rj o'connell

GT America begins its 2023 season on the streets of St. Petersburg, Florida, where a field of 23 cars has signed up to enter the first round of SRO America’s multi-class sprint championship on 3-5 March. Supporting the IndyCar Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, the field is comprised of 12 GT3 cars competing in the ‘SRO3’ class and 11 GT4 cars.

Defending SRO3 Champion, George Kurtz, returns to the series to pilot the #04 CrowdStrike by Riley Mercedes-AMG GT3. After ten wins in 16 races last season, Kurtz enters 2023 as the favourite to repeat as series champion – but he’ll have stronger competition if the more robust SRO3 grid around him is an indication.

Last year’s championship runner-up Jason Daskalos, an SRO America/World Challenge veteran, has retired his first-generation Audi R8 LMS Ultra and reunited with CRP Racing for the first time since 2012 to drive their #27 Mercedes-AMG GT3, part of a growing contingent for Mercedes.

DXDT Racing will enter a pair of Mercedes, one for the returning Scott Smithson in #08, and another for Utah’s Jeff Burton in the #91, his first time representing the Silver Arrows and DXDT Racing.

Long associated with Acura and Honda, RealTime Racing have changed to Mercedes in alliance with Bartone Bros. Racing, fielding the #43 for past Pirelli World Challenge champion and sports car racing legend Andy Pilgrim, and the #427 for Anthony Bartone, son of drag racing champion Tony Bartone.

IndyCar and sports car racing…

Race One of GT America powered by AWS finished with flair after a slow start due to an early incident. SRO3 and GT4 classes saw tight battles for the win at the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg in St. Petersburg, Florida.

Competitors received a special surprise due to a delay in the schedule. Race One took place at sunset and into the night. With headlights gleaming, the two GT America powered by AWS classes put on an exciting show for the crowd.

SRO3 Class

The SRO3 Class had an unexpected start with Jeff Burton in the No. 91 Mercedes AMG GT3 starting fourth but making contact with the wall brought the field to its only yellow flag of the race. Unfortunately, for 2022 SRO3 Class Champion, George Kurtz, received damage from the incident and forfeited his second place start. Pole sitter Scott Smithson spun on his own, abdicating the lead.

The restart saw Memo Gidley lead SRO3 with his TKO Motorsports Mercedes AMG GT3. However, it wasn’t long before Jason Daskalos would use some fancy footwork and took over first-place duties. He and his No. 27 Mercedes AMG GT3 would hold on to the lead through the checkered flag. James Sofronas in the No. 14 Audi R8-LMS was hot on Gidley’s heels, but try as he might, he would take the checkered flag in third.

“It’s because of them,” said Daskalos. “I was P1 early in practice. I hit the wall. We switched over to the backup car out but it wasn’t ready to race. The crew worked their butt off to get it to race ready….

GT America powered by AWS held practices today at Sebring International Raceway, in preparation for a pair of 40-minute sprints on Saturday and Sunday.

There was very little running in Practice 1 this morning, which was red flagged twice due to incidents. The first, less than a minute into the session, came when the #35 Conquest Racing Mercedes-AMG GT4 of Custodio Toledo lost an engine. They have requested an engine change for Toledo and Paulo Carcasci to continue their weekends in GT4 America and GT America.

There was enough time for drivers to set one competitive lap before the session was red flagged. Moisey Uretsky in the #55 Accelerating Performance Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT4 had a hard hit that inflicted severe damage to the front end of the bright yellow Aston.

Uretsky trailed GT4 championship leader Jason Bell by 36 points heading into the weekend, but the #55 Vantage is due to return following a full day’s worth of repairs.

With what little time there was for actual running, George Kurtz was fastest in SRO3 aboard his #04 CrowdStrike Racing with Riley Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT4, and Ross Chouest led GT4 in his #50 Chouest Povoledo Racing Vantage GT4.

GTAM PRACTICE 1 RESULTS >>

Thankfully, the afternoon’s Practice 2 session was uninterrupted, allowing the field of Bronze-rated drivers ample time to practice around the legendarily bumpy course.

Kurtz led the SRO3 class in this session as well, setting a time of 2’03.288. He was followed by…

2004 24 Hours of Daytona winner Andy Pilgrim – at 66 years young – held off SRO3 championship leader George Kurtz to give SKI Autosport their first GT America series win in Race 1 at Road America today.

Pilgrim, at the wheel of his vintage #56 Ferrari 458 Italia GT3, withstood the pressure of the premier class’ points leader over the final three laps of the race for his first win of the season – his first win in SRO America competition since 2013.

It was a remarkable achievement for Kurtz to come back after being spun out in the first corner on the very first lap, dropping him back through the field. He was turned around after being stuck in the middle of Jason Daskalos and Jason Harward in a three-wide attempt at the start of the race.

The two Jasons would soon battle tail-to-nose for the race lead, the newer #88 Zelus Motorsports Lamborghini Huracan GT3 of Harward, versus the older #27 Audi R8 LMS Ultra of Daskalos. It was on lap three that Pilgrim closed in on the two leaders – then when Harward tried a lunge at Canada Corner on Daskalos and spun the Audi around, Pilgrim went past both of them to take the lead.

Harward would retreat to the pits with damage, while Daskalos retired in the gravel at turn 14, resulting in a Safety Car.

Kurtz was now back up to fifth place overall after the restart, and picked his way past the pack before taking second place. Setting repeated fastest laps of the race, Kurtz was able to take the lead down from over five seconds, to just 2.3 seconds with three laps left. Both drivers had to fight their way through traffic in the final laps, and as they took the white flag, less than a second separated Pilgrim from Kurtz.

He kept the pressure on all the way to the exit of the final corner, but Kurtz was careful not to jeopardise his own race, and in the end, Pilgrim held on by 0.439 seconds to take the victory, the first for the Atlanta-based SKI Autosport team.

Kurtz, meanwhile, now extends his lead in the SRO3 Championship to 70 points over Daskalos, who retired and scored no points.

Mirco Schultis (#70 MISHUmotors Callaway Corvette C7 GT3-R) completes the SRO3 podium in third overall, overtaking Kyle Washington (#032 GMG Racing Porsche 911 GT3-R) in the final ten minutes of the race. CJ Moses (#58 GMG Racing Audi R8 LMS GT2) finished in fifth overall, his best finish of the season.

SRO America and BTCC veteran Robb Holland, driving the #99 Rotek Racing Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport,…

GT America, the all-Bronze, multi-class sprint series, returned to action today with two practice sessions at historic Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin.

It was a tight turnaround after racing on the streets of Nashville two weeks ago. SRO3 championship leader George Kurtz wasn’t at his very best in Nashville, but in Practice 1 at Road America, he was quickest by a wide margin.

Aboard his #04 CrowdStrike with Riley Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT3, Kurtz went fastest with a time of 2’09.148 in the early morning session.

His time was over a second and a half quicker than that of the second-fastest SRO3 car, the classic #56 SKI Autosport Ferrari 458 Italia GT3 of Andy Pilgrim, in second. Jason Harward was third-fastest in his #88 Zelus Motorsports Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo.

CJ Moses was seventh-fastest overall in Practice 1, driving the #58 GMG Racing Audi R8 LMS GT2 – the only GT2 spec car in the field this weekend, as has been the case all season. Moses’ best time of the day was a 2’17.265 in the morning.

In GT4, Robb Holland, coming off a weekend sweep in Nashville, set the quickest time in Practice 1 with a time of 2’19.260 aboard his #99 Rotek Racing Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport.

Holland, who is third in the standings, was followed closely by the #55 Accelerating Performance Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT4 of Moisey Uretsky in second, and the #50 Chouest Povoledo Racing Vantage GT4 of Ross Chouest – who is second in points – rounding out the top three in the class.

GTAM PRACTICE 1 RESULTS >>

Practice 2 got underway after the mid-day lunch break at 1:45 PM local time. There were rain showers after the first practice session, and then the track dried out and the sun had a chance to heat up the tarmac, with track temperatures nearly 14°C higher than in Practice 1.

With the session halfway over, proceedings came to a screeching halt when the #37 Triarsi Competizione Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo of Justin Wetherill crashed head-on into The Kink at turn 11. This immediately brought out a red flag. Eventually, the session was called off with eight minutes left for barrier repairs.

Wetherill luckily escaped any serious injury after a high-speed collision at one of Road America’s fastest corners.

However, the silver and white Ferrari is a write off for the weekend. This was also the same chassis that Wetherill – the Race 2 winner in Nashville – was meant to share with Ryan Dalziel in the GT World Challenge America series…

GT America powered by AWS gears up for its third race meeting in four weeks as the multi-class, all-Bronze sprint series rejoins the rest of the SRO America umbrella at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin.

The provisional entry list is made up of ten classic and contemporary GT3 cars running in the SRO3 class, eighteen GT4 cars, and one GT2 car.

On the SRO3 side of things, Andy Pilgrim will make his third GT America appearance of the season, and his second at the wheel of the #56 SKI Autosports Ferrari 458 Italia GT3. Pilgrim raced to second in Race 2 at VIR – at Nashville, he drove a GT4 class Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 for Regal Motorsports/Bartone Bros. Racing.

Onofrio Triarsi will not be running this series after a near-perfect weekend at the street race in Nashville, but his Triarsi Competizione stable mate Justin Wetherill will represent the team in his #37 Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo, after picking up the win in Nashville Race 2 over Triarsi.

Jeff Burton will be back in action in his #191 Lamborghini Huracán GT3 which will be prepared this coming weekend by TR3 Racing, with continued support from Zelus Motorsports.

They and the rest of the SRO3 regulars will all be chasing after points leader George Kurtz, who’s going for a double championship in both GT America and the Pro-Am class of GT World Challenge America. Kurtz and his #04 CrowdStrike with Riley Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT3 have a 52 point lead over Jason Daskalos (#27 Daskalos Motorsports Audi R8 LMS Ultra) in second place.

CJ Moses is expected to return to action aboard his #58 GMG Racing Audi R8 LMS GT2, fighting to finish inside the overall top ten. Moses was a late scratch before the Nashville weekend got underway.

A closely-fought GT4 championship looks like it could go down to the wire. Jason Bell still leads coming out of Nashville into Road America, despite only one win in his #2 GMG Racing Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT4. Ross Chouest (#50 Chouest Povoledo Racing Vantage GT4) looked poise to take a commanding lead after Race 1 in the Music City, until he crashed out on the opening lap in Race 2, and dropped 12 points behind Bell.

But Robb Holland has entered the discussion after driving his #99 Rotek Racing Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport to a weekend sweep in Nashville, and he’s now just 32 points outside of third place, ahead of Moisey Uretsky (#55 Accelerating Performance Vantage GT4), who rejoins the series after missing Nashville.

Also returning to the GT…

George Kurtz won Round 5 of the 2022 GT America powered by AWS series, completing a dominant day that began with a last-second pole position in qualifying this morning, and ended with a grand slam victory from lights to flag.

On a sunny Saturday afternoon, a grid of 26 GT3, GT2, and GT4 cars took the green flag at ten minutes past noon. Kurtz led the SRO3 class field of seven to the green flag, and led the opening lap ahead of the #191 Zelus Motorsports Lamborghini Huracan GT3 of Utah’s Jeff Burton.

Kurtz and Burton traded fastest laps before a Safety Car was deployed on lap five when the #60 Dexter Racing Ginetta G56 GT4 of Matthew Ibrahim stopped at the Horse Shoe Corner (turn one).

When the race resumed, Kurtz got the drop on the field and began pulling away gradually, resetting the fastest lap of the race several times after the restart.

He completed 21 laps en route to a perfect victory, his second SRO3 class win of the season and his first since the opening round in St. Petersburg, Florida. And, by setting the fastest lap of the race with a 1’46.353, Kurtz is guaranteed the pole position for tomorrow’s Race 2 and could be poised to sweep the weekend.

The lumber magnate Burton came home in second, and Zelus Motorsports got both cars on the podium after Jason Harward charged through the field after a pit lane start, snatching third place from the #56 SKI Autosport Ferrari 458 Italia GT3 of Andy Pilgrim on the penultimate lap while they worked through slower GT4 traffic!

It was a great recovery after a spill at Oak Tree Corner (turn 11/12) in GT World Challenge America qualifying – and a subsequent change of tyres while under parc ferme – forced a pit lane start for Harward. He even went off at the same spot during the race, but didn’t…