Beretta, Caldarelli Take K-PAX’s Fifth In A Row In 2022 At VIR

While their would-be rivals had a punch-up behind them, Michele Beretta, Andrea Caldarelli, and the crew of the #1 K-PAX Lamborghini Huracan GT3 were virtually flawless yet again in the Fanatec GT World Challenge powered by AWS championship. Beretta and Caldarelli won Race 1 at VIRginia Interntional Raceway today, giving the black #1 K-PAX Lamborghini and their ace driver Caldarelli their fifth consecutive win as they remain undefeated in 2022.

After multiple days of private testing, two practices on Friday in brutal heat, and a pair of qualifying sessions on Saturday morning, Race 1 from VIR got underway right at 2:15 PM local time. This time the weather was much cooler than it was yesterday – topping out at 29°C ambient, with track temperatures between 44~46°C as the race unfolded. Not a threat of rain in the skies.

Polesitter Beretta held his top spot on the opening lap, and Misha Goikhberg settled into second right behind him in the green #3 K-PAX Lamborghini. Michael Dinan slotted into third in the #96 Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT3, while Steven Aghakhani, who started second in the #6 US Racetronics Mercedes-AMG GT3, got a sluggish start and dropped to fourth. It couldn’t have helped that Aghakhani was driving with burns on his left hand – the end result of him grabbing a hot tyre oven out of reflex when its contents were about to spill!

Before Beretta and Goikhberg could break away from the pack, the Safety Car was brought out just nine minutes into the race. The #9 TR3 Racing Lamborghini of Ziad Ghandour went off at Oak Tree Corner (turns 11/12), while the #91 Zelus Motorsports Lamborghini of Jeff Burton stopped near South Bend (turn ten). Both gentleman drivers were able to resume their races.

It was a quick Safety Car intervention, and the race resumed after just one lap under the full-course caution, with Beretta and Goikhberg leading, and Aghakhani forcing his way past Dinan for third. Behind them, the Pro-Am Cup leading #94 BimmerWorld M4 GT3 of Chandler Hull spun off at the Horse Shoe (turn one), and fell down the order.

Moments later, there was a scary multi-car, chain reaction accident in the Esses. Ashton Harrison, who went from tenth to sixth on the opening lap of the race, had a slow restart aboard her #93 Racers Edge Motorsports Acura NSX GT3 Evo22 and dropped to eleventh, behind the #45 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3-R of Charlie Luck, and the #38 ST Racing M4 of Samantha Tan. Tan had to check up behind Luck, and Harrison couldn’t slow down in time to avoid slamming into the back of Tan, sending the BMW spinning in a cloud of dirt and dust. Unsighted in the haze, Tan was hit again from behind by the #61 AF Corse Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo of Jean-Claude Saada.

The front of the AF Corse Ferrari was destroyed, and the ST Racing M4 and Racers Edge NSX suffered terminal damage. Thankfully, all three drivers – Harrison, Saada, and Tan – were not hurt.

As for their plans for tomorrow, it’s up in the air as of tonight – but the prognosis is not good for ST Racing given the shortage of spare parts for the new M4 GT3. AF Corse’s participation will depend on if they have a spare car prepared. Meanwhile, Racers Edge Motorsports – who were due to start Race 2 tomorrow on pole position, are getting spares flown in overnight.

Twelve minutes passed under the safety car, before the race resumed from lap 12. Beretta once again led the way, but behind them, a punch-up broke out – Aghakhani barged past Goikhberg into second place at turn one, leaving the door ajar just enough for Dinan to pass them both and take second one corner later. At the Left Hook (turn four), Goikhberg made an equally brave lunge to get back ahead of Aghakhani, pushing the Mercedes off into the grass and down into fourth.

Pro-Am points leader George Kurtz had to make an unscheduled pit stop when his #04 CrowdStrike Racing by Riley Motorsports AMG GT3 cut down a left rear tyre, dropping him out of the top ten. Later in the race, co-driver Colin Braun would pick up a drive-through penalty for avoidable contact with the #94 BimmerWorld M4 GT3 of Bill Auberlen. Kurtz and Braun finished 12th overall and just eighth in class.

On lap 17, Aghakhani slashed by Goikhberg for third position at the Left Hook, continuing a battle that was very fierce but hadn’t stepped over the line until the following lap, when Goikhberg tried to slipstream past down the backstretch ‘Madison Avenue’ into the Roller Coaster complex (turn 14/a). Goikhberg pulled to the left to make his pass, but he and Aghakhani touched wheels at top speed. The side-by-side contact preceded a tap from behind by Aghakhani, and moments later, Goikhberg spun out in turn 16, suffering a flat right rear tyre.

Had the compulsory pit window not opened up just seconds later, it would have been a catastrophe for the #3 K-PAX crew. As it turned out, they were able to pit for tyres and change drivers to Jordan Pepper.

Race leader Beretta’s only mistake was a brief off-track excursion at Oak Tree Corner, which only reduced his lead to under six seconds. He pitted on lap 21, a lap after the other Pro Cup runners. Caldarelli took over and resumed with an 11.5 second lead over Robby Foley in the Turner BMW. Meanwhile, Loris Spinelli had taken over the #6 US Racetronics AMG GT3 and on lap 24, he charged past Foley for second, a continuation of their flashpoint in NOLA Race 1.

Spinelli tried valiantly to try and chase down Caldarelli, but on lap 30 he went off at Oak Tree Corner and dropped back into fourth place overall. Just a few laps later, Spinelli would need to make an unscheduled fuel stop to ensure that he could finish the race. His chances of an overall podium were finished.

From there, Caldarelli now had a lead of over ten seconds over Foley, and all the reigning Pro Cup champion of GT World Challenge America had to do was just keep putting in consistent laps. Caldarelli continued to drive away until the chequered flag – completing 47 laps, and winning by a margin of 17.5 seconds.

Along with this being the fifth straight win for Caldarelli and the #1 K-PAX Lamborghini in 2022, this is also the ninth overall win in a row for Caldarelli, and the tenth straight for K-PAX dating back to 2021! For Beretta, he remains perfect in three races since joining K-PAX after Sonoma.

“It went quite well. Michele did a good job to keep it in front. The start was intense with all of the fighting at the front,” said Caldarelli. “We knew that it was going to be a very hard race because we were struggling on pace a bit, as we saw this morning in qualifying. But we did some setup changes, and it was quite a lot better. We are here to improve all the time, and I think we took some steps forward. Looking forward to tomorrow.”

With a second place finish, the Turner BMW of Dinan and Foley benefitted from the aggression of Aghakhani and Goikhberg, but Dinan’s great restarts after the Safety Cars also put them in a position to succeed.

It was the perfect remedy to a double DNF in NOLA, and it didn’t come easy after a tough day of practice punctuated by a damaging off-track excursion.

Meanwhile, in the Pro-Am Cup class, the #13 Triarsi Competizione Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo of Justin Wetherill and Ryan Dalziel survived all the chaos to score their first win in this class.

Wetherill had taken the class lead after Hull spun out early on. The true young amateur driver, a rookie in GT3 racing, drove a measured stint at the wheel. The veteran Dalziel took over from fourth position, then pounced on Spinelli’s error to take third place overall.

This was Dalziel’s first GT World Challenge America victory since the 2018 season, just the second year of the now-standard two-driver, 90-minute format then known as ‘SprintX’.

“What a step forward for everyone, the team, Justin, and even myself trying to figure out this Ferrari. He did a heck of a job at the start and I had to stay in front and not mess up too bad,” Dalziel said.

And with the #23 Triarsi Ferrari of Charlie Scardina and Onofrio Triarsi finishing 11th overall, it’s a double victory for one of GT World Challenge America’s newest teams. Scardina ran in the top five overall during his stint and even led outright during the end of the pit window.

The Am Cup victory came by default when their rivals at AF Corse USA had their race-ending crash, a backbreaker in the two-team fight for the championship.

Behind the Pro-Am winners Wetherill and Dalziel, two local heroes rounded out the class podium. The #45 Wright Porsche of Luck, a native of Richmond, and his son-in-law Jan Heylen finished fourth overall and second in class.

This result brings Wright Motorsports level with CrowdStrike/Riley in the Pro-Am class championship after five rounds, tied at 77 points. The two wins at Sonoma give Luck and Heylen the tiebreaker.

DXDT Racing, whose base is in Statesville, North Carolina, got a fifth place overall finish (third in Pro-Am) with the #63 Mercedes-AMG GT3 of team principal David Askew and Dirk Mueller.

Following them was the #9 TR3 Lamborghini which overcame Ghandour’s early off – plus a drive-through penalty handed to Giacomo Altoe for speeding in the pit lane – to finish a remarkable sixth overall. Then it was the #3 K-PAX Lamborghini of Goikhberg and Pepper in seventh, and the #6 US Racetronics AMG GT3 in eighth.

Post-race, both the #3 and #6 were given five-place grid penalties for Sunday’s Race 2.

Completing the overall top ten were the Pro-Am Cup #43 RealTime Racing NSX (Erin Vogel/Michael Cooper), who recovered from 18th to ninth after a tough pair of qualifying sessions. And with their first top ten overall result of the year, the #12 Ian Lacy Racing Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 (Frank Gannett/Drew Staveley) was tenth.