“Wait a minute – I thought there would be more trees in the Ozarks!”
The second leg of our trek across the SRO Motorsports Group America racing universe takes us to the state of Louisiana, and the NOLA Motorsports Park in Avondale just south of downtown New Orleans.
As you may know by now, NOLA Motorsports Park joined the 2022 calendar in place of Ozarks International Raceway in Missouri.
It’s the first major race weekend at NOLA since the infamous 2015 IndyCar Series washout, but the circuit has undergone upgrades since 2019 and, has been repaired since Hurricane Ida swept through the state of Louisiana on 29 August.
Further renovations are already in the works including new grandstands, an off-road circuit, and even a paintball field.
GT World Challenge America is the headliner of the card this weekend, but there are two notable scratches from the provisional entry list.
The #33 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 of Russell Ward and Philip Ellis did not arrive. Ward and Ellis finished second overall in Race 2 at Sonoma Raceway. They were also fifth in GTD at the IMSA Grand Prix of Mid-Ohio this past weekend.
They join fellow absentees Samantha Tan (ST) Racing, whose #38 BMW M4 GT3 driven by Samantha Tan and Nick Wittmer, also did not arrive. Tan and Wittmer were joint-fifth in points after finishes of fifth and seventh in class at Sonoma.
ST Racing (their vacant paddock space seen above) have already confirmed their withdrawal was due to supply chain issues.
The other big story heading into the weekend is the driver swap between K-PAX Racing and TR3 Racing, brought on by the mid-season sporting regulation change requiring that all Pro category cars must carry a Silver rated driver.
Jordan Pepper now in K-PAX’s #3 Lamborghini…
…Michele Beretta moving from TR3 to the #1 K-PAX Lamborghini with Andrea Caldarelli…
…and Giacomo Altoe returning to TR3 from K-PAX!
Pro points earned during the Sonoma race meeting will be retained by all drivers and will count towards the 2022 drivers’, teams’, and manufacturers’ titles.
As it pertains to the upcoming Indianapolis 8 Hour Race, Pro Cup teams can now carry a maximum line-up of two Platinum graded drivers and one Silver driver.
Feedback from the drivers heading into the weekend has been interesting, to say the least. The 4.4 kilometre, 16 turn course is flat, with long straights and a variation of low and high-speed corners.
David Askew, driver of the #63 DXDT Racing AMG GT3, had this to say after a two-day test: “None of the drivers had been there before and it was a real eye-opener, especially the heat and humidity! I think driver comfort and car balance are going to be a big deal. It’s a short, busy track, and the normal 45-minute stint is going to feel like hours.”
“It is a new track for pretty much everybody, so the opportunity to test there was helpful for us. The track is really fast. It’s a high-commitment track,” said Askew’s co-driver, Dirk Mueller.
“It’s a new track, so this will be a big learning curve for all of us, both drivers and teams,” said Jan Heylen, driver of the #45 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3-R with Charlie Luck. “We’re not sure what the surface is like, whether it has high or low grip. There is lots to learn for all of us, which is exciting, and I think it puts Charlie in a good spot because he’s a fast learner.”
In GT4 America, the #930 CarBahn with Peregrine Racing Audi R8 LMS GT4 (Mark Siegel/Tom Dyer) has been scratched, while the #888 Zelus Motorsports Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT4 (Sean Whalen/Matt Guiver) is a late addition to the entry list as they were in Sonoma.
In GT World Challenge America Test Session 1, Mario Farnbacher was fastest, driving the #93 Racers Edge Motorsports Acura NSX GT3 Evo22. His best time of 1’34.420 was two-tenths up on the #6 US Racetronics AMG GT3 of Loris Spinelli (1’34.625) in second, followed by the #96 Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT3 of Robby Foley (1’35.581) in third.
