Pirelli World Challenge competitors returned stateside for rounds 11 and 12 of the burgeoning North American series. Following a weekend in Canada, which saw two series-debuting drivers, Nick Tandy and Kuno Wittmer, emerge victorious on the mean streets of Toronto, a packed field of 79 cars, including 53 GT’s, were featured in gripping support races to IndyCar, set to compete at one of America’s most iconic road courses: the 3.6-kilometre Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington.
Although Wittmer’s Toronto-winning #92 Dodge Viper GT3-R wasn’t back to terrorize the competition in Ohio, Ryan Dalziel, Extreme Speed Motorsports driver in the TUDOR United Sportscar Championship’s Prototype class, joined EFFORT Racing in a growing register of feature drivers to be welcomed aboard the record-breaking Pirelli World Challenge entry list.
Additionally, after months of anticipation, Peter Cunningham finally got to debut his brand-new #42 RealTime Racing Acura TLX-GT.
Practice and Qualifying
The sole practice session for the GT, GT-A, and GTS classes kicked off at 15:00 local time, with the #61 R.Ferri Motorsports Ferrari 458 GT3 Italia, driven by Anthony Lazzaro, at the top of the charts in GT with a 1:21.580, while Ryan Dalziel in the #31 EFFORT Racing Porsche GT3R edged the #9 K-PAX Racing McLaren 12C GT3 of Alex Figge for second in class by means of a 1:21.938. Albert von Thurn und Taxis lead GT-A in his #24 Reiter Engineering Lamborghini Gallardo FL2, posting a solid 1:22.991, while Lawson Aschenbach clicked off a 1:28.440 in his #1 Blackdog Speed Shop Chevrolet Camaro to lead GTS over fellow Camaro driver Andy Lee.
In qualifying on Saturday morning, it was Hawk Performance driver Mike Skeen that took his #2 Audi R8 Ultra to the pole with a 1:20.725, eclipsing the previous track record, a distant 1:21.840, by Alex Figge last year.
“I think it was the car coming in,” said Skeen, addressing the press after qualifying. “We cooled it down about 10-12 minutes into the session. Were overheating the rears. Let them balance out. I put everything I had into it and made it work. I thought we only had a third or fourth place car. It helps us immensely in the points to get a gap to the Cadillac.”
Figge, back in action in the repaired #9 McLaren, trailed Skeen in second by means of a 1:20.884, followed by his K-PAX Racing teammate, Robert Thorne, who set a 1:20.900 in his #6 McLaren 12C GT3. In GT-A, Albert von Thurn und Taxis was once again fastest with a 1:22.194, putting him 11th overall, while GTS pole went to Lawson Aschenbach, the 10th of his career and Chevrolet’s first this season.
“We knew coming in this track would be good for us,” Aschenbach said. “Would we have the straight line speed? I have to thank the series in sorting things out. The race will be tougher than qualifying but fortunately we have a great Team Chevy Camaro. Points don’t matter for us at this stage; it’s all about wins.”
GT/GT-A Race 1
Round 11 of the Pirelli World Challenge began under ominously dark cloud cover, which quickly translated into steady rain and then an outright deluge, forcing race officials to prematurely conclude the race at the 30-minute mark of a 50-minute timed race.
With a superb launch from the line and earning a fitting Cadillac CTS-V Move of the Race, Johnny O’Connell made a dynamic start in his #3 Cadillac Racing Cadillac CTS-V.R to move from seventh to third by the first corner, followed almost immediately by a pass thrown on Ryan Dalziel out of the “Keyhole” (turn 2) for second. Skeen maintained a small gap on the rest of the competition for a few short minutes until a caution early in the race involving two GTS machines and GT-A competitor Marcelo Hahn brought the field back together again.
Following the restart on lap 6, Dalziel was able to spring a surprise pass on O’Connell out of turn 1. The running order stayed a stable Skeen-Dalziel-O’Connell top three until heavy rain began falling suddenly on the track, prompting GTS several cars to slide off in dramatic fashion in the runoff area in turn 3, aptly named “China Beach.”
The full course caution that followed on lap 17 prompted critical strategy calls that would ultimately see Ryan Dalziel come out victorious. While Skeen and O’Connell pitted for rain tires from first and third place, second-placed Dalziel gambled on the race not continuing and didn’t pit as weather got worse. Dalziel was shuffled to the top of the deck just as race officials made the call to conclude the event early due to unsafe conditions.
The Scotsman, making his first start of the 2014 Pirelli World Challenge season, took his #31 EFFORT Racing Porsche GT3R to victory lane and a well-deserved win.
“We figured we’d won but just needed confirmation, and I was wondering what would happen to Skeen,” said Dalziel post-race. “We stayed out despite the conditions; it’s a shame to finish like that. Hopefully I didn’t make myself look too bad and I’m really thankful for EFFORT Racing providing the opportunity. It’s difficult to jump between an HPD and a Porsche GT3 R.
“The McLarens (Alex Figge and Robert Thorne) got a bad getaway, and I got a great start,” Dalziel continued. “Johnny was right on my rear. I like racing with Johnny, as he’s always clean. We were starting to chip away at Mike. The strength of this car is the tires over a run; unfortunately the end occurred under yellow and we didn’t get a chance to hunt Skeen down for the win on track.”
The team’s spirits were boosted further by Dalziel’s teammate Michael Mills taking his #41 EFFORT Racing Porsche GT3R to a second consecutive class win in GT-A.
“I was patient with Albert and the conditions were changing,” said the class-winning Mills. “We got rain in some parts and not others. I watched where he was weak and got underneath him in 1. He was a gentleman about it, and that was the end of it. It’s awesome for Jim (Taggart) and I, for Ryan (Dalziel) to get a win; it’s a great day for Porsche, great day for EFFORT.”
Johnny O’Connell and Mike Skeen rounded out the top three in GT, while Jim Taggart and polesitter Albert von Thurn und Taxis completed the GT-A podium.
GTS Race 1
It’s never fair to call any racing win “a walk in the park”, but that could easily describe Lawson Aschenbach’s affair in GTS. Leading an unchallenged race from start to finish, Aschenbach took his #1 Blackdog Speed Shop Chevrolet Camaro to GTS class victory over the #17 Watson Racing Ford Mustang Boss 302S of Alec Udell and the #36 Kia Racing/Kinetic Motorsports Kia Optima of Nic Jönsson.
Of note, none other than Scott Bove, President/CEO of the Pirelli World Challenge, took to the track for the first time since Circuit of the Americas in May last year. Behind the wheel of the #55 Capaldi Racing Ford Mustang Boss 302S, the man behind World Challenge finished 20th in class driving for charity, supporting the Special Operations Warrior Foundation (SOWF). He would then hand over the car to Austin Cindric for the Sunday race.
GT/GT-A Race 2
As is custom in the Pirelli World Challenge, starting order for the second race was determined by the fastest laps for each car from the first race. Aside from grabbing the win on Saturday, Ryan Dalziel also had fastest lap, meaning he would start at the front of the pack for round 12 of the season, this time run in dry conditions for the entire race.
The EFFORT Racing driver was able to control the race from start to finish, maintaining a small but steady gap to second-placed Mike Skeen. Dalziel ensured his team would sleep well going into round 13 at Sonoma as he took a dominant flag-to-flag victory over the #2 Hawk Performance Audi R8 Ultra of Skeen, winning by 1.547 seconds at the checkered.
“Conditions-wise I thought it was harder today,” said Dalziel after the race. “Mike kept me on my toes the whole time. Definitely didn’t want that last restart. There was a lot of pickup on the tires. I think both of us (Skeen) almost went off on the first lap trying to push to get away.”
R.Ferri Motorsports driver Anthony Lazzaro did well to finish third after a storming drive to pass both Johnny O’Connell and the #21 GMG Racing Audi R8 Ultra of Andrew Palmer in rapid succession. The young Chicagoan Palmer ended up fourth while points leader O’Connell drove his Cadillac CTS-V.R to fifth, racking up another solid finish.
EFFORT Racing had almost complete control over the entirety of the two races run on Saturday and Sunday at Mid-Ohio. Dalziel took two consecutive wins, as did GT-A driver Michael Mills of Angleton, Texas, over Albert von Thurn und Taxis and Jim Taggart in second and third.
“You couldn’t have asked for a better weekend for us,” Mills said. “We are blessed. I can’t say enough about EFFORT, Porsche, my teammates, Chuck, and my family. A real solid weekend for us.”
GTS Race 2
At the start, the #50 Rehagen Racing Ford Mustang Boss 302S of Dean Martin made a cracking start to jump no less than eleven positions into the lead of the class. However, it didn’t take but seven laps for the Saturday-winning Lawson Aschenbach to catch and pass Martin’s Mustang.
The field was tightened and gaps vanished after the #04 TRG-AMR North America Aston Martin GT4 of Jorge de la Torre stopped off track at turn 11 with only 16 minutes left to go. Mark Wilkins, driving the #38 Kia Racing/Kinetic Motorsports Kia Optima, used the caution to his advantage and was able to dispose of Dean Martin for third while his Kia teammate, Nic Jönsson, had passed Martin just before the yellow flag was thrown.
Lawson Aschenbach was able to take his second consecutive GTS victory, beating out Jönsson and Wilkins, who rounded out the podium positions. And it’s fair to say that Lawson was thrilled.
“Any time you can clean sweep a weekend that’s a big weekend for the team and Chevrolet,” he said. “I gotta say a big thank you to everyone at Blackdog Speed Shop. These guys have been working hard all year, we haven’t had the results we wanted. We had a really fast Camaro, the thing was on rails all weekend. I kept telling everybody we are not out of it this thing yet. We had a mountain to climb last year and we climbed it. We can do it again.”
Provisional points going into the next event conclude that Johnny O’Connell retains his lead in GT over Mike Skeen, but the gap has narrowed to 82 points (1228-1146), a gain of 30 points by Skeen at Mid-Ohio. In GT-A, Michael Mills has a 27-point lead over the #10 DragonSpeed Ferrari 458 Italia GT3 of Henrik Hedman. In GTS, Kia teammates Wilkins and Jönsson run 1-2.
Rounds 13 and 14 of the GT/GT-A/GTS season are set to take place at Sonoma Raceway, a 4.05-kilometre road course just outside of San Francisco. The first practice session will kick off on Friday, August 22 at 10:45 a.m. PDT. Qualifying and round 13 will run on Saturday, August 23 while round 14 will be run after the Verizon IndyCar Series event on Sunday afternoon.
Beck Duggleby
