car racing here at Road America in the past. Dirk Mueller sharing with David Askew. Caldarelli is pulling away from Heylen, Sellers, Auberlen, and Muller.
The race is really on between Ellis and Pepper. The second rated drivers will hop in the cars for the second stint after the 45 minute mark is reached. 2:05.9 and change fastest lap for Ellis thus far around this 14 turn, 4 mile track in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. Jan Heylen might have a tad more breathing room as Bill Auberlen is catching Bryan Sellers. The Porsche, the Mercedes, and the BMW, all evenly matched. Flat six in the Porsche. V8 in the Mercedes. Inline six in the BMW. Onofrio Triarsi with damage to his Ferrari on the back of the car. That is the Am class car. Behind him it is Michael Cooper followed by Drew Staveley in the Aston Martin.
Ian Lacy Racing, they had horrendous disappointment at Watkins Glen and could not race because of a disintegrated fuel cell. The leaders are running in the low 2:06 range. Colin Braun wants a yellow in order to catch up to the rest of the pack. 12 minutes on the board in this hour and a half race as Phil Ellis leads by 2.2 seconds over Jordan Pepper and Mario Farnbacher, the Pro-Am leading Acura NSX GT3 for Racer's Edge Motorsports, early doors. If they can get a yellow, Braun will need new boots on the car, new Pirelli P Zero's. Find a lap time to save the tires from being trashed and keep up the lap times.
The handling on that Mercedes might be going away. Team boss Bill Riley is looking at options. They will need a Full Course Yellow thoughl plain as day. Jan Heylen in the #45 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3R sharing with Charlie Luck, father-in-law and son-in-law. Worst case scenario for Braun and Kurtz would be third spot in points with 17 points down on the leaders and if Heylen and Luck win in class. This was all started yesterday with the #04 team in a crash yesterday that we saw. The domino effect can really put a team on the back foot. We have the two Sebring races and the double points for the Indianapolis 8 Hours with points scored after the big race is complete.
Drew Staveley is motoring and he wants past Michael Cooper who in turn is chasing down Onofrio Triarsi! Corey Lewis and Jeff Burton, shifting camps to TR3 Racing. They had a disappointing race yesterday. Lewis driving the car now. Colin Braun pushed Corey Lewis into a third car. It was a real bear yesterday and the car they have been pushed into was the Triarsi Ferrari. If the #91 was the meat in the sandwich, then they came out in a bed of roses all things considered. Drew Staveley is no slouch and he is really pushing Michael Cooper.
Drew Staveley is looking good, sharing the Aston Martin with Frank Gannett. All the while, Phil Ellis' lead has ballooned to 3.3 seconds over Jordan Pepper. 2:06.218 the lap time and the lead is four plus seconds. Michael Cooper pushes Triarsi off the road, wide. Cooper to tenth place no chasing the Pro-Am entrants as Drew Staveley follows right through. We are seeing a frustrated Michael Cooper He has chemistry with RealTime and team boss Nathan Bonneau. Racer's Edge has unlocked the potential of their Acura with team boss John Mirachi. RealTime have won in every category they have raced in led by Peter Cunningham. This year, they have had a dry spell.
His lap time is a second down on Mario Farnbacher. Michael Cooper, a New Yorker, he has raced in touring cars, GT4, and GT3. Drew Staveley also on the button, and chasing down Cooper as they scream through the Moraine sweep under the Sargento cheese bridge. Drew Staveley and Michael Cooper raced against each other in Pirelli GT4 America Sprint years ago. Mario Farnbacher is pulling a gap on Jan Heylen so that co-driver Ashton Harrison has a cushion over Charlie Luck. Corner speeds at turn three are all at 73.3 miles an hour for all of the top five. Ellis, pepper, Farnbacher, Caldarelli, and Heylen.
Race Control is investigating contact between Cooper and Triarsi. K-PAX looking on, Thomas Blom, and Andrea Caldarelli's engineer, Sebastian. Michele Beretta, the co-driver also looking on. The pit window is ten minutes, right in the middle segment of the motor race barring a Full Course Yellow. These are full service pit stops including tires, fuel, and a driver change with a delta of 86 seconds minimum. A one second joker I believe. Jan Heylen being chased by Bryan Sellers while Mari Farnbacher is the Pro-Am class leader. How can a combination of driver pilot these cars?
What are the setup compromises between professional and amateur drivers? Winward and US Racetronics have more experience and we wish we had Loris Spinelli and Steven Agakhani in this race competing today. Jan Heylen second in Pro-Am with Charlie Luck. Heylen and Fred Poordad won the title last year. Ellis showing the way as we see the battle raging in Pro-Am. Phil Ellis leads with an hour left on the clock. Ellis is knocking out 2:06 laps, lap after lap. 2:06.4 and he keeps going and going like the Energizer Bunny!
Ellis is managing his Pirelli P Zero tires as in ten minutes we will see the pit window open. The Pro-Am lineups might just play the waiting game to maximize time of the professional racers. Sellers is hunting and pecking but executing braking efficiently. Get to power smoothly. Finesse is key to driving these GT3 cars. The GT3 cars are so aerodynamically dependent. It is unreal. If you lose the nose, you will understeer and perhaps spin out. Don't wear out the front Pirelli tires. Sellers and Heylen are two of the best in the business in multiple paddocks, multiple championships.
Sellers working on Jan Heylen, the Belgian driver, domiciled in Florida. He did run IndyCar for a while but has now found a niche in sports car racing and with Wright Motorsports. A diamond in the rough. An ace in the hole. A plug and play driver. Ashton Harrison will be into the #93 Racer's Edge Acura soon. Ashton Harrison did some Lamborghini Super Trofeo Racing and is now becoming a known commodity like her co-driver Mario Farnbacher who has been at this for a long time. Andrea Caldarelli fourth in the overall right now.
54 minutes left on the board and so we shall reach halfway in another nine minutes. Racer's Edge are tied in with the Honda Performance Development group and also have a touring car component. Winward Racing continues to lead the motor race for Winward aboard their Mercedes Benz AMG GT3. Ellis is uncorking great laps all the time. He is on used Pirelli P Zero's and on an incredibly abrasive track surface. Winward have lost some races right at the wire but they are looking for their second overall win and three straight races won at Road America in the last three weekends or so as they have also won in GT3 in other sports car racing championships in the U.S.
Michael Cooper, 2:08.1, half a second faster than Cory Lewis and the same is true for Drew Staveley in the Aston Martin. RealTime Racing are looking for peak grip and peak temperature in the Pirelli tires. Drew Staveley is matching Michael Cooper and these two chaps are doing all they can to catch Corey Lewis as the pit window is now going to pen for ten minutes. Dirk Muller is chasing Bill Auberlen. The tire degradation is a factor for the BMW M4 GT3. We are going to see Chandler Hull getting aboard the Bimmerworld BMW. Pit window open. Andrea Caldarelli will take a stop and change to Michele Beretta.
The Pro-Am cars are going to run far deeper into the window. #1 to the pit lane. Going for the undercut and of course there are tire warmers in this series and so the Pirelli P Zeros are right up to temperature while other championships do not allow tire warmers. Good stop. 86 seconds the target and they have taken their joker at 85.4. It is hammer time for Beretta now. GMG Racing and James Sofronas pit in the Am class handing over to Kyle Washington. Kyle Washington getting experience, getting seat time. More playtime as it were behind the wheel. Washington coming out of off-road truck racing and GT4 as well as GT3.
Now then, in Pro-Am, Bill Auberlen is in the lane and Chandler Hull will have to push like mad on his out lap. The tire degradation caught these chaps out yesterday with the Wisconsin cheese grater and in October, we will see a new surface and the new surface is going to make this track really speedy! So, Chandler Hull back on the road as we see Colin Braun thundering up the front straight again, sans the bonnet. Halfway home. Hull is finding the sweet spot even with the fuel burn which makes the car lighter and more agile while the tires are trying to take grip away.
The Bimmerworld team were nearly bang on the money with the pitm delta as Onofrio Triarsi is in the lane now. He shall hand over to Charlie Scardina and they had a botched stop yesterday somehow. Philip Ellis now in the lane. Bodywork damage on the right rear with scroching from the tailpipe which might be crushed and so there's back pressure in the exhaust and the heat soak on the car. Don't vent the fuel and spill it. Winward in the lane looking for a weekend sweep. Now, Russell Ward gets into the car. Jordan Pepper to the lane, too handing over to Misha Goikhberg.
K-PAX bang on the money and they had major success racing a Pro car at the 24 Hours of Spa. But they are a tenth under the minimum joker! Oh man! It was 37 thousandths of a second under the joker! Drive through penalty! It is down to the timing of the release and not the service with fueling the car and getting it on and off the air jacks changing tires. Riley Motorsports back to the lane for tire changes and a driver change to George Kurtz, and they cannot change the bonnet. These tires are 45 pounds. It's amazng. The wheel and the tire is a hefty unit.
Ashton Harrison into the #93 Acura and Charlie Luck now at the wheel at Wright Motorsports. Bang on the money for both teams. Sellers to Smithson with9in the koker time and Jeff Burton stalls as he is in the car for Corey Lewis but poor old Chandler Hull gets snookered and does not get the undercut. Drew Staveley to Frank Gannett, they also had a slow stop and now, we go to the finish in another 38 minutes with Winward Racing leading the parade rght now in the hands of Russell Ward. Both K-PAX cars have found one another but #3 will get a drive through penalty for being under the minimum pit delta.
Goikhberg gives way to Beretta. George Kurtz is now a lap down. So they cannot use a yellow to have a get out of jail free card. So a fraught race for a few teams here at Road America. Frank Gannett has Jeff Burton behind and these two have also had ding dong battles in GT4 as well as GT3 with just over half and hour left on the board. Drive through penalty and a 46 second drive through the lane plus deceleration and acceleration. Painful. You have to take your medicine. 50 clicks down the lane and folks are screaming past you on track at 260 clicks plus. This is not for class placing.
Beretta tossing around that #1 K-PAX Lambo. Caldarelli and Pepper are a second apart. Pepper and Goikhberg have the pace but the sister car has the track position as we see Frank Gannett still hanging on over Jeff Burton. Ian Lacy Racing are finding their feet with that Aston Martin Vantage GT3. Goikhberg doing everything he knows to make up ground. Goikhberg driving through the red mist no doubt. Can he get a run on Jeff Burton? Misha Goikhberg has more experience in a Lambo than Jeff Burton and Goikhberg too has myriads of prototype experience as well.
Goikhberg passes Burton and Gannett is his next target. Jan Heylen says that every point counts and they want to stay ahead of the Mercedes,Gannett and but the Porsche does not have the Balance of Performance, those three dreaded words in sports car racing of any kind. Half an hour to go. Gannett and Goikhberg and the Canadian makes a pass as Burton now is doing all he can to pass by Gannett. These two have been at it for ten straight minutes as they storm towards turn five. No change in position through Hurry Downs and into The Carousel. Tire debris sitting offline. In the Kink, you might not have the grip you want.
Burton exercising a modicum of patience, or more than a modicum. The pair are showing mutual respect which is key in racing. Gannett playing defense and that Aston Martin has the ponies for dead sure. Hit your marks. Stand on the juice as it were. Burton has the pace, but the rhythm is the same as it has been since the word go. Burton just can't reel in the British motorcar. However, he does not look ruffled nor rumpled. That car was involved in a first lap shemozzle and Burton... bish, bash, bosh, he passes Gannett for sixth place with 26 minutes left on the board. Sixth in Pro-Am and ninth overall after a late braking move through Hurry Downs.
Scott Smithson has had a solid drive in the DXDT Mercedes AMG GT3 chasing down Charlie Luck. Smithson and Sellers not in the championship fight but third in Pro-Am. Meanwhile, Luck and Heylen and Wright Motorsports are in the championship picture. Smthson reeling in Luck. He needs to learn race craft and he is indeed. Be efficient and definitive with your moves if you wish to pass. His professional racing experience has been in front wheel drive TCR cars. He made his GT3 debut for DXDT with Ryan Dalziel and David Askew in the Indianapolis 8 Hours last fall. Kurtz and Braun will finish no higher than ninth but Kurtz is closing on David Askew.
Charlie Luck is the reigning GT America champion. He had a DNF in race two of GT America which was the only blot on his 2021 copybook. James Sofronas and Kyle Washington are in a learning curve, especially Washington, truly drinking from a firehose in his rookie GT3 season while Sofronas is a true veteran who has been a part of the SRO World Challenge for goodness knows how many years, almost three decades. TCR cars make some downforce, but a GT3 car is unreal. These things stick to the floor but they get frustrating if you step into no man's land. Approaching the last 20 minutes. We have only three races to go after this one. Two 90 minute events at Sebring in Florida, and we are going to race the Indianapolis 8 Hours, points paid at eight hours, full three driver lineups and a race into the twilight at the Brickyard. Corner speeds into turn one, 92 to 94 miles an hour with Michele Beretta fastest.
George Kurtz is making the most of a trying motor race in GTWC America in 13th overall and ninth in class in Pro-Am. Charlie Scardina looking to pass Frank Gannett for overall position. Something in the exhaust has melted the back end, scorched it, on the Ferrari. The tailpipe is firing upwards otherwise that car would have been well and truly on FiYah! Spare a thought for US Racetronics, right on pace with Winward. Stephen Agakhani made a mistake, spinning the car on the power in the middle of the pack causing the big one and the damage was so bad, the car was busted and could not start. Same for the #96 Turner Motorsports BMW M4 GT3 of Michael Dinan and Robby Foley.
US Racetronics have been the quickest and they keep getting snakebit. Maybe Sebring will be their time as Russell Ward is leading by a stout margin over Michele Beretta and K-PAX Racing. Winward Racing is one of the best known Mercedes GT3 teams. It is a family team for the Ward's, but they are all over with their fingers in many pies in the world of GT3. In the meantime, Russell Ward's gap ver Michele Beretta has ballooned greatly. Smithson, flashing the lights at Charlie Luck to say, "hey dude, move it!"
Beretta behind David Askew, working traffic. Askew and Kurtz running similar lap times while Breretta is sideways through turn three in the braking zone! Egad! That cost both of them buckets of time. Askew losing time will be harmed more than the Italian. But a white-knuckle moment for them both as Charlie Scardina has caught Jeff Burton. Scardina, the Am class leader. We wonder if the exhaust system is diminishing the performance and the temperatures on one bank of cylinders vs. another. The fuel injection system will protect cylinders. Ah. Smithson has moved past Charlie Luck and Smithson to P2. Bryan Sellers will be a happy bunny.
Ten or so minutes to go as Misha Goikhberg is stopping on the road. Fortunately, they are past 70% and they will score points. Pepper and Goikhberg's race has gone pear shaped while Russell Ward seemingly has the rub of the green at Road America on this day. So, Charlie Scardina has indeed passed by Jeff Burton. Burton gives it up under braking. Triarsi Competizione, they will be at their home race at Sebring next time out but they need a new wrap on the body of that Ferrari. We have not seen the second Triarsi Ferrari after Justin Wetherill had a massive accident and they could not use their backup car and the same is true that we have not seen the AF Corse car of Conrad Grunewald and Jean Claude Saada lately either.
Seven minutes of racing to go. Chandler Hull now monstering Charlie Luck! Wow! This has all the makings of the points getting stirred, shaken, and sifted. Mario Farnbacher and Ashton Harrison, this will be manna from heaven for them. Harrison and Farnbacher could sweep and they had a runner up finish in race two at Watkins Glen as well, last month. Again, only three rounds to go in the 2022 championship. Chandler Hull has just made his move, on scuffed Pirelli P Zero tires. Hull's pace as really been there. But they want the top step. Six podium wins with three runner ups and no wins yet!
Hull in hot pursuit of Scott Smithson is running out of time. Hull is the hound while Smithson is the rabbit. Or the shark, and the minnow for instance. Luck went way off the road in replay and he was out in the Tooley's there! Jeepers creepers! We could see the white flag next time by. We will see it in fact. So, Ashton Harrison and Mario Farnbacher, in two minutes, will have their third win of the 2022 season. White flag. Final lap for Russell Ward, leading by 30 seconds, ready for his second straight overall win with Philip Ellis for Winward Racing. It kicks you when you are down looking for wins, but the Winward boys are delivering. Five consecutive podiums even though they did not race at either NOLA in New Orleans or at VIR.
Racer's Edge will have the advantage over their ninth-place finishing rival, the Riley Motorsports Crowdstrike Mercedes of George Kurtz and Colin Braun missing the bonnet. For the second straight day, Winward Racing are going to win the motor race. They sweep the weekend! Break out ye olde broom!
Overall/Pro: #33 Ellis/Ward Winward Racing Mercedes AMG GT3
Pro-Am: #93 Harrison/Farnbacher Racer's Edge Motorsports Acura NSX GT3W
Well, well, well. Broom sales are up!
Am: #23 Scardina/Triarsi Triarsi Competizione Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo 2020
Same results as yesterday. So, the points tables are closing up and we have just the two races left to go. The orange groves of central Florida, and the fabled concrete of Sebring International Raceway beckon next, coming up in a month's time. The championships might just get settled in an eight hour enduro at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. So, these next two races are going to be madcap bonkers. Join us for an exciting conclusion to GT World Challenge America 2022. For now, so long from Wisconsin dairy country, and Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin.
We will see you at Sebring ladies and gentlemen. Bye bye.
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