In a return weekend for the FANATEC GT World Challenge America, while the Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo seemed quite off pace at Road America, K-PAX Racing could score the Race 1 win with the No. 6 car, but both entries were just luxury guests watching the No. 96 Turner Motorsport BMW M6 GT3 get a dramatic Race 2 win.
It was Lamborghini vs. Mercedes at the Race 1 front row, but they could only go to combat five minutes after the clock started ticking down due to grid positions not being respected, and while the No. 3 K-PAX Lamborghini kept the lead, the No. 33 Winward Mercedes almost fell victim of the rest of the field, with the No. 96 Turner BMW and the No. 6 K-PAX Lamborghini pushing hard.
After some pressure, Michael Dinan could put the BMW in second place by throwing Russell Ward off the ideal line, but not only Dinan coudn’t close down on Andrea Caldarelli, he actually got too busy with Ward on his rear wing, which just contributed for Caldarelli to go away with first place.
Being in a comfortable position meant that the No. 3 came in to pit early in the window, with the BMW and the Mercedes following suit, and while Jordan Pepper was still leading after the driver change, a slow pit stop for Turner Motorsports meant that the No. 33 recovered second place with Phillip Ellis at the wheel. Eventually, the No. 96 also lost position to the No. 6 K-PAX Lamborghini, but Robbie Foley was keen to recover the lost ground against Corey Lewis, in which Foley succeeded a few laps later.
A drive through penalty threw the No. 96 Turner BMW out of contention for a podium, but this didn’t mean Corey Lewis was safe, as the Pro-Am Cup leading No. 93 Racers Edge Acura closed down, pressed and passed the No. 6 K-PAX Lamborghini for third overall, with pace enough to open the gap between them.
Near the end, Ellis started closing down on Pepper, which could’ve turned into a lead change if not for the interference of the backmarker No. 61 AF Corse Ferrari, with Jean-Claude Saada getting back for his maneuver by going off track, spinning and crashing, bringing the Safety Car into the track, and with not enough time to clear the track, the remainder of the race was done behind the Safety Car, with the checkered flag being waved along the yellow flags, so the No. 3 K-PAX Lamborghini came home as the winner.
GTWC America Road America - Race 1 results
The No. 93 Racers Edge Acura not only won the Pro-Am Cup but also stepped in the overall podium by finishing third due to the late push of Dakota Dickerson.
On Race 2, the No. 93 Racers Edge Acura took advantage of the inside position and the first place with it while holding the No. 20 Wright Porsche, with the top two opening the gap while the No. 96 Turner BMW was holding the third position against the No. 33 Winward Mercedes.
Again under battle, the No. 96 lost position due to a slow stop, while in front, the No. 93 and No. 20 were extending drive time to deliver the least amount of work to their second drivers, but the No. 20 Porsche was the first of the top Pro-Am cars to fell victim of the No. 33 Mercedes, and it didn’t take much for Russell Ward to close down on Taylor Hagler, who defended as much as possible, but lost the race lead, with the second place also going away moments later as the No. 96 BMW also found pace and room to overtake.
What appeared to be an overall podium for the No. 93 Racers Edge Acura fell with 20 minutes to go, as the suspension collapsed in the right front corner, forcing the car to go to pits and retire, which promoted the No. 20 Wright Porsche to the Pro-Am Cup lead and third overall, but with six minutes to go, Fred Poordad saw Giovanni Venturini in the No. 6 K-PAX Lamborghini easily pass him.
A minute later, lack of fuel force the No. 33 to do a splash and go, giving up the first place to the No. 96 Turner BMW, and in total the unscheduled pit stop cost five positions to Russell Ward, as even the Pro Cup podium was distant at the moment. For the No. 96, the 11 second gap to the No. 6 was good enough to keep the first place for the final 5 minutes, eventually scoring the first win of the season.
GTWC America Road America - Race 2 results
After the No. 96 and the No. 6, the No. 20 Wright Porsche completed the overall podium with the Pro-Am Cup win, while the No. 61 AF Corse Ferrari kept it in place this time to win the Am Cup.
The FANATEC GT World Challenge America will return on 18-19 September at Watkins Glen.
PHOTOS: SRO/Fabian Lagunas, Brian Cleary
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