K-PAX Racing really tried to repeat their Race 1 win, but perseverance from Toni Vilander and Miguel Molina gave the Race 2 victory for R. Ferri Motorsport in their Ferrari 488 GT3, wrapping up the first Blancpain GT World Challenge America weekend at the Circuit of the Americas.
Kyle Marcelli kept not only the lead in the No. 80 Racers Edge Acura while Maximilian Buhk made too much of an effort in the No. 71 P1 Mercedes to hold Toni Vilander and his No. 61 R. Ferri Ferrari, only to see the Finnish take second place.
Vilander soon started the attack to jump to P1, and played rough when it comes to leaving no room for Marcelli to defend the position, sending the No. 80 to second. While sparks were flying in front, the No. 3 K-PAX Bentley saw their race being cooled down with a drive through penalty for causing a collision.
After some good minutes of persistence, the No. 71 went to second and took the Pro-Am Cup lead, with Buhk setting his sights to Vilander, only to get no success before the pit stops.
Apart from the leader, the pit stops really scrambled the order as the gentlemen drivers took the Pro-Am Cup cars, with the No. 58 Wright Porsche and the No. 9 K-PAX Bentley jumping to second and third. Andy Soucek kept the pressure on Patrick Long, which eventually worked after by trying a different racing line than the American.
With some cars stopping on track, the race had the first Safety Car visit with 20 minutes to go, and this bunched up the Pro Cup drivers, and with 10 minutes to go the green flag returned and the K-PAX Bentleys played it smart to almost form the Saturday’s 1-2, though the No. 9 and the No. 3 were still in second and fourth.
The Pro-Am Cup changed in the final 2 minutes, with the No. 71 P1 Mercedes being disqualified due to not come to serve penalty, which promoted the No. 80 Racers Edge Acura to the class lead. Up front, Miguel Molina in the No. 61 R. Ferri Ferrari got some pace to secure the lead, and this gave the victory for R. Ferri Motorsport. The No. 9 K-PAX Bentley came home second while the No. 58 Wright Porsche held the third place from the No. 3 K-PAX Bentley.
The No. 80 Racers Edge Acura just had to cruise to the finish to win the Pro-Am Cup while the No. 7 Squadra Corse Garage Italia Ferrari completed the Am Cup sweep with another class win.
Now the series goes to almost a two month stop until April 27th and 28th, when the Virginia International Raceway holds the next double header. In between, there’s the California 8 Hours at Laguna Seca, valid for the Intercontinental GT Challenge, where some of the drivers and teams are expected to participate.
PHOTO: R. Ferri Motorsport
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