The weekend of FANATEC GT World Challenge America at the NOLA Motorsports Park was a total lottery, with few cars showing promise to prevail but no total domination as the No. 28 RS1 Porsche 911 GT3R of Eric Filgueiras and Stevan McAleer won on the wet Saturday, while the Pro-Am Cup gang was at the top on Sunday with the No. 04 Crowdstrike by Riley Mercedes AMG GT3 Evo of Colin Braun and George Kurtz.
Saturday had a considerable delay in the first race as constant rain soaked the track, which produced puddles that are so deep they would be hard to negotiate. While rain stopped at around 4 PM local time, a whole hour was needed to finally give the green to the track conditions, and while water wasn’t falling from above, the spray shot in the windscreens made the wiper activation a must.
While not entirely comfortable with the track condition, the organization wasn’t eager to deal with lack of lighting around the track, so they launched the cars for Race 1 after a few Safety Car laps. The No. 28 RS1 Porsche led the field that was proceeding carefully to discover where the grip was and where the hazards were, but Manny Franco in the No. 21 Conquest Ferrari wasn’t fancy of viewing the back of the leading Porsche foreve, so he went immadiatelly to the attack.
While the No. 93 Racers Edge Acura gained ground to third overall, it wasn’t close enough to attack the leaders, so the status quo prevailed until the pit window, with some teams playing the rather risky game and putting slick tires as the racing line was properly safe, but the sides not depending on the point of the track.
A puncture in the No. 45 Wright Porsche forced Jan Heylen to stop the car and this called the Safety car, which stood on track for 17 minutes for rescue proceedings and track clearance. The No. 93 finally passed the No. 21 after speculating a move since the pit window and was aiming for the No. 28, but while in the chase, Mario Farnbacher opened the line too wide and hit a deep puddle, losing control and ending deep in the gravel, calling the Safety Car again.
The No. 21 became prey for the No. 94 Bimmerworld BMW on the restart and Bill Auberlen immediately aimed at the No. 28 like Farnbacher did, but Alessandro Balzan in the No. 21 took the second place from Auberlen with two minutes to go as the No. 94 failed to secure the lead in a late brake move at Turn 1. Balzan tried a move for the lead but Stevan McAleer had none of it and held the No. 28 RS1 Porsche firmly for the win, right in front of the No. 21 Conquest Ferrari and the No. 94 Bimmerworld BMW.
GTWC America - NOLA Race 1 results
The No. 120 Wright Porsche had the company of the No. 08 DXDT Mercedes for most of the race, but ultimately held it and won the Pro-Am Cup from fourth overall.
Race 2 had a surprise pole position from the No. 007 TRG Aston Martin, with the best starting Pro Cup car being only in seventh in form of the No. 93 Racers Edge Acura. The bright sunlight was a noticeable contrast as the green was waved, and Valentin Hasse-Clot comfortably held the lead from Turn 1 while the No. 38 ST Racing BMW jumped to second, leaving the No. 45 Wright Porsche to deal with the No. 04 Crowdstrike Mercedes, which concluded the move to third after ten minutes of racing.
John Edwards and Colin Braun kept the No. 38 and No. 04 right behind Hasse-Clot for the whole first sting without being able to mount an attack, while TRG opted for the unusual for a Pro-Am Cup entry and pitted as soon as the window was open, with ST Racing following the strategy in the next lap and only Crowdstrike Riley opting to hold the car on track with the pro driver for some more time.
Out of the pits, the No. 04 kept the lead while the No. 9 TR3 Mercedes jumped to second to hold the No. 38, while the No. 007 dropped to fourth but with Derek Deboer clocking fast laps and closing down on the second place battle, making the move for third with half an hour to go.
The No. 93 Racers Edge Acura was keeping the Pro Cup lead from seventh overall until the battling Pro-Am Cup cars held Ashton Harrison, and with nowhere to go, the No. 28 RS1 Porsche sent it to spin and consequently to the gravel again. Further down the field, the No. 21 Conquest Ferrari also got stuck in the gravel, which gave some extra Safety Car time to the race, leaving only three minutes to do anything.
The final restart benefited the No. 94 as it jumped in the Pro Cup lead and blew the No. 007’s chances as Deboer braked too late and nearly met the grass. To avoid being ran over, Samantha Tan let the No. 94 and the No. 28 pass, but parked a corner later, while the No. 04 Crowdstrike Mercedes was way ahead of the mess and won with authority, while Chandler Hull held Eric Filgueiras to put the No. 94 Bimmerworld BMW on top of the Pro Cup from second overall.
GTWC America - NOLA Race 2 results
The series will have a two week break before moving to the next destination, as the Circuit of the Americas will be host to the third weekend of the season on 20 and 21 May.
PHOTOS: SRO/Fabian Lagunas, Crowdstrike Racing
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