Mardi 4 mai 2021 par Eliane Gilain
It was on the Circuit of the Americas (COTA), in Austin, that the second meeting of the 2021 season of the series of the SRO America organization took place last weekend, which includes the GT World Challenge series for GT3, GT4 America and TC America cars for passenger cars. An event disrupted by changing weather conditions, which honored two Canadian drivers: Aaron Povoledo and Samantha Tan, on the podium of their respective series.
GT World Challenge
Rain and thunderstorms brought Saturday’s race to a premature end. It was the K-PAX team, entering a Lamborghini Huracan GT3 driven by Jordan Pepper and Andrea Caldarelli, which took the honors in addition to the fastest lap. Michael Dinan and his teammate Robby Foley might have hoped for victory after taking pole position, but the drivers of Turner Motorsport’s BMW M6 GT3 had to settle for third final. The battle for the Top 5 was intense during the first half of the race. It was Philip Ellis and Russell Ward (Winward Racing) who reached the second step of the podium with their Merceeds AMG GT3. For the full results of this race 1, click here.
In the second race, the K-PAX team won the double. The Lamborghini of Giovanni Venturini and Corey Lewis preceded at the finish line the second car of the team, driven by Pepper and Caldarelli. Only 3 tenths of a second separated the two Huracan GT3s at the end. Proof of the domination of these two cars, the Ellis / Ward duo finished 3rd, more than 6 seconds behind the winners. But this race was all the same high in action in the peloton of 16 entered, the fight for the 3rd step of the podium being the most animated. Even Pepper and Caldarelli could have hoped for victory, having taken pole position and led early in the race, but the Lamborghinis K-PAX were a tone above their rivals in Austin, although that had to wait. to arrive 23 minutes from the end to see Peper / Caldarelli take the lead. See the classification of race 2 here.
GT4 America
The first race of the weekend was marked by a fright caused by Matt Dalton, who rolled away after hitting the wall at Turn 4 with his Aston Martin from the RS1 team. The race was thus stopped at the end of the 1st lap, to let the officials repair the barrier. Once the event started again, there were many changes of position in the peloton of the 38 GT4 entered. In the end, it is the Porsche 718 Cayman of Matt Travis and Jason Hart (Nolasport team) that wins. For Porsche, it is even a double, Tim Pappas and Jeroen Bleekemolen (Black Swan Racing) finishing in 2nd position, ahead of the Canadian Aaron Povoledo and his American teammate Ross Chouest with their Mercedes-AMG GT4 from the RENNtech team. Click here for the results of this race 1.
In Race 2, Povoledo was the Nolasport team’s most serious rival, allowing himself to lead the race for a few laps. Slower, his teammate Ross Chouest dropped to 4th at the end of the race and it was again Travis and Hart who won. The victory could also have smiled on Sean Quinlan and Gregory Liefooghe (Cameron Racing). briefly leaders with their BMW M4 GT4. But it was ultimately for 2nd place that they battled at the end of the race, finishing just behind the Mercedes of Kenny Murillo and Christian Szymczak (Murillo Racing), 2nd, 5.4 seconds behind the winners.
Registered on one of the two BMW M4 GT4s of the Canadian ST Racing team, Montrealer Nick Wittmer and his teammate Tomas Mejia finished in 12th position in the general classification, but 5th in the Silver class. See the race results here.
TC America
Beautiful starting grid of 30 cars in the TC America series, the only one of the three SRO America series to offer sprint races. In addition, the first race, shortened due to the rain, was anything but monotonous. The Top 10 riders have swapped positions on several occasions. Supporting evidence: the winner, Jeff Ricca (Hyundai Veloster N of the Genracer), started the race in 15th position. Behind him, Eric Powell (Skip Barber Racing School) and Mike LaMarra (LA Honda World), both on a Honda Civic Type R. Canadian driver Samantha Tan, at the controls of a BMW M2 CS entered by ST Racing, finished second in the TCX class (13th overall), behind Jacob Rudd (Classic BMW) who finished in the Top 5 overall. For the complete classification of this race 1, click here.
Finally, in the second race, the BMW M2 CS Cup proved to be dominant. It was Rudd who took top honors in the overall standings, followed by Samantha Tan and Steve Streimer of the Hard Motorsport team. Kevin Boehm finished 4th and 1st in the TC class with his Honda Civic Type-R. Check out the full race results here.
The Canadian meeting at Mosport being canceled (it was scheduled for May 21 to 23), it is at the beginning of June at the Virginia Raceway that the competitors of GT World Challenge America, GT4 America and TC America will meet for races 5 and 6 of their 2021 season.
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