After a four month hiatus the GT World Challenge series has fired up its engines with early morning qualifying for Rounds 3 and 4 of the series. The cars last took the track at the Circuit of the Americas where the Racers Edge Acura NSX driven by Shelby Blackstock and Trent Hindman dominated both rounds winning overall honors and Silver category. Second overall and first in Pro/Am went to the #1 Ferrari 488 of Squadra Corse piloted by Martin Fuentes and Rodrigo Baptista. AM class winner, 9th overall, belonged to the Park Place Motorsports #73 Porsche of Alan Metni.
Early Offs And Misfires
The first of the two fifteen minute qualifying sessions opened with a bit of drama when the #1 Squadra Corse Ferrari spun around on cold tires, sending both DXDT Mercedes GTs into the wet grass. Both cars collected grass with the #63 car of David Askew suffering minor front end damage. The team opted to send the car back out rather than resetting its lap times. Top time belonged to Shelby Blackstock in the Racer's Edge Acura NSX with Pro/Am and second overall time going to the #3 Winward Racing Mercedes GT driven by Kris Wilson and Am honors in third overall going to the Wright Motorsports Porsche GT3 of Fred Poordad.
Tight Second Round
All the action of the second round of qualifying came at the end as the new Pirelli tires came into their own and the cars ran with emptier gas tanks. In the last five minutes of qualifying top honors among the fastest six qualifiers shifted rapidly. Racers Edge continued their dominance turning in the first sub 1:45 lap. DXDT Racing recovered from their time on the grass settling in the second and third position, first and second for the Pro/Am category. Am honors went to fourth overall Wright Motorsports Porsche GT3 of Fred Poordad. The top five cars logged a fastest lap within half a second of each other.
GT World Challenge
The USAC sports car series will be hosting its GT3 category cars for the weekend at VIR, following FIA GT homologation rules. The 2020 season has done away with the Pro Division, instead there's the Silver Division featuring two Silver level drivers. Pro Am features a Gold or Silver level driver with a Bronze driver while Am division drivers solo their cars.
Source: GT World Challenge America