It is time now for the second of two races for SRO GT America at Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas, this weekend. Race one yesterday saw points leaders extend their advantage as Jason Daskalos won his fourth SRO3 race and in GT4, it was a sixth straight victory for Isaac Sherman. A cloudy, cool, temperate Sunday morning, as we get set to go for the second time around with our mates Ryan Myrehn, Calvin Fish, and Amanda Busick, calling the action. Jason Daskalos started sixth and won the race yesterday. By the end of the day, George Kurtz had suspension troubles and it was Johnny O'Connell finishing in second spot.
James Sofronas had loose bodywork yesterday. The GMG Racing team with their Audi, when the diffuser is half attached to the car, the grip is gone. Today is about redemption. The team has been so close to winning, and they are only doing half a season. He drank an EBoost energy drink instead of coffee, one of his team sponsors. His son, Jenson, wants his father, to win races. He is confident in what his dad can do. Sofronas wants a race win. He is not going for a championship title.
Kyle Washington has been called a wildcard. He was Washington's first driver coach, Johnny O'Connell, so Washington says "he's just being nice." Hardy har har. Washington is looking to make a move in turn one. Circuit of the Americas is so much fun. We have Alan Grossberg in the sole GT2 car, a Lamborghini Super Trofeo. Isaac Sherman, coming from Legends cars and late model stock cars, and he is undefeated so far. Curt Swearingin has been keeping him honest. It is Curt Swearingin's second pole of 2024. Gray Newell had a slow start yesterday, but a nice recovery.
Good to have an Audi GT4 car, Farhan Siddiqi for the FastMD with Remstar team. A pair of Mercedes-AMG's on the front row. George Kurtz wants to keep winning races. He had suspension woes, yesterday. The rear suspension on the car was broken. After this race, we are halfway home on the schedule with a long gap between here and the next race at Virginia International Raceway. We will be having a mini offseason with the summer break coming up. Ross Chouest is racing his same Mercedes-AMG GT3 here as he has in GT World Challenge America, after his wreck in race one yesterday. Today it is more humid as we start the day of motor racing here at COTA.
One formation lap to get the cars, the brakes, the tires, up to operating temperature. A wide corner entry at turn one that funnels down and narrows quickly. 100 feet of elevation change, and 11 degrees. Coexist and survive the first corner. Here comes the field. Green flag! Away we go! Daskalos out of control and did not even turn into turn one! What on earth? The ABS took away all his braking. Now, the GT4 field starts their race and George Kurtz has just gotten a freebie. This is manna from heaven for George Kurtz. Daskalos caught the bump under braking.
That could have cleaned out a ton of cars! Egad! Now, Daskalos is on the comeback trail. He has already passed Tim Savage and John Roberts in the #30 Fast Track Racing BMW M4 GT3. If we have a green flag race the whole way, Daskalos has lots of work to do. Johnny O'Connell is hounding James Sofronas in the battle of the Audi's, GMG vs. SKI Autosport. Kyle Washington in the #32 GMG Racing Porsche 911 GT3R, he is hounding Johnny O'Connell and now, Farhan Siddiqi is off the road in the stadium section, the #95 Audi R8 LMS GT4 for FastMD Racing with Remstar Racing.
Jason Daskalos now gets a reprieve with a Full Course Yellow and a quick safety car scramble to rescue poor old Siddiqi who has gone off the road. Kurtz saw Daskalos, moving to the right, when Daskalos ran out wide and had to go down the escape road. Siddiqi spun out and I wonder if he and Nick Shanny touched, in the GT4 BMW. I wonder if that Audi had an electronics scramble, and the car went into failsafe mode. Mike Stillwagon is the SRO safety car driver. Happy Birthday to Mike Stillwagon. No singing, though. No rendition of Happy Birthday. Daskalos' crew chief says the team has the car to do it, at CRP Racing.
Take things step by step. This is Nicholas Short, the team boss and crew chief. Every driver is different. Sometimes drivers know it will work out well, and others will panic. You don't want to panic. We are going to be halfway through the championship when this race concludes here this morning. We have another lap behind the safety car. James Sofronas is being pressured by his 13-year-old son, Jason. "Come on, dad. Get it together!" It is fun to see drivers develop and put together their skillsets, their driving style.
Keep it together, don't get flustered and wound up, and stay with your situation. Don't panic. Johnny O'Connell is really bullish on this championship in GT America as far as the competition. Jason Bell in sixth place, he too, has been coached a ton and this is his first year in GT3 and is looking more and more at home in the GT3 Aston Martin, the #2 Flying Lizard Motorsports Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 Evo. We also have a look at the #11 Mercedes-AMG GT3 of Marc Austin, the Lone Star Racing car.
Green flag. George Kurtz gets the jump and O'Connell goes inside Sofronas, and Jason Daskalos is being aggressive again, to pass Jason Bell! No tire warmers or ovens in GT America. Daskalos harrying Justin Rothberg in the #29 Turner Motorsports BMW M4 GT3. Argy bargy, a bit of hip and shoulder out of turn 11. Daskalos must pass Rothberg and then get to Johnny O'Connell. This most recent shemozzle is just a racing incident. Let it go. Rothberg out of sync and Daskalos and Bell, both of them are challenging. Did a dive plane disappear? That was a touch between the Mercedes and the BMW.
Kyle Washington chasing down his team boss, James Sofronas. Washington is his protege. Washington passes O'Connell as there is damage to Daskalos' Mercedes. Rothberg is a tough cookie as we saw last time at Sebring. He is cool as a cucumber and will not get rattled easily. Jason bell, hanging tough behind Daskalos as well, look. George Kurtz is dominating and hoping for maximum points to gain an advantage over Daskalos. George Kurtz leads the motor race and has the fastest lap in the 2:09 range. Daskalos pinged by the stewards for crossing the pit exit blend line on the restart, treat it as a wall.
Daskalos' race is going pear shaped. Daskalos might blame the other Jason, Jason Bell, for squeezing him. Hmmm. The Jason & Jason Show? I don't know about that. The stewards are telling him, "Mate, that wasn't cool." Into the turn 11 braking zone, Softonas is off the road a bit and back on, and now, Alan Grossberg is off the road in the lone GT2 car, the #102 TPC Racing Lamborghini Huracan Super Trofeo EVO2 off in the kitty litter. This race is essentially half done, or almost there. So the Full Course Yellow will eat away time.
George Kurtz at a 2:07.955 is the CrowdStrike Fastest Lap so far in the CrowdStrike car. Daskalos driving through the pit lane, but I don't know if it counts under yellow. It doesn't. Oy yoy yoy! Daskalos has had a race to forget and again, this is manna from heaven for George Kurtz and for Johnny O'Connell. Neither of the top two in points are in podium position, currently. Alan Grossberg is out of the car as he caught the curb, shot across the track, and... ker-runch! He piles into the tire barriers, eating up a lot of the curbs, pinching the corner entry and just cannoned into the tires.
18 minutes and change to go as Curt Swearingin is leading the motor race while Isaac Sherman, the dominant driver, who has won everything so far, is in second spot. Team boss Rob Holland that Sherman has driven well all weekend in this battle with Curt Swearingin. Isaac Sherman is going through a learning experience. He is the whole package and who will develop into a great driver, listening to the team on the radio, and doing everything he can. We have 16 minutes to go. This race has flown by. Robb Holland had a podium in the GT4 enduro last night. Now, hold the phone. I am not going to give that race away.
We are going to cover the Lone Star Enduro, and we'll tell you all about it, tomorrow. So, stay tuned for that. The sectors here at COTA are very distinct and each car has its strengths and weaknesses in different parts of the circuit. On the restart, keep an eye on the top four, five, six cars. Washington, Sofronas, O'Cponnell, Rothberg, Bell, and the leader, George Kurtz. Kyle Washington is an intense competitor, and he just needs to manage the deal in this moment. Go easy on those energy drinks, mate. Just one before the race. No coffee. Only energy drinks? Well, well, well. Kyle Washington comes from off road racing, and ran SRO races here in the states and attempted the 24 Hours of Spa last year.
Tom Sargent is working with him in the Fanatec GT World Challenge races week in and week out. Track time, data studying, work in the simulator. Could we have a new winner in GT4? Gresham Wagner, Isaac Sherman, and Chris Walsh are the only undefeated drivers in the SRO paddock. Wagner racing in the one-make Toyota GR Cup series. Daskalos still needs to serve his penalty under green and is running out of time. He has 11 minutes, maybe ten minutes, to get it done. George Kurtz punches it and we are back to green.
Side by side as Rothberg goes outside on Johnny O'Connell. Washington is looking super aggressive right on top of George Kurtz! Kurtz slams the door in his face. Washington, keeping the heat turned on. Tim Savage plows into John Roberts! Bang! Straight into the wall! Wow! Unbelievable! Johnny O'Connell will cop a penalty for being out of line on the restart. Same for Jason Bell. This all happens before Jason Daskalos is serving his penalty. He might get help because all he will need to serve is a time penalty added to his result so it is a moot point.
O'Connell is serving this penalty under yellow but that ain't gonna work. This is a massive development, but it is so incredibly confusing. Sheesh! File this one on the notepad and bookmark it. George Kurtz and Curt Swearingin, these two blokes are grinning like stuck possums right now. The GT America championship has been turned on it's head. All year so far we have had extremely clean racing. Tim Savage and John Roberts are both out of their cars, but these cars are junk. Put them in the scrapyard. Send them to the crusher.
Savage made a late move, mistimed it, dived down to the left and cleaned out poor old Tim Savage. Incident under review, but it is totally academic. Again, it just doesn't matter except that the cars are written off completely. It is so frustrating because we thought we would see Kyle Washington, with a massive head of steam, racing against George Kurtz. I don't think we are going to restart, and we'll just cycle around a few laps more behind the safety car. You cannot serve a drive through penalty under yellow. Lost track position and time penalties for Daskalos and O'Connell. SKI Autosport probably are kicking themselves for all this mess.
Daskalos will keep the lead in the championship, but George Kurtz is going to gain ground. Jason Bell, too, he is off the road having to do a reset on the car! Maybe Daskalos is luckier than he thought. He will finish ahead. Bell cannot stop on the road and just sit there. There will be barrier repairs needed. You are screaming down into the turn at 135 miles an hour and poor old Savage hadn't even gone to the brake pedal before smashing into the barriers.
On the restart, Johnny O'Connell has his nose out from behind Sofronas. The team are obviously upset. Final lap. This is Wacky Races with the Creepy Coupe, The Slag Brothers, The Gruesome Twosome, The Red Max, Sargeant Blast, The Ant Hill Mob, Lazy Luke, Peter Perfect, Rufus Roughcut, and Sawtooth, and the others. This race will be put under a real microscope.
George Kurtz scores his third win of the year. Kyle Washington wonders what might have been, but it is his first podium of the year. James Sofronas in third and Curt Swearingin has broken the grip of Isaac Sherman. Swearingin has controlled the race all morning. Kyle Washington has noticeably stepped forward. He is on the cusp of something very special following in the mold of a George Kurtz or someone like that who stepped up from GT4 into GT3 and become one of the best Bronze graded drivers in GT and prototypes alike. Cars #27, #3, and #2 will have unserved drive through penalties converted and assessed as time penalties.
Daskalos seventh, O'Connell sixth, and Jason Bell, eighth. Daskalos is ahead of O'Connell on the road. Cue the dance music for the provisional... and I stress, provisional... results.
Overall/SRO3: #4 George Kurtz CrowdStrike by Riley Mercedes-AMG GT3
GT4: #7 Curt Swearingin ACI Motorsports Porsche 718 Cayman RS Clubsport
Next up is Virginia International Raceway in Alton, Virginia, the third weekend in July, after we see many of these drivers contesting the 24 Hours of Spa in Intercontinental GT Challenge and GT World Challenge Europe at the end of June. So, this is going to be a very exciting second half of the season coming up. Please do stay tuned for more. We'll see you next time from Virginia International Raceway. So long, everyone. Take care.
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