The street races at St Petersburg Florida have been a popular part of Pirelli World Challenge’s early season programme for many years.
Fast cars and narrow street courses make for exciting viewing, but the bigger the grid of similarly paced cars, the more potential for trouble there is, and in 2015 the PWC grid is a large one and the vast majority of the cars are performance balanced GT3 cars, add in the trademark standing start and………
Pre-event publicity made much of the Friday announcement between World Challenge and SRO of a partnership over several future events, oddly exactly what was suggested by the DSC Editor to World Challenge CEO Scott Bove in Summer last year!
The collaboration’s beginnings will come, as previously announced, with the top trio of PWC finishers invited to this year’s Baku City Challenge with PWC and the Blancpain GT Series both running races in March 2016 at COTA.
Beyond that there’s the promise of the PWC GT class running at an Italian Blancpain round in late 2016 and talk too of Blancpain runners invited to compete at St Pete. (though a brief and ever so slightly tongue in cheek observation would be that PWC should issue guidance on how to pronounce Blancpain!)
Baby steps then, but it seems clear that this forms part of Stephane Ratel’s longer term ambitions for a renewed global GT racing seres.
So far so good but on the evidence of events at St Pete 2015 the Blancpain runners might opt to stay at home after a chaotic double header that saw 100 minutes of theoretical racing actually see around 35 minutes under green flags between the two races.
Race 1 saw multiple contacts from the standing start. By far the most serious involving the #37 Blancpain Racing Lamborghini of Max Voelker who failed to get away cleanly and was collected by at least three of the GT Cup class front runners, the final impact pitching the Gallardo and Alec Udell’s Porsche into the pit wall at the precise point where PWC CEO Scott Bove was standing, the wall offering no debris protection above waist height, Bove seemingly oblivious to the approaching potential danger.
Photographers too were in the same area and when approached by DSC with our concerns, PWC confirmed that “There is and was no excuse for existing rules regarding people being in the start area ignored.”
Make no mistake with debris flying this was a lucky escape!
The clean-up was always going to take a while and when the dust settled and the debris was cleared half of the race time had already elapsed and the 43 car start grid was down to 35.
Ryan Eversley had started his RealTime Racing Acura TLX-GT from pole after bossing a sopping wet qualifying session in the 4wd car.
When the race finally went green it rapidly became a tale of Eversley holding off a typically terrier-like attack from Ryan Dalziel in the #31 Effort Racing Porsche.
Behind the lead pair Mike Skeen managed to go by both the Cadillac of Johnny O’Connell and the KPAX McLaren of Kevin Estre but after less than 20 minutes under green, contact between Eric Lux’s Dragonspeed Mercedes and the Always Evolving Nissan GT-R of Bryan Heitkotter brought out the yellows again with the Nissan in the wall at Turn 2.
That would see the race finish under caution, much to the frustration of both racers and racegoers. Eversley taking his and the TLX-GT’s first win, Dalziel taking a third consecutive second place.
Michael Lewis made it a clean sweep of all three GTA wins thus far in the season from the AMGs of Frankie Montecalvo and Eric Lux with Phill Fogg Jr winning the survival battle in GT Cup.
Race 2 would see the grid arranged in order of fastest race lap from Race 1 with Andy Pilgrim and Nicky Catsburg on the front row.
Pilgrim though would have a bad start, Olivier Beretta in the #61 R Ferri Ferrari a much better one, he got up the inside of the Lamborghini for the lead with Estre soon up into second place in the McLaren.
An encouraging start though would be interrupted by another long yellow flag period after multiple incidents on track within a lap, Dan Knox’s Viper spinning to a halt at Turn 2 and Tim Pappas braking to a halt in avoidance as the following GT field somehow avoided the stranded pair
Sadly that luck didn’t hold. The GT Cup field had been started 30 seconds after the GT field after Saturday’s start grid incidents and, despite yellow flags much of the Porsche Cup field arrived at barely abated speed with Saturday race winner Fogg spinning into the rear of the Benz and Mitch Landry and Lorenzo Trefethen also hitting the resultant wreckage, though Trefethen would escape with only minor damage.
The track was blocked and, perhaps surprisingly the race continued under yellow for another 30 minutes!
When, finally, the race went green Catsburg was soon by Estre and held second place to the flag, unable to get onto terms with Beretta.
Frankie Montecalvo would take a first GTA win of the season ahead of Michael Lewis and Henrique Cisneros.
Colin Thompson, eliminated in the startline shunt on Saturday took his third GT Cup win of the season after starting from the pits ahead of Sloan Urry and the unfortunate, and fortunate, Trefethen.
There are lessons to be learned for sure, by the drivers, and by the Series. DSC has been told by a Series spokesman that standing starts are under review and has also seen correspondence that indicates that key Series officials have serious concerns that continuing poor driver behaviour is putting continued growth at risk.
As we said at COTA, There is work to do.
GG
