A pair of 40-minute sprints are set to close out an action-packed season of SRO GT America competition here at "The Brickyard", Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the most famous racetrack on the planet and this is the first of those single driver events for a combination of machinery from the GT2, GT3, and GT4 SRO sanctioned global classes. The season has boiled down to the final two races of the year. George Kurtz has wrapped up the GT3 title. But the GT4 title, with only 80 minutes of the season left, the GT4 crown is still up for grabs as we join Ryan Myrehn, Calvin Fish, and Bob Varsha in the booth and Amanda Busick in the pit lane. George Kurtz has won seven races this year. But now, it is time to see who will win in GT4.
George Kurtz has dropped to the back of the SRO3 field due to a tech infraction. Ross Chouest is the GT4 pole man. We have many, many of the usual suspects in the championship welcoming Gray Newell back into the fold after his massive Road America accident. The weather conditions are so much cooler, a crisp, autumn day, the leaves changing colors as they always do this time of year. The cool temperatures are a big deal. No tire warmers in GT America and so everyone will be on stone cold Pirelli P Zero tires. Ride the brake and the accelerator at the same time. George Kurtz, the champion, had a great qualifying time but failed post qualifying technical inspection.
We have C.J. Moses as always with the lone GT2 spec car, the GMG Racing Audi R8 GT2 #58. Here they come. Green flag! Jeff Burton leaps out in front as Jason Harward is now being monstered by Jason Daskalos and Kyle Washington. GT4 starts their race. They're off and running! Adam Adelson has to push to win the title and Elias Sabo bails out into turn one, got into the ABS and took the escape road. Full Course Yellow on the speedway, look. I wonder how this whole thing happened. Kyle Washington went off track but has now plummeted.
Washington was off the road and he stopped after trying to rejoin the race. Washington trundling to the pit lane early doors. He may have a tire going down. Did he get hit by Jason Harward? There was some flame out of the back of the car but they are still licking at the bodywork. Grab the fire extinguisher, boys. The GMG Racing team will be busy. The pit ceew is consutling but it is curtains for Kyle Washington right now. Jeepers creepers! That does not look promising. Washington will be in the Indianapolis 8 Hours tomorrow. Jeff Burton was the bloke to take off like a scalded cat. Harward slipped up and Jason Daskalos too, was coming on strong. The Jason and Jason show? We'll see.
George Kurtz is on form and has the confidence. He is ready to go. Speaking of go, it is green flag time again. Jeff Burton rockets to the lead while Jason Harward now racing Daskalos. Harward is in an Audi R8 GT3 for this race. No Audi's in the 8 hour race tomorrow. Harward and Daskalos side by side. Audi on Audi. George Kurtz pounces and passes and poor old Harward is slowing! He is off the pace. Deary me! He could still get to second in points depending on how things come out in the wash. But he needs to get to 70% of the distance. Harward, Jason Daskalos, and Seth Lucas will be teamed up for the big race tomorrow.
Seth Lucas is pressing Elias Sabo and Sabo nails Adam Adelson! Crunch! He was locked up and t bones Adam Adelson, tied for the points lead in GT4! In replay... bang! That's a major crunch there! Oh man, oh man! This is terrible news for both of these cars and Jason Bell moves ahead to third in class in GT4. Well, well, well. Moisey Uretsky and Ross Chouest are the other two drivers to look for. Both of these cars have gotten back on the track. George Kurtz passed by Daskalos and by the Callaway Corvette C7 of Mirco Schultis. Turn one will be calamity corner. One car was leaking fuel out the back up onto the banking.
Daskalos' Audi is leaking fluid out the back. Schultis tried Daskalos. Nothing there for him, and now, Daskalos moves ahead while Schultis is in the clutches of Kurtz. Kurtz is not timing his moves and allowing Jeff Burton to whistle off down the road into the distance. George Kurtz's confidence is back and we saw two weeks ago the stunning scraps he had with Jason Harward and now, Daskalos is losing ground to Schultis. Kurtz is right on Daskalos' six. Oh man. He runs wide and gives Kurtz room to race. This is wild. Daskalos' car operated by Nick Short who's shops are in Sarasota, Florida, hit by the recent Hurricane Ian.
They did lose power at the shop but nothing else got damaged, thankfully. However, Daskalos Racing were working on repairs on the car after Sebring putting that team well behind the eight ball. They had a new livery planned but could not install it on the car. Next year, they will bring it and they could get one or two new GT3 cars for Fanatec GT World Challenge America. We shall see for 2023. Ross Chouest leads the motor race and he could set himself up well for the finale on Sunday. Chouest has not won but his consistency has been there all year.
George Kurtz's has escaped Jason Daskalos' grasp and is running faster than Jeff Burton. Kurtz has to pass Schultis and he does so. He moves to second spot. Now he will be in hot pursuit of Jeff Burton. He has to overcome an 11 second margin but has plenty of time on the board yet. In the meantime, we see the GT4 division battle between Robb Holland and Scott Noble along with Gray Newell. Two Porsche Cayman's and the Aston Martin Vantage GT4. Newell had a lap time disallowed for exceeding track limits.
Newell did not race at Heart of Racing at Sebring. Heart of Racing will have a "gong show" like Jack Roush used to do it, for a select group of female racing drivers. An opportunity in one of the GT4 cars. Noble is slowing! Oh dear! Trouble for the #47 Nolasport Porsche Cayman GT4! Kurtz is uncorking one fast lap after another chasing down Jeff Burton. Noble has to find fire in the hole and do a Control, Alt, Delete on the car. Technical issues can be a bear and Noble has found the fire. He is back on the button now, look.
Last time by the gap was 9.5 seconds between Jeff Burton and George Kurtz. There was a fracture in some kind of air tube in the engine of the Mercedes AMG GT3 of George Kurtz. Kurtz would be the bloke to chase down and have the pace to catch Jeff Burton. He is comfortable with the Mercedes being run by Riley Motorsports and has the other car in GTWC America for the 8 Hour that he will be racing alongside Colin Braun and Ben Keating, who is the CEO of Crowdstrike, the cybersecurity company who also is a sponsor of the Mercedes Formula 1 team.
Kurtz is quicker than Burton at this moment but time is of the essence as we are reaching the halfway mark in the motor race through GT4 traffic. Kurtz too has GT4 traffic ahead. Can he make the move work? Kurtz has more experience driving in multiclass sports car racing. Traffic management is critical. His timing is off, however, for one reason or another. In GT4, with the championship to play for, Ross Chouest leads by only a second over Seth Lucas. Jason Bell is now in third. Chouest and Bell going for the title. Robb Holland and Moisey Uretsky are down the order and poor old Uretsky is down the order and we know Adam Adelson will not score points.
This winnows the field down before Sunday's finale. Jason Bell has not won since St. Petersburg in Florida in round two, way back in February. 25 points for a win. 18 points for second. Bell would love to challenge Chouest but Seth Lucas stands in the way. Lucas has to catch Chouest though and that would be manna from heaven for Bell. Elias Sabo has to be crushed. He and Andy Lee have done very well in Pirelli GT4 America in 2022. Meanwhile, Seth Lucas is really doing something different with the Toyota Supra GT4 and the Lamborghini GT3 car in the 8 hours, is so different because the GT4 is so close to a roadgoing automobile.
Lucas will feel at home at the wheel of the Supra GT4. He has pace and is keeping Ross Chouest honest. Gray Newell has come from 11th to fourth in GT4. Wow. He is seven seconds down on Jason Bell. Jeff Burton has run four seconds slower than George Kurtz due to traffic. Kurtz too is caught behind Gray Newell, the cork in the bottle. Do not get frustrated and flip out. It will affect your driving. Stay in a rhythm. Stay focused. Once he sees Burton ahead, that is a revelation for dead sure. Man oh man, the GT4 scrum is massive!
Chouest's championship hopes rest on holding down the fort against Seth Lucas who is driving that Supra which is no muss, no fuss insofar as handling. Ross Chouest will find that Aston Martin a wee bit skittish. Jason Bell came into this race last year battling with Sean Quinlan for the title, and now, he can defend the title he won. Oh man. More traffic and Kurtz gets balked in the esses! Lucas is close but gets the door slammed in his face. Ross Chouest will not give up the win. He will not roll over and play dead.
Lead battles in both GT3 and GT4 as we wind this one down. At the yard of bricks, the gap is just 7/10ths of a second. Kurtz is reeling in Jeff Burton who switched teams, midseason. The Mercedes runs very compliant over the curb while the Lamborghini is more edgy, more tail happy. Kurtz to the inside slides by in turn 12. Excuse me, turn 11. That was like a lion and a gazelle, honestly. It is not if, it is when. Thanks for that comparative illustration, Bob Varsha. Good one. It smacked of inevitability.
The Mercedes is competitive no matter where it races, strong in all aspects compared to other GT3 cars, ticking all the boxes. Mirco Schultis in the Callaway Corvette scything through the GT4 field. Chouest is giving up time to Set Lucas who is steaming along in a real hurry! Gray Newell in the meantime, look, is running hard upon Jason Bell's six. Bell is backing down the pace for some reason, eight seconds down on the rest of the GT4 boys. Newell has eaten a second and a half out of Bell and is right on his back door for the final step of the podium! Holy smokes!
Jason Bell is only four points ahead, with only two points in the hole going into the Sunday finale. The GT4 cars are not as aerodynamically dependent through the final turn as the GT3 cars are. Lucas ahead on the line and Chouest behind. Chouest defends. Both sideways to the chicane! They got back on the right foot there. Chouest guards the inside. These two chaps are slicing and dicing! Lucas is probing for his third win of 2022, the 16-year-old Ohio driver. Lucas swept the weekend at Watkins Glen on debut but had a bad pair of races at Sebring last time out as the shadows grow long on the front straight.
Jason Daskalos has to pit and now, Newell slams the door in Lucas' face! Seth Lucas wants to make a clean pass. What will happen? Meantime, Gray Newell has a head of steam too. These GT4 cars are edgy on worn Pirelli tires. Deary me. This is wild action and fun to watch! If it is good now, I cannot wait for the curtain closer on Sunday! Newell tries lunging past Bell. No dice. Ross Chouest though is absorbing the pressure over Seth Lucas with five minutes left on the board. Gray Newell had a massive crash at Road America and was taken to the hospital. But he is back now.
Newell does not stop in time and Bell makes the pass, cleanly, decisively, forcing poor old Newell offline. Robb Holland in ninth. Moisey Uretsky tenth. They will be removed from being contenders for Sunday's final. Anything can still happen with three minutes to go. Two laps to go. This is down to the wire as George Kurtz pulls eight seconds in the lead out over Jeff Burton. All kinds of pressure. Lucas is going to try a sneak attack, but no dice through 13 and 14 onto the front straight and across the yard of bricks.
White flag next time by. Ross Chouest, a top line athlete, the 1998 and 1999 all state selection in Louisian for high school basketball. He played Division 1 basketball in college. Jason Bell, for third, Gray Newell dives inside and tried to go for it but overcooks it going in the corner deep. Don't roll speed. Can Ross Chouest, meanwhile, hold Seth Lucas at bay. Final lap for George Kurtz. One more lap for the GT4 boys as Kurtz extends his lead over Jeff Burton to 15 seconds. George Kurtz is a few corners away from a ninth win of 2022! Kurtz wins at Indianapolis from the tail end of the grid!
Overall/SRO3: #04 George Kurtz CrowdStrike Racing by Riley Motorsports Mercedes AMG GT3
Now for the GT4 victory, and the battle. Chouest vs. Lucas. Lucas is close. Chouest has held off Lucas here. No dice for Seth Lucas. Piece of cake for Ross Chouest! Lucas goes off the road! He will come up short. Chouest wins it! His first win of the year. Jason Bell gets third over Gray Newell! How about that?!
GT4: #50 Ross Chouest Chouest Povoledo Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT4
George Kurtz cuts Crowdstrike fastest lap in the Crowdstrike car. What a race! See you Sunday for race two. Pole shootout for the Indianapolis 8 Hours is next! So long for now, everyone.
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