Round three, and races five and six of the 2023 SRO GT World Challenge America are set to get underway here at Circuit of the Americas (COTA), in Austin, Texas. This is indeed the Texas two-step. Long straightaways, sweeping curves, tight chicanes, and 130 feet of elevation change as we have a 90-minute dash on deck. This is a homecoming for SRO America with 17 GT3 cars on the grid in the live music capital of the world. Will Hardeman is a local driver in the #19 Mercedes AMG GT3. In turn one, fire it in narrow, or prioritize the exit. In turn two through to the esses, nibble the curbs. Turn six, diamond the corner. Roll through turn seven and into turns eight and nine. Turn ten is a blind corner. Turn ten drops downhill before turn 11 rises uphill again.
Get a good exit out of 11 for the long backstretch. Check in with the crew, take a deep breath and check the instruments. Turn 12 is a deep braking zone. Carry the speed, shifting from second, to third, back to second in turn 13. Keep your rolling speed up through the stadium section. Open up the carousel and watch out for the marbles. Hustle to the right for turn 19 and roll speed through the apex. Open it up again over the apex curbing in turn 20 to complete the lap.
Turn 1 at COTA is an action-packed corner especially watching from the tower. Eric Filgueiras and Stevan McAleer are the points leaders. After their victory last time out at NOLA Motorsports Park, Bill Auberlen and Chandler Hull in the #94 Bimmerworld BMW M4 GT3, they are looking to continue that success while Racer’s Edge and their team with the Acura NSX GT3 for Ashton Harrison and Mario Farnbacher want to bounce back from a tough old time in The Big Easy. In the Pro-Am category the battle is on between the #04 Crowdstrike Riley Motorsports Mercedes AMG GT3 of George Kurtz and Colin Braun, and the #120 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3R of Adam Adelson and Elliott Skeer.
Derek DeBoer and Valentin Hasse-Clot in the #007 TRG AMR Aston Martin are in the fight as well and look for the Am class contender, the #43 Bartone Brothers Racing with RealTime Mercedes AMG GT3 to also be a contender. This is Anthony Bartone sharing with veteran sports car racer Andy Pilgrim of course. James Sofronas celebrates 350 races as a competitor in GT World Challenge. 80 degrees ambient temperature in the Texas state capital, Austin. In qualifying, Manny Franco had the fastest time in the #21 Ferrari 296 GT3.
Eric Filgueiras hit traffic, missed his qualifying lap after straight lining a corner. Both the #94 BMW and the #21 Ferrari did not have enough fuel in the tank and so, the pole goes to Eric Filgueiras and Stevan McAleer. Filgueiras can and likely will control his own destiny. The sun has burst through, and the temperature is heating up. Bimmerworld were hoping for cooler conditions today. The engines have fired up and we are set to roll off on a couple of pace laps before turning this field of GT3 contenders loose.
In many ways, this is the home track for SRO America. The cars are off on their warmup laps. This is the third consecutive pole for Eric Filgueiras. A pair of cars were pinged by the stewards for technical infractions. We are indeed ready to rumble. James Sofronas has his family here for his 350th World Challenge race, he and his brother helped one another building GMG Racing, mentoring, teaching, and coaching. His son and daughter are here. James Sofronas will be waving the green flag. James Sofronas will continue racing and he has reached a great milestone. Sofronas is very passionate and does a great job with his customers as well.
Eric Filgueiras is no stranger to pole. In Q2 what we saw was that Stevan McAleer had a solid qualifying run instead of qualifying deep in the pack. COTA is such a challenge with a mix of corners and bucketloads of elevation change with lots of straightaways as well, 3.4 miles around. Don’t overdrive one end of the race car or the other. Find the balance. Last time out, TRG AMR had their best races of the season at NOLA Motorsports Park. What can Derek DeBoer and Valentin Hasse-Clot do? The safety car dives for pit lane and Eric Filgueiras and the rest of the field anticipate a green flag.
Punch it! We are racing! Great jump from Chandler Hull, poking to the inside and Manny Franko passes for second as Scott Smithson spins the #08 Mercedes and Will Hardemann spins as well and tags the Armco! The #19 Mercedes whipped around and now, Hardemann will be on the back foot. Manny Franco, massive opposite lock as he is monstering Filgueiras and now has his hands full with Chandler Hull. More action at the top of the shop, look, as George Kurtz is going for a move on Derek DeBoer!
Kurtz gives DeBoer a wide berth. Aston Martin vs. Mercedes. Manny Franco side by side with Chandler Huil. Hull can’t pass but now he does. Hull to second place and Eric Filgueiras can stretch out his lead. Franco is going to try going on the attack on Hull again. Right behind Franco, dropping a spot from the start, is Seth Lucas, the starting driver in the #53 MDK Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3R he shares alongside Trenton Estep. Ziad Ghandour, no, George Kurtz, has had a major start to this race.
We saw Kurtz win the GT America race earlier this afternoon, the first race of their weekend, and so, he is confident of a double here at COTA today on this Saturday afternoon. Kurtz and Colin Braun have won twice overall and are points leaders in the Pro-Am class. Manny Franco still chipping away at Chandler Hull and he is going to try passing but they are right together. Franco does not over rush the corner. Since NOLA, SRO have adjusted the Balance of Performance and taken horsepower away from the BMW M4 GT3 and it’s 3-liter turbo V6 motor.
Seth Lucas is staying right with these two blokes. MDK based out of Columbus, Ohio with two young hot shoes on their team. In 13th is Ashton Harrison in the #93 Racer’s Edge Acura NSX GT3 sharing of course with Mario Farnbacher and they are aware they don’t have the strongest car. In the meantime, another battle raging between Charlie Luck in the #45 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3R and Samantha Tan in the #38 ST Racing BMW M4 GT3. Luck sharing with Jan Heylen and Tan sharing with John Edwards. Luck forces tan to the apex and she will fall back in line and try again.
Good job from both of those drivers. The cars are straddling the apex curbs. The Porsche camp are less sanguine about going over the curbs and Derek DeBoer spins and continues but he will lose a bucketload of time after that. We are also having a look at Pedro Torres in the #16 ACI Motorsports Porsche and now, we see Charlie Luck moving ahead of Tan and Ashton Harrison is also on the scene, so the two lady drivers in the championship are in a battle of their own. Well, well, well, this is a humdinger of a motor race so far and we’ve only just started!
Will Hardemann after his spin has continued and runs 15th overall. There is an incident under review between cars #43 and #007. Bartone and DeBoer. The stewards are also reviewing an incident between the #93 Racer’s Edge Acura of Ashton Harrison and the #08 DXDT Racing Mercedes AMG GT3 in the hands of Scott Smithson sharing with Bryan Sellers. Samantha Tan and Charlie Luck are still duking it out. To the head of the field, the battle is now on between Filgueiras, Hull, Franco, and Lucas. Samantha Tan makes her move and goes by Charlie Luck as we speak.
Mario Farnbacher intently watching on. Ashton Harrison is now trying to pass Charlie Luck as well. That was for fourth place in Pro-Am. This is not for class position. Every car is GT3 homologated, and the classes are based on driver ratings. Harrison wants to minimize the gap. Luck and Harrison fought it out for a championship in 2022 that went down to the wire at Indianapolis. Harrison tries the inside and Charlie Luck probably should not be fighting too hard, sharing that #45 Porsche with son-in-law Jan Heylen. Ashton Harrison, a graduate of the HPD GT3 Academy who won the title last year by only five points.
NOLA was a weekend to forget for Racer’s Edge. George Kurtz in fifth spot, leading the Pro-Am class, grabbing the lead and motoring away from everyone else. Filgueiras has gapped this battle between Hull, Franco, and Lucas, and no, Seth Lucas tries Manny Franco and some argy bargy between the two of them! Franco continues and Lucas has to regroup. Lucas tries again, sensing a weakness on the part of Franco. Franco is a demon on the brakes and Chandler Hull can gap these two. Chandler Hull is the seasoned veteran of this trio and he has only been around the sports car racing scene for a handful of years.
Manny Franco, getting on the marbles, getting out of rhythm. This section of the course, you get offline and you are on the back foot. Some of the bumps have been smoothed out but not many. Ziad Ghandour goes off and on in the #9 TR3 Racing Mercedes AMG GT3. “Z Hog” as he was known in his off road racing days, gets hooked and spins off, sharing that #9 Mercedes AMG GT3 alongside Daniel Morad, the Canadian sports car driver. Penalty issued to Ashton Harrison for incident responsibility. She will have to serve a penalty for the contact with Scott Smithson.
Manny Franco, originally from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, now lives in Austin, Texas. So, this is a home event for him. The conditions today are hot and slick. In Free Practice 2, everyone began losing the car balance. Look after the tires but stay in the game. Harrison serves her penalty and likewise, Bartone will pay the penalty for his contact with Derek DeBoer and Samantha Tan under investigation for a pre-race infraction probably for missing a time cut for getting the tires onto the car and off the air jacks before the start of the race. Pedro Torres being harried by Adam Adelson hand over fist.
Torres has been losing touch with George Kurtz the Pro-Am class leader. Samantha Tan is in P4 and we’ll have to see what will be done about her aforementioned penalty. ACI Motorsports vs. Wright Motorsports, stalwart Porsche teams. ACI Motorsports out of Chattanooga, Tennessee, experienced campaigners in Porsche Carrera Cup North America and Porsche Sprint Challenge. Wright Motorsports is synonymous with Porsche and success.
Torres running a shallow line through sector three I believe. Curt Swearingen’s team at ACI Motorsports has this car and team and several Porsche Cayman’s in Pirelli GT4 America. Track limits are a big deal at COTA and trying to keep everyone on the same page is an ice cream headache for the Race Director. A big facility to have your eyes everywhere all the time. In the meantime, the battle rages between Adelson and Torres. Adelson and Skeer are great pals off the track and had success in GT4 in 2022 but Adelson has really come to grips with the GT3 Porsche.
If you run off the road and go beyond track limits, the stewards will punish you. We continue looking at Torres vs. Adelson and at the same time Jeff Burton is reeling in Charlie Luck. Burton aboard the #91 DXDT Racing Mercedes AMG GT3 sharing with Corey Lewis. This is the sister car to the #08 entry of Bryan Sellers and Scott Smithson for team boss and former team driver David Askew. Torres guarding the inside and Adelson wants it. He wants to make a lunge and cannot get there. Adelson may have more pace. Don’t let yourself get into the same cadence as your rival. Oh no! Torres runs wide and Adelson can make the move.
Torres is now falling into the clutches of Samantha Tan, and she sends it up the inside. Torres exploring the outer edges now has junk all over his tires. Out of the frying pan and into the fire for Torres. Samantha Tan is really starting to prove herself, mentored by Swedish sports car racing veteran Niclas Jonsson. Torres twitches and runs wide allowing Adelson to go by. Samantha Tan, from Montreal, Quebec, Canada, with the ST Racing team using a version of Van Gogh’s Starry Night on the car. What is interesting is how Samantha Tan races a BMW M4 GT3 here stateside but also runs a Ferrari 488 GT3 in SRO GT World Challenge Europe as well.
Tan is indeed a BMW ambassador. She and Bill Auberlen are the two ambassadors. Tan raced at COTA in Ferrari Challenge in 2022 and swept both races of the weekend. Tan and Edwards have a good rapport as co-drivers. Eric Filgueiras is three and a half seconds to the good over Chandler Hull as Hull continues to have his hands full with Manny Franco. If Filgueiras scores pole, he and his team usually parlay that into a win. Of course, Chandler Hull, after winning the Asian Le Mans Series championship punched his ticket into the 100th anniversary running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans that you just read about a wee while ago here on the blog.
Eric Filgueiras has uncorked the fastest lap of the race thus far with just 26 minutes elapsed in this hour and a half race at 2:06.998. The Pirelli P Zero tires are performing well in this heat here in Texas. Chandler Hull has a quick off course excursion off turn 20. The straight-line speed advantage of the BMW is stout but it has been pegged back just a bit. Hull might have a bit more speed compared to the Ferrari 296 of Manny Franco. In the Pro-Am class George Kurtz has the lead over Adam Adelson and is seven and a half seconds to the good over the Porsche driver.
Kurtz is a very consistent and confident driver. Meanwhile, Anthony Bartone is chasing Ashton Harrison as well as Ziad Ghandour. We are closing in on the 30-minute mark. We have a 76 second minimum pit lane delta time to deal with, and remember, in 2023, no jokers. A yellow flag could indeed change strategy. Bartone has fallen back just a shade however he is matching Ashton Harrison lap for lap. Manny Franco still wants by Chandler Hull and Seth Lucas is also back there, probing. Hull runs wide and Franco wants to set up a run on him.
Filgueiras is four seconds ahead but has not whistled off into the distance. The amount of blacktop to work with here at COTA is a blessing and a curse because you can escape a bad situation but it is an ice cream headache for the stewards making sure everyone stays on the racing line. Torres gets off in the dirt and so does Franco. Seth Lucas is trying to get past and Franco nearly loses the Ferrari! Franco’s racing craft is impressive. Seth Lucas, too, is a newbie in GT3. He has only run Trans Am or GT4 as of late and other than running the Indianapolis 8 Hours and the 24 Hours of Dubai, has he been in a GT3 car.
Trenton Estep will be next into the car. MDK Motorsports, with team boss Mark kvamme, they are set up out of Ohio and have their shop at the old Columbus, Ohio, location of Meyer Shank Racing from IndyCar and IMSA prototype racing. Franco is reeling in Chandler hull and deep on the brakes he goes to the inside! Franco goes deep on the brakes to the inside Flying to turn on, and, oh no! Big contact between Hull and Franco sending both reeling into the barriers! Crunch! Two contenders, out of the motor race with 55 minutes left.
That was nothing more than a game of chicken. Safety car scramble. Safety car scramble. Unfortunately, I want to say I think Chandler Hull is at fault for that one. Deary me! This is going to open the window for several teams who were on the back foot earlier in the game. In the Pro class, there are only five cars in the field. Such a shame for Chandler Hull. We’ll have to have another look at that one I believe. No quarters asked or given. Bits and pieces flying off the car are meant to dissipate energy but at the same time the debris field is huge and the carbon fiber can cause a puncture because it is as sharp as a razor blade.
When the driver change happens and Samantha Tan hands off to John Edwards, Edwards will be close. We will also see some of these other drivers. George Kurtz will hand off to Colin Braun. Adam Adelson to Elliott Skeer. Pedro Torres to Spencer Pumpelly. Jan Heylen will take over from Charlie Luck. The pit window is going to be delayed. The next time around it will open and will be ten minutes where the full-service pit stop must take place along with the driver change, 76 seconds is the delta from pit in to pit out. Alessandro Balzan was very upset looking at the replay yelling “that was not nice!” and indeed he is correct.
Chandler Hull and Bimmerworld, Chandler was talking but he too, was hot, and very angry. Understandably so. Franco was in a straight line and Hull moved a wee bit to the left. Fine, fine margins, and the result is two badly damaged race cars. We are closing in on the halfway point of race one here at COTA. It seems Hull bumped Franco and then, the Ferrari just climbed on top of him. So, here is your top three as the race continues and we will be back to green fairly soon I would think.
1. #28 McAleer/Filgueiras RS1 Porsche 911 GT3R (992)
2. #53 Estep/Lucas MDK Porsche 911 GT3R (992)
3. #04 Braun/Kurtz Crowdstrike by Riley Mercedes AMG GT3 Evo
We did see Chandler Hull move in on Franco. Hard to say. The question remains if Bimmerworld will be able to run tomorrow and the same with Conquest. The suspension can be replaced and bolted on because these cars are built in a modular fashion. However, if the damage is to the chassis and the pickup points, then you have a major issue to deal with and the car cannot be raced safely. So, we’re halfway home here in race one at COTA. Cleanup continues if you are just joining us in our coverage this afternoon.
Both drivers are fine, and the pit window has been moved due to the safety car scramble. The second drivers will indeed have a short stint. Safety car lights off. So, we are going to get to a restart here shortly. Franco’s team at Conquest Racing are going to have a long night ahead to fix that automobile. Filgueiras into the VP Acceleration Zone, and away we go again! Porsche 1-2 at the top of the shp[. Filgueiras and Lucas, and Pro-Am leader George Kurtz in the Mercedes, he is desperate to take the fight to these Porsche’s at the top of the tree.
Adelson is the one Kurtz will have to be concerned with, right on his six. The top two are fighting for class position and the overall lead. These two Porsche’s are out front, but Filgueiras is not finding speed after the restart. Filgueiras protecting the inside line. The pit window is now open, and we are over halfway home. I am along the lines of lead commentator Ryan Myrehn’s thinking, insofar as I don’t think these drivers are going to go too deep into the next stint because they do have to hand the car off to their co-drivers to finish the motor race.
It is a mad scramble in the lane, look, and only a handful of cars are staying on course. Everyone is in the lane, 13 of them. Pirelli tires, fuel, and driver changes. Spencer Pumpelly is licking his chops knowing he has track position and the MDK Porsche will beat the RS1 Porsche out of the lane! McAleer will have to relinquish to Estep! Daniel Morad heads out of the pit lane in the TR3 Mercedes AMG GT3. He runs in a different championship with the same rules and has to give it up,
Will Hardemann now brings the Esses Racing Mercedes to the pit lane, the Mercedes-AMG Austin sponsored car #19, the home team, with Will Hardemann and Adam Carroll. McAleer ordered to let the #53 through. Colin Braun will take advantage and poor old McAleer is the cork in the bottle. Not good. Estep to the lead and Braun leads Pro-Am going for the overall lead and now, here comes Elliott Skeer as well to the inside and here comes John Edwards! Three wide for the Pro-Am lead! Skeer moves inside and the #04 Mercedes of Braun spins!
Edwards’ BMW is damaged as well! These two are mates and live close by each other in Charlotte, North Carolina. Coming out of this little shemozzle, or at least in the wash, you have Estep, followed by Skeer, and then McAleer. McAleer got the message and Braun did not know what to do. This was a real bear. John Edwards’ steering is a mess. ST Racing’s race has been ruined at least for today. Skeer vs. Estep, look. Spencer Pumpelly also wants in on this game. A third player has entered the game. In the meantime, Estep could have been damaged with the diffuser bouncing around.
Me eyes may be deceiving me there. Elliott Skeer now to the front, to the top of the shop. In the meantime, it is true the diffuser is busted. Trenton Estep possibly is a shot duck out there. This could be peachy for McAleer as he is now ls leveling with Estep into the turn. Crunch. Heylen runs into the back of Corey Lewis in the #91 Mercedes-AMG GT3. That is the second DXDT Racing Mercedes. Pumpelly ahs a head of steam, running three wide! He slides through the Pro class leaders. McAleer wants the lead in the Pro class and slams the door in Pumpelly’s face!
Wow! Estep barely hanging on to that wounded bird of his. That diffuser is going to be totally inconsistent. Criminy! John Edwards does have suspension damage as the car is now sitting on the air jacks in the lane. Estep is fighting with what he’s got, sliding, dirt tracking the car through the esses. Those Pirelli P Zero’s are going to be used up. Valentin Hasse-Clot is monstering Jan Heylen, look. Heylen comes through with Hasse-Clot right on his six.
VHC is right up on the wheel and so is Mario Farnbacher. VHC tries the lunge and now, Estep is right on the outside. Farnbacher is going to be pushing. This is madness within the final half hour of race one for GT World Challenge America. Pit window now closed. That won’t matter. Racer’s Edge will need a podium. You keep digging and keep going for it. Half an hour to go. This has been a wild and woolly Texas shootout thus far. Colin Braun is flying right now and so is the Ferrari of Ryan Dalziel, the #33. The Aston Martin could very well have diffuser damage as well.
John Edwards says that his incident with Elliott Skeer was totally unnecessary. Braun did not know that Elliott Skeer was there either. Tan and Edwards were battling for second and claims Skeer has the red mist. The incident is indeed under review by the stewards. I don’t think Skeer would have scythed through, but he may very well have, and poor Corey Lewis is losing steam as Hasse-Clot wants by Estep! Estep all over the shop, the Porsche Cup North America champion five years ago in 2018. Colin Braun is in recovery mode. Is he to Mario Farnbacher’s right flank? I think so. Farnbacher reeling in Estep! Farnbacher has to counter steer and here comes Bryan Sellers.
Farnbacher gets the door slammed in his face by Lucas and here comes Braun! Braun makes the pass breaking up the second-place battle in Pro with 24 minutes on the board yet. Trenton Estep is doing all he can with a damaged car. Sellers and Dalziel pushing making it three wide and three into one just might not work. This could very well end in tears. The math checks out and Bryan Sellers reads the situation, beautifully! Into the braking zone someone, I think Sellers, (excuse me, Farnbacher), will be on the dirty side of the road.
How deep does he go? Farnbacher will be really annoyed with all of this as he was knocking on the door of second place in class. Ryan Dalziel was quick in qualifying today for race two that happens tomorrow. Colin Braun must catch Jan Heylen ASAP. That diffuser is barely hanging on and he is going to start shedding carbon fiber soon. No further action for the turn one incident we saw between Edwards and Skeer. Skeer saw an opportunity and took it. That is what he knew he had to do. Major implications for two front running cars and there goes the diffuser. I think the stewards are going to give him the meatball flag, the black flag with the orange dot.
The diffuser on the #53 is hanging on by a thread on the MDK Porsche. Jan Heylen scrapping with Spencer Pumpelly coming up to start another lap for second spot in Pro-Am. Heylen gives him a wide berth. Heylen can pull off the pass on Pumpelly up to second in the Pro-Am division. For Pumpelly and Torres, they podiumed at the first race of the year at Sonoma and could get on the podium here. Charlie Luck looking on. Heylen is Luck’s co-driver and son-in-law. Heylen is also a dad now. We have less than 20 minutes to go. Stevan McAleer is the Pro class leader. Skeer, McAleer, Pumpelly, Heylen, and Hasse-Clot, the top five.
Six through ten it is Lucas, Farnbacher, Braun, Sellers, and Dalziel. The incident involving #45 and #91 will be reviewed after the race. These are Jan Heylen and Corey Lewis. Oh boy. Valentin Hasse Clot running fourth will close in the championship. Hasse Clot sharing the driving duties in this car with Derek DeBoer and on occasion, Ross Gunn is a part of this team as well and of course Kevin Buckler is a legend in sports car racing as both a driver, a winning driver at that, and a team owner. He is one of the smartest, savviest strategists in the SRO America pit lane.
This car is blue but not the traditional shade of TRG blue. Mario Farnbacher could very well earn a second-place finish in this race today. That could propel them to a possible championship. It is not so much the wins, but it is indeed the points earned for the title. Andy Pilgrim at the wheel of the #43 RealTime Racing Mercedes AMG GT3. Anthony Bartone is gaining experience as a road racer with Pilgrim as his mentor.
For more than 20 years, Andy Pilgrim was a GM factory driver, but he loves this opportunity to run in a privateer GT3 Mercedes with Anthony Bartone. Bartone is doing a phenomenal job. We could hear some major news from Bartone Brothers Racing in the not-too-distant future. McAleer did not know what to do to fill the hole but there was a massive bottleneck, and everyone is on the attack. Give it up in the pit lane. These folks know the rules and you won’t pull the wool over the stewards’ eyes. Oh dear. The local heroes at Esses Racing are now stopped on track.
That is Adam Carroll, I think, in the car. It is. This team is in Budda, Texas, just down the road. Carroll does a Control, Alt, Delete, and is back on the button. We should see them at Road America. They could be back too at the Indianapolis 8 Hours at the end of the year for the big endurance race before an ambitious program they have coming in future years. This is a building year for Esses Racing with less than eight minutes to go in race one. Colin Braun has tracked down VHC, Valentin Hasse-Clot.
Be patient. They had a race winning car and are going to have to keep pushing. Hasse-Clot is at home, right away. Daniel Morad, meanwhile, is tenth overall and eighth in the class. He will start at the pointier end for race two tomorrow. Morad is an easy driver to work with according to the TR3 team. Trenton Estep in the meantime, came back to pit lane and back out and has set a fast time. Daniel Morad has uncorked the Crowdstrike Fast Lap of the race and that could be a precursor for tomorrow’s race as we move into the final five minutes.
TRG Aston vs. Riley Motorsports Mercedes. Braun can roll more entry speed into the turn. On the brakes, the Aston Martin was not as good and we might see something slightly loose, askew, on the Aston Martin. Most of the cars have been through the wars here this afternoon and the cars will have to be fixed this evening. The tires are ratty, and you suffer more from the aero wash. As we close in on the end of race one, here is the top three.
1. #120 Adelson/Skeer Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3R (991 II.)
2. #28 Filgueiras/McAleer RS1 Porsche 911 GT3R (992)
3. #45 Luck/Heylen Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3R (992)
So, it is all Porsche on the podium, and at the top of the shop as the race draws to a close, race one, here at COTA. White flag next time by with the time left on the board. It seems McAleer is in the clear and he is going to finish second. Eric Filgueiras has not raced at COTA in a while. But he seems to be getting his confidence back. This is going to be the third time we will see Filgueiras and McAleer win race one, although in class, after winning overall at Sonoma and at NOLA. Elliott Skeer just has one more lap to go and, he and Adam Adelson will win overall at COTA.
Skeer has had his career resuscitated by working with Adam Adelson as the two have a great friendship off track as well. White flag. No incentive to fight Jan Heylen, not for class position. One lap to go for Skeer and Adelson. Skeer and Daniel Morad have both struggled for full-time drives, but they both are competitive when given a chance. Elliott Skeer and Adam Adelson winners in race one at Circuit of the Americas! Filgueiras and McAleer are winners the Pro class. Heylen second in Pro-Am. Fanrbacher second in the pPro class. Hasse-Clot and Braun are fifth and sixth.
Andy Pilgrim and Anthony Bartone will win the Am class. Franco and Hull will not be classified. Nil points for those two cars in the Pro championship fight. Will the Ferrari and the BMW be able to be repaired for tomorrow? It does not seem likely.
Overall/Pro-Am: #120 Adelson/Skeer Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3R (991 II.)
Pro: #28 McAleer/Filgueiras Rensport1-CBW Racing Porsche 911 GT3R (992)
Am: #43 Bartone/Pilgrim Bartone Bros. Racing with RealTime
Here’s hoping we see the Conquest Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 and the Bimmerworld BMW M4 GT3 tomorrow. It was a lot like an open wheel, an IndyCar or a Formula 1 crash. We will see you tomorrow here in Austin, Texas, for race two of GT World Challenge America. But, stay close. Race one for Pirelli GT4 America is coming up soon.
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