Winward dominates GTWC America round at Road America

We have a new dominant force in town in the FANATEC GT World Challenge America, with the No. 33 Winward Mercedes AMG GT3 Evo of Phillip Ellis and Russell Ward winning the two races at Road America as the pair of K-PAX Racing Lamborghinis was unable to touch them.

Race 1 had an all-Mercedes front row with the No. 33 Winward and No. 6 US Racetronics entries, and behind them the K-PAX Lamborghinis had enough time to outpace the No. 94 Bimmerworld BMW before Steven Aghakhani goes to a spin, with the No. 6 collecting the No. 04 Crowdstrike Mercedes in the process and causing minor damage to the No. 96 Turner BMW and the No. 43 RealTime Acura, consequently bringing the Safety Car.

25 minutes were needed to clear the track, and once the green came again, Russell Ward built some gap to the Lamborghinis as they were falling more into the No. 94’s striking range, but with the Pro-Am Cup lead secure, Chandler Hull was only showing he was there without making any risky moves.

Once pit window was done, fortunes inverted on the field, as the K-PAX Lamborghinis settled themselves in second and third, while the No. 94 had the No. 92 Racers Edge Acura looming closer and closer, which could threaten Bill Auberlen’s lead in the Pro-Am Cup. WIth 10 minutes to go, Mario Farnbacher finally had the attacking move in place, passing the No. 94 on the outside for the fourth overall and the Pro-Am Cup lead, where he stood until the finish line.

In front of them, the No. 33 Winward Mercedes had too much of a gap to be dealt with, and with the No. 3 K-PAX Lamborghini pushing too late, the result wasn’t changed. The No. 23 Triarsi Ferrari was the Am Cup winner, with no difficulties to outpace the No. 032 GMG Porsche.

GTWC America Road America - Race 1 results

Winward Racing was also the polesitter for Race 2, but this time having the No. 92 Racers Edge Acura alongside, and when the race started, the leading Pro-Am Cup entry was passed by the No. 3 K-PAX Lamborghini while the others behind were still settling for positions.

Things were quite even in the first stint with the top-4 in a long deadlock, but once the pit window came, the work was better in the No. 1 K-PAX Lamborghini, so two positions were gained by Michele Beretta, though the sister No. 3 car wouldn’t be there for the cover as a minimum pit time infringement saw it receive a drive through, throwing it to tenth overall, recovering a bit of the lost ground before retiring from the race.

Despite the clean air ahead, Beretta couldn’t do much to counter Russell Ward, having to watch the No. 33 Winward Mercedes complete the sweep from a bigger distance than in Race 1, while te No. 93 Racers Edge Acura was totally secure in third overall with the Pro-Am Cup win, as pace more on a Pro Cup level than the class opponents, and the No. 23 Triarsi Ferrari completed the Am Cup sweep with practically no opposition.

GTWC America Road America - Race 2 results

In a full month, GTWC America returns to action with the last double header of the season at Sebring on 24 and 25 September.

PHOTOS: SRO/Fred Hardy, Regis Lefebure