Back after a two-year hiatus, RealTime Racing have returned to the Fanatic GT World Challenge America Powered by AWS in 2022, fielding an Acura NSX GT3 Evo22 in the Pro-Am Cup category for drivers Erin Vogel and Michael Cooper.
RealTime last competed in GT World Challenge America in 2019, and won the Pro-Am teams’ championship. Over the course of their racing history, RealTime have amassed 15 drivers’ championships and 14 manufacturers’ titles for Honda and Acura since joining the series in 1993.
Vogel and Cooper raced together last season for DXDT Racing, winning at VIRginia International Raceway in June. The class win made Vogel the first woman to win a Pro-Am race in any SRO GT3 championship worldwide. They combined for three podiums and a pole position last year, finishing fifth in the Pro-Am drivers’ championship.
“I’m very excited to be working with RealTime and the Acura NSX GT3 program,” said Vogel, who is entering her third season in GT World Challenge America competition. “I know Michael Cooper and I are in good hands with RealTime, whose storied history of working with Acura will give so many advantages to the program.”
“I’m very fortunate to have found a great mentor in Michael, and we’ve been lucky to continue working together in World Challenge for the past few years. I’m ready to show up in 2022 with even more consistency. My goal is to be on the podium every weekend this season, on the top step as much as possible, and consistently running in the top five.”
“It’s very exciting that Erin and I will be teaming up with RealTime in GT World Challenge,” added Cooper, who has been competing in the World Challenge since 2012, winning multiple series titles over the course of his career.
“The team has quite a winning pedigree and I know how good they are from the years we competed against each other in GT competition. I have some first-hand experience with the team too as I was fortunate enough to drive for them once in recent years.” Cooper last raced for RealTime in 2018, finishing fourth and second at Portland driving a Honda Civic Type R TCR. The New York City native is also coming off an LMP3 class victory in this year’s Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona.
“This is a strong driver lineup for RealTime,” team owner Peter Cunningham said. “I’ve known Erin for the last few years and watched her progress and we’ve known Michael much longer. We’re going to do all we can to make sure they add more wins to their resumes. Hopefully their achievements will contribute to success for Acura and Honda Performance Development as well.”
