The R. Ferri Ferrari 488 GT3 and the pair of K-PAX Racing Bentley Continental GT3s were the stars of the Blancpain GT World Challenge America this weekend at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, sharing the overall wins of the two races and fighting fiercely for them.
The Porsche front row lockout remained untouched during the start, with Patrick Long leading the field in the No. 58 Wright car. The action was coming from the back of the lead pack as the No. 9 K-PAX Bentley trying some moves into the No. 24 Alegra Porsche for fifth place, mostly by forcing an issue by taking advantage of the Continental’s straight line speed.
Also doing an incredible job was the debuting No. 96 Turner BMW, leading in the Am Cup and even challenging some of the Pro-Am Cup field, thanks to a strong drive from Naoto Takeda. Unfortunately the car had an undesired pit stop with 20 minutes of racing due to overheating, as an off track trip threw some grass into the air intakes.
Everything was going well for the No. 58 Wright Porsche, but a puncture in the left rear tire forced and early pit and gave the lead to a pressured No. 22 Alegra Porsche, as the No. 61 R. Ferri Ferrari was hot on the back wing of the leader.
A late entry in the pit window was of good use for the No. 61 as it conquered the lead with Toni Vilander in the seat, while the No. 22 Alegra Porsche had to work its way to second by passing both K-PAX Bentleys as the No. 3 car unfortunately held the No. 9. The five-car pack turned into only three cars, with the No. 3 being the outsider in fourth.
The final 30 minutes of the race were pretty uneventful as Vilander just had to keep the pace up in the No. 61 to get the victory. The action came behind the Finn, with the K-PAX Bentleys making the team magic work and passing the No. 22 Alegra Porsche, though the way the No. 9 Bentley forced the way to open was questionable, even though it wasn’t intentional.
The No. 5 Gradient Acura led the NSX GT3 Evo show in the Pro-Am Cup, with the No. 80 Racers Edge car coming home second in class.
Race 2 had the No. 9 K-PAX Bentley doing an awesome job in the start, leaving the No. 61 R. Ferri Ferrari in second. The race’s natural progression had all cars settled so there wasn’t much threat to the leader.
The No. 61 followed the same strategy and went for a late pit during the window, but Toni Vilander wasn’t doing anything, as he was putting pressure in Alvaro Parente to force a mistake, which didn’t work before the stops. The No. 9 Bentley then enjoyed some room to breathe while the No. 3 one in third was keeping the No. 61 busy defending.
Miguel Molina could save tires for the long run, which gave the possibility to the No. 61 to go back to the lead battle, but the gap was too big, so Andy Soucek just had to keep the No. 9 going until the checkered flag.
The No. 80 Racers Edge Acura enjoyed a calm race as the Pro-Am Cup win came for them without much pressure, and the No. 96 Turner BMW had a lone run as the sole representative of the Am Cup.
The next Blancpain GT World Challenge America weekend will be at Sonoma Raceway on June 8th and 9th.
PHOTOS: SRO
PHOTOS: SRO
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