The first weekend of GT World Challenge America in 2020 not only had the debut of the Silver Cup in its class structure, but also a full sweep from Racers Edge in their No. 93 Acura NSX GT3 Evo, driven by Shelby Blackstock and Trent Hindman, as they gave no chance to the Pro-Am Cup field in both races at the Circuit of the Americas.
With the qualifying being under persistent light rain, things were expected to be more balanced, but as the sun appeared in late afternoon on Saturday, there was no other thing than dry track for the competitors.
Everybody went with hunger for Turn 1 in Race 1, and James Sofronas in the No. 14 GMG Porsche took the lead while the No. 93 Racers Edge Acura followed in second and the No. 24 TR3 Ferrari, which along the No. 1 Squadra Corse Ferrari were leading the best of the rest.
With the intense battle with Shelby Blackstock, Sofronas had to go over the racing lines and eventually had to relinquish his lead to the No. 93 Racers Edge Acura, which then opened the gap massively to enjoy a comfortable lead. The pit window didn’t change this, and with GMG basically securing the Pro-Am Cup win, there were few reasons as to why push for an overall win.
With actually no opportunity to close the gap, the No. 14 GMG Porsche settled for second and the Pro-Am Cup win, while the No. 93 Racers Edge Acura cruised to the line to win overall and in the Silver Cup. The No. 20 Wright Motorsport Porsche had an excellent race that saw the car threat the Pro-Am Cup entries and won the Am Cup with a good margin.
The Race 2 start had the pros from the go to threat the No. 93 Racers Edge Acura, but not only it held to the top position but brought in the No. 80 Racers Edge Acura for second place and the Pro-Am Cup lead. Een though the third placed No. 24 TR3 Ferrari was keeping a close look in the No. 80, the speed to go for a move wasn’t there in the initial moments of the race.
The Acura 1-2 had no changes even after the pit window, but the No. 24 TR3 Ferrari had a lot to lose with the pack coming in, which eventually led to a position change as the No. 04 DXDT Mercedes took third place from the No. 24. The field settled when the No. 73 Park Place Porsche spun and got stuck in the gravel trap, calling the first Safety Car of the weekend with 30 minutes to go.
The green flag came and again the moves were behind the Acuras, as the No. 1 Squadra Corse Ferrari took a moment of lack of pace from the No. 04 DXDT Mercedes and conquered third place, just with enough time before the next Safety Car intervention be called, courtesy of a crash at Turn 1 that eliminated the No. 7 Vital Speed Ferrari.
When the green flag came again, the No. 04 and the No. 1 acted to overtake the No. 80, with the No. 1 taking second place, while the No. 04 Mercedes took third place with quite a rough move. The No. 80 Acura kept the journey down the table due to a puncture.
The final minutes had the No. 93 Racers Edge Acura cruising with no one around for the overall and Silver Cup wins, completing the weekend sweep, while the No. 1 Squadra Corse Ferrari held to the second position and the Pro-Am Cup win despite the pressure from the No. 04 DXDT Mercedes.
The No. 20 Wright Porsche still found an Am Cup win despite the pile of problems in the middle of the pack, which included a crash in the final moments.
Now we will have to wait two months for the next double header, as GT World Challenge America will cross the border and go to Canadian Tire Motorsport Park on May 16th and 17th.
PHOTOS - SRO
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