Good morning and welcome back to the orange groves of central Florida and Sebring International Raceway as we are prepared for day two of SRO America competition. Let's start, with the second 40-minute sprint race for GT America. Sounds to me like this is a good place to begin. In race one yesterday it was George Kurtz in SRO3, Alan Grossberg in GT2 and Isaac Sherman in GT4 winning their respective classes. Will they repeat today? Will new players step up to the plate and steal their respective thunder? Stay tuned and find out. George Kurtz made up for not being at the Long Beach race. Johnny O'Connell and Justin Rothberg had a great battle yesterday.
Grab your espresso and get ready for this race as we start early. 3.7 miles and 17 corners, and at Sebring, it is all about the bumps. Nothing has changed in over 70 years. New Years' Eve Day of 1950 was the first race here and the history continues. Johnny O'Connell and Justin Rothberg's duel from yesterday was bananas! If you didn't see it, I urge you to go back later and watch the tape of it. Hello and good morning to Amanda Busick in the pit lane. O'Connell and Rothberg both were surprised by the moves they made yesterday. This is going to be a fun race to watch. Here they come.
Green flag! We are underway for GT America race two! Kurtz and Daskalos in the drag race and here comes Johnny O'Connell! In the meantime, the GT4 cars start with Isaac Sherman and Curt Swearingin o the front row in a couple Porsche Cayman's. Todd Parriott looks to the inside of Nick Shanny. Daskalos maintains P2. Mirco Schultis is now fifth looking to motor ahead of Justin Rothberg. It is go, go, go, as you have just 40 minutes to do the job. A single driver in each car. Ross Chouest and Tim Savage are both moving up. Savage wants a better race today than he had yesterday, at his home track.
Ross Chouest pouring the pressure on Mirco Schultis who lives in the St. Petersburg/Sarasota area. Ross Chouest is a former GT4 champion in GT America and now, here comes Kyle Washington in the Porsche 911 GT3R. He really wants to go for it and makes his move on Chouest, look. He is using his Fanatec GT class car for GT America this morning and the GT World Challenge America (same as Fanatec GT), later this morning. Isaac Sherman who has won five straight races in GT4, he is being challenged by Curt Swearingin who won Pirelli GT4 America in class with Kay van Berlo, his co-driver, yesterday.
This is ACI Motorsports based out of Chattanooga, Tennessee. Sherman is floating into corner entry while Swearingin's car sticks a tad better. Yesterday's GT America result was the best of the 2024 season for Swearingin so far as George Kurtz sets CrowdStrike Fastest Lap of the race so far. Just like yesterday, Kurtz's car seems to be running well. How intriguing that Kurtz's GT America Mercedes-AMG GT3 is running better than the same car but a different chassis, in GT World Challenge America which we will see later today, later this morning.
Kurtz is going out and attacking to make up lost points for not being at the doubleheader at Long Beach. Johnny O'Connell is having another good race today, but he is resuming his scrap from yesterday with Justin Rothberg, a rookie, vs. an eight-time winner of the Sebring 12 Hours. Rothberg co-drives with Robby Foley in Fanatec GT. 2:04.230, new CrowdStrike Fastest Lap for Kyle Washington in the Porsche, with co-driver Tom Sargent who shares a car with him in Fanatec GT World Challenge America. Washington has untapped speed and is doing all he can to not make driving errors. He has a huge head of steam through turn 16 in the slipstream behind the Callaway Corvette of Mirco Schultis.
Daskalos is finding pace and makes good his escape from Johnny O'Connell who still has an ice cream headache, in dealing with Rothberg. Washington runs wide! Oh dear! He took a boatload of speed into the turn and almost lost control. We alluded to it that he must clean those mistakes up to become a better racer. He will do that, I am sure. Racing drivers are very self-aware. Half an hour to go. Justin Rothberg loves the history and character of Sebring, and he finds the track to fit his style, just like a golfer on a certain golf course. With the suspension systems being so good, the bumps have been softened up over the years.
We have a Captain Cook at the battle for fourth in GT4 between Nick Shanny in the BMW M4 GT4 and Todd Parriott in the Aston Martin Vantage GT4. Nick Shanny being tutored and mentored by Terry Borcheller, his Pirelli GT4 America co-driver. Parriott late on the brakes through turn three and grabs the spot back. Shanny is being proactive and the battle resumes in earnest. Yikes! Shanny late on the brakes into the hairpin! Wow! That was close! A great battle, and small moments mean a more experienced driver can be more subtle with the moves they make. This championship helps with becoming a better racer.
New CrowdStrike Fastest Lap at 2:03.711 to Jason Daskalos, who is reeling in the CrowdStrike car of George Kurtz. Mercedes vs. Mercedes. George Kurtz steals the fastest lap back at 2:03.6 or so as Johnny O'Connell has built a buffer over Justin Rothberg. O'Connell's car did not find the pace for a handful of laps, engineer Rosella Anfrednado looking on. Mercedes, Mercedes, Audi, BMW, Corvette, the top five. Kyle Washington is closing in on Schultis. GMG Porsche are busy here and in the Porsche Carrera Cup championship in Miami in support of the Formula 1 Miami Grand Prix.
Sunset Bend is such a challenge and the bumps are the reason why. It is very demanding at high speed and high load at 160 miles an hour, diagonal line under braking and then set up the turn to avoid the bumps with the steering. Make sure the car doesn't get loose so you aren't playing chicken with the concrete wall. Kyle Washington resets the fastest lap f the motor race once again. 2:03.525 is the time. Schultis is a stoic, experienced driver. Coming to the halfway mark. I don't know if Mirco Schultis will continue racing in GT America this year. He also has a prototype program in a different championship.
The Callaway Corvette, the brainchild of Reeves Callaay, much missed in motor racing circles. Alan Gtossberg's Lamborghini is the sole GT2 car in this motor race. He is also racing a Mini in the TC America championship. He is in the highest-powered class of car and the lowest. Halfway home. 20 minutes on the board, 20 minutes to go. In GT4, Curt Swearingin is keeping Isaac Sherman honest. Rotek Racing team boss Robb Holland looking on. The leaders are in traffic working past the Shann and Parriott GT4 scrap. Daskalos cuts through the traffic avoiding losing a huge chunk of time to Kurtz in the race lead.
Washington is pushing hard. O'Connell in the Audi sneaking through the traffic. We saw four cars side by side yesterday before the end of race one yesterday and it was bananas! Schultis being circumpsect, but sometimes you cannot turn and accelerate at the same time or the back of the car will come around Washington off in the dust! Oh man! That was close! Parriott gets stymied and here comes Nick Shanny! The two GT4 cars, Shanny in the BMW and Parriott in the Aston Martin dead even going into Sunset Bend. Kurtz is 2.2 seconds ahead of Daskalos. Kurtz wants to get back into the championship hunt.
Kurtz came into this race weekend 53 points behind and if the race finishes as is, he will be only 39 points down on Daskalos going into the next doubleheader of races. Washington, in replay, shortcuts the road and now, Schultis is keeping Washington at bay. 15 minutes remaining in the motor race. Tim Savage is in a spin, again, out of turn 16. This will be a weekend to forget for Tim Savage and ProSport Competition and now, Johnny O'Connell is applying the pressure to Jason Daskalos. O'Connell and the Audi is turning it on.
George Kurtz continues to lead. Daskalos leads the championship ahead of O'Connell. Washington into the power early, tightening his hands a tad too much. Learn from your mistake and don't change your line too much, too early. Schultis with his experience is able to work through traffic. Rothberg is also in the fight. He is in fourth right behind Johnny O'Connell. One of O'Connell's Sebring victories was in the overall and O'Connell is a four-time Pirelli World Challenge championship winner consecutively with the factory Cadillac program from many moons ago.
With Jason Daskalos and his hopes of winning the title, it is better to win the war rather than the battle. However, right now, you know that Daskalos in his heart of hearts, will be fighting his closest rival. Kurtz taking points away from Daskalos will not be a worry. But for O'Connell, he will need to make his move. Of course, Daskalos' longtime crew chief and friend, Sheldon Miller, is battling cancer, and Ryan Dalziel is helping Daskalos as a driver coach. Dalziel a former driver for Nick Short's CRP team. Can Kyle Washington run down Justin Rothberg? That is the big question in these final six minutes. Yikes! He goes deep on the brakes and Schultis goes by!
He saw the cherry and took a bite out of it! Holy cow! That was strange. O'Connell putting the pressure on Daskalos and O'Connell goes through to second on the inside. Daskalos, the points leader, needs to reset now and he knows Rothberg in the BMW is right there. George Kurtz is now a Justin Rothberg fan hoping that the BMW man can pass the Audi. Daskalos is having trouble as Rothberg makes the pass. I wonder what is going on with Daskalos. Oh dear. Trouble too for Parriott. He has spun into the grass on the back part of the circuit.
In this replay, Parriott and Shanny in a scrap and there is contact between the two of them and the right front steering arm on Parriott's automobile could have broken. Goodness gracious! Parriott's automobile is dead stick. Justin Rothberg is the reiging Ferrari Challenge Trofeo North America Am class champion. Now then, it is Washington vs. Schultis chapter two as Johnny O'Connell resets CrowdStrike Fastest Lap at 2:03.215. Schultis drops a wheel into Big Bend and into the hairpin they come. Schultis makes the pass but there is a local yellow and you cannot pass under a local yellow.
Local yellow means no passing before the next open corner station. Kurtz might just be trying to manage the gap. O'Connell is still in contention. Two laps remaining. Two minutes and 40 seconds left on the clock. Maybe O'Connell is using his tools in the cockpit to get the balance of the Audi right. No penalty from race control for the incident we just saw. True. O'Connell does reset CrowdStrike Fastest Lap at 2:03.215. Oh dear. Trouble for the GT2 Lamborghini of Alan Grossberg in the Lamborghini in the TPC/Dream Racing entry. I don't think Johnny O'Connell will have enough time to catch Kurtz. White flag. One lap left.
O'Connell resets the CrowdStrike Fastest Lap at 2:03 dead. The speed builds in the car as the fuel burns off. O'Connell is in the Sebring Hall of Legends for his eight wins in the 12 Hours of Sebring. Kurtz is turning up the wick. No errors from Kurtz. Daskalos and Rothberg are withina second fighting for the final step on the podium. Kurtz's confidence is there. Kurtz will win race two! They sweep the weekend! Break out the broom! O'Connell in second. Rothberg third. Ross Chouest and Jason Bell further back in the pack and Chouest will beat Jason Bell to the line for seventh in SRO3. In the GT4 class it will be Rotek Racing and Isaac Sherman! These chaps are on a roll! Six for six! He is batting a thousand in GT America! Undefeated!
Overall/SRO3: #04 George Kurtz CrowdStrike by Riley Mercedes-AMG GT3
GT4: #098 Isaac Sherman Rotek Racing Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport
GT2: #102 Alan Grossberg TPC Racing Lamborghini Huracan Super Trofeo EVO2
Cue the dance music for the results sheet. Six wins in as many races in GT4 for Isaac Sherman. Holy smokes! So, George Kurtz wins again. Kurtz set his personal best lap on the final lap. A wonderful second race for GT America here at Sebring. Now, we move next, to Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas, in less than two weeks. So, it won't be long. Join us in Austin, for more wonderful GT America competition. So long, and take care, everybody. Bye bye.
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