We have yet another great introduction from SRO America lead commentator Ryan Myrehn, to set the scene for race one of two this weekend for Fanatec GT World Challenge America powered by AWS here at NOLA Motorsports Park. Ryan's words, again, encapsulate the whole setting for this motor race we are about to see. "Founded in 1718 by French settlers as La Nouvelle Orleans, the city today known as New Orleans has a well-earned reputation for fast paced fun. Eight miles southwest of the city proper, sits NOLA Motorsports Park, a 2.75 mile, 16 turn motorsport facility, more than capable of producing high speed thrills of it's own. Today, the cacophony of race engines replaces the blare of jazz club instruments as the music of choice as the teams of Fanatec GT World Challenge America powered by AWS, prepare for a 90-minute battle on the bayou."
This sets the scene and let me tell you, Mother Nature is playing her hand with rain present. This is the second time in series history that GT World Challenge America has raced in "The Big Easy". This motor race is not going to be easy. We ride along in the TR3 Racing #9 Mercedes AMG GT3 with Daniel Morad, to have a good look at the racetrack here in New Orleans. OK. This is Morad's first time at NOLA. It is a technical, fast track. Up to fifth gear, brake hard in turn one and release the brakes early. Fourth gear and still flat out through turn two. Coming to turn three, prepare to step on the brakes, hard. Brake through and past the corner, diamond the corner and open your hands.
Turn four, back to second gear. The rear of the car will be wriggling all over the place. Send it into turns five and six and watch out for the tire pickup on the outside. Flying down the backstretch in fifth gear, use all the curbs, back to hard throttle, sacrifice the middle and attack the last part of the esses. Brake hard, rude the curb all the way around. Be gentle with the throttle application, be gentle with steering, and then, punch it down the frontstretch. We have a 17-car field for the races this weekend. Recall the last race we saw for GTWC America at Sonoma Raceway in California, it was a dogfight between Ashton Harrison in the Racer's Edge Motorsports Acura NSX GT3 and Manny Franco aboard the #21 Conquest Racing Ferrari 296 GT3.
Harrison went to the inside of the Ferrari and it was a drag race to the end. Racer's Edge has the points lead. Last year, Harrison won and took the points lead. Eric Filgueiras and Stevan McAleer swept the Pirelli GT4 America weekend here at NOLA last year and they are now set to make their next start in the GT World Challenge America championship for full on GT3 sports cars. They won at Sonoma last time out. The Pro-Am class is being led after a second place and a win for Colin Braun and George Kurtz at the wheel of the #04 CrowdStrike Racing by Riley Motorsports Mercedes AMG GT3 Evo.
Look out for ACI Motorsports with the #16 Porsche 911 GT3R to be driven by Pedro Torres and Spencer Pumpelly, and the #9 TR3 Racing Mercedes AMG GT3 Evo that we did the onboard lap with earlier, of Ziad Ghandour and Daniel Morad. These two cars could indeed be dark horses this weekend. We also have on the contenders list, the #43 Bartone Brothers with RealTime Racing Mercedes AMG GT3 Evo of Anthony Bartone and Andy Pilgrim. We are racing in New Orleans on Jazz Fest weekend. Well, the great jazz tradition that started here in New Orleans is not the only music this weekend as we will soon have the music of race engines to listen to as well.
Mother Nature really might spoil or change things. A lot of the drivers here at the top of the shop are not as experienced racing in the rain, but they can and will adapt. Two Pro cars on the front row and in Pro-Am, DXDT are on the class pole with the #08 Mercedes AMG GT3 in the hands of Scott Smithson sharing with Bryan Sellers. They too will be quick this afternoon. The track has great grip but the puddles are going to be a major issue if you hit them. If we get to flooding with the low flood plane, that is going to be a concern. GT3 cars do not make very good boats. The new drivers coming into the GT3 ranks have found their feet such as Adam Adelson. He is loving it driving these cars. Dry your feet and make sure your windscreen isn't going to fog up.
Valentin Hasse-Clot, the Belgian, should really love driving the TRG Aston Martin sharing with Derek DeBoer. Watch out for these guys as we are going to be puddle jumping here in The Big Easy. This is going to be fun! Race Control tells us they are going to take a good look at the circuit. This is Louisiana and so we are a wee bit below sea level. It is not tipping down with rain but there are areas on the track here at NOLA where you get puddling, and the best rain tires you can use still will not stop aquaplaning. We're going to have to wait. Eric Filgueiras and Stevan McAleer are on the pole. He is scheduled to lead the field alongside Manny Franco. He is a neophyte in a GT3 car too but learning fast.
Hard to say how much rain running the Ferrari 296 has done either. Scott Smithson and Adam Adelson on row two. The amount of rain is puddling like crazy and we are going to see a delayed start unless the rain ceases. It is like the Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers tune from their "Damn The Torpedoes" record from 1979 called "Louisiana Rain". The track has good grip but the standing water makes this place undrivable. Plenty of time to sit and ponder the challenge but it is going to be a bear out there if and when we do get going and it is still wet out there. The spray is the biggest deal. It is a love/hate relationship because driving the car in the rain you don't go as fast and it is physically easier, but with the spray, the wake, the rooster tails of water on your windscreen, that is what makes racing in the rain a real pain in the fanny.
It is going to be a wee while before we go racing and we are going to see moisture on the road. This is a curveball but it is a new opportunity and look at the puddles with the course cars out there. It is one thing with this big SUV that is one of the safety vehicles but in a race car, it is a real bear. You have to run around the cushion, looking for grip. Drivers have to be super smooth. The safety crews are looking for water. Don't get loaded up on a painted curb in the wet because it is like driving on ice. The GT3 cars have traction control and most of the systems have eight or ten settings. One number will be a wet setting.
TC can only do so much under acceleration. If the car is loaded in a corner when you are braking and turning, the traction control will do no good for you whatsoever. The radar looks iffy right now. Manny Franco's co-driver Alessandro Balzan says he is proud of his co-driver. He has natural talent for racing in the rain. Manny and Alessandro drove together at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in a road car, practicing their racing lines. They don't have the fastest car with the Ferrari. They tested at NOLA and Balzan also raced at Daytona International Speedway in the 296 GT3 at the Rolex 24 at Daytona at the start of the year for the marquee race of a different championship, the IMSA championship. He ran four laps in the wet in the 296 GT3.
Balzan says the car can understeer in the wet and standing water is a bear for everyone right now. Avoid the standing water, and after Manny Franco finished the race at Sonoma he apologized to the team for not closing the door on their rival. Alessandro Balzan is very experienced and a great teacher for Manny Franco, a three-time U.S. champion in GT racing. He has been drinking from a firehose. He and everyone else are doing that today. Eric Bachelart, former driver, is team boss for the Conquest Racing team. Trying to survive the first few laps in the middle of the pack. Now, this flatbed truck we are seeing on the screen right now is definitely not homologated to GT3 regulations as it motors around trying to displace the standing water on the road.
It is the brand new Kenworth GT3! Oh my! Well, they do have big rig racing in Europe. I am not sure if we would partner the SRO America championship in a North American round with the FIA European Truck Racing Championship. That would be cool to see, however. That's a lot of water on the road and so we are in a holding pattern and we just don't know when the target will be to get going. The deluge has ensued. Alessandro Balzan and company will be the second winners. We saw the Ferrari 296 with Frikadelli Racing winning the qualifying race for the Nurburgring 24 Hours. That race will be the same weekend as an SRO America event at Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas, and yours truly is trying to figure out an idea of blogging something for the Nurburgring 24 and then getting into the SRO America action at Austin, Texas, as well, in a couple weekends.
Tape up the radiator to keep the engine and gearbox warm. Adjust the ducting and the cooling but you cannot stick the duct tape in the rain and there are tire warmers permitted in SRO GTWC America. A wet weather tire is always a softer compound than a slick tire will be. Before the end of the day this track could be dry. Adam Carroll from Ireland, looking on for Esses Racing sharing with Will Hardeman. Carroll is the champion in the old A1 Grand Prix series and has been a GT sports car racer and touring car racer for a number of years now. We have many new teams and drivers trying to gain experience.
RS1 and Eric Filgueiras also qualified extremely well for today's race assuming we are going to get started. Rain is indeed the curveball. TR3 is the Romanelli brothers with Daniel Morad and Ziad Ghandour. Colin Braun says that his co-driver George Kurtz would be comfortable in the rain and he has run the 24 Hours of Spa which has a propensity for rain as well, many times. The CrowdStrike team though has never run or tested in the rain here at NOLA. The engines have fired up and we should be able to get going in a wee while. Riley Motorsports and CrowdStrike Racing are looking for a championship this year. Everyone is keeping their heads down and looking for podium opportunities. The two times George Kurtz has run at Spa Francorchamps, with SPS Automotive Performance, it has been in the rain.
George Kurtz drove a Mercedes Formula 1 car at Silverstone as Mercedes-AMG Formula 1 is sponsored by Crowdstrike. Ross Gunn who drove for TRG at Sonoma does simulator work for the Mercedes team and that is why Gunn is not racing at NOLA this weekend and Valentin Hasse-Clot is. George Kurtz was less than a second off of George Russell, the teammate to Sir Lewis Hamilton, the king of Formula 1 of course. George Kurtz has had a solid couple of races and did so at Sonoma and George Kurtz works outside the car on the simulator and focusing on fitness as well. We are in a holding pattern right now and we are waiting for the all clear.
We are going to step aside for a wee while as we hear the rain pelting down on the track at NOLA from the trackside microphones. but once we get going we are going to cover this race. Let's see what happens. We'll see you shortly, everybody.
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