The second half of the Fanatec GT World Challenge America powered by AWS season begins next weekend at historic Watkins Glen International in New York. A provisional 20-car entry list has been announced for the upcoming race meeting, taking place from 20-22 July.
At the top of that entry list is a new entry, in the form of the #00 Team Hardpoint Porsche 911 GT3-R. The Hardpoint squad, based at VIRginia International Raceway (VIR), is best known as a regular presence in the IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar Championship GTD class, and recently partnered with Absolute Racing for their maiden entry into the 24 Hours of Le Mans last month. They will be appearing in SRO America competition for the first time since the 2020 Indianapolis 8 Hour race.
Hardpoint’s Pro-Am class driver lineup will consist of gentleman racer PJ Hyett (co-founder of software development hosting platform GitHub) and veteran sports car racer Gunnar Jeannette, an eight-time 24 Hours of Le Mans starter and 2011 American Le Mans Series Prototype Challenge Champion.
Pro-Am regulars TR3 Racing and their #9 Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo are not on the entry list for the Watkins Glen meeting. And ST Racing, who are on the provisional entry list, will eventually drop off as they have already declared that they won’t be taking part due to damages sustained to their American-based #38 BMW M4 GT3 in Race 1 at VIR. The #33 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 also appears on the provisional entry list, but has not competed in the series since the first meeting at Sonoma Raceway.
K-PAX Racing enters the Watkins Glen meeting on an 11-race winning streak dating back to the 2021 season, and the #1 K-PAX Lamborghini of Michele Beretta and Andrea Caldarelli has won every race this season. Caldarelli leads the Pro Drivers’ Championship with a perfect 150 points, and enters the upcoming weekend as the winner of both races at Watkins Glen last year (with Jordan Pepper).
But there’s a fascinating battle for second in the Pro table between fierce rivals US Racetronics and Turner Motorsport. US RaceTronics currently lead the Turner squad by 15 points in the Teams’ Championship, while the pair of Steven Aghakhani and Loris Spinelli lead the tandem of Michael Dinan and Robby Foley by 13 points.
In the Pro-Am Cup, four teams have established themselves as the clear favourites for the championship after the first half of the season. The #04 CrowdStrike Racing by Riley Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT3 (George Kurtz/Colin Braun) leads with 102 points and two wins in the last four races. They’re 13 points ahead of the #45 Wright Motorsports Porsche (Charlie Luck/Jan Heylen), who swept the opening weekend at Sonoma.
Within striking distance are the #93 Racers Edge Motorsports Acura NSX GT3 Evo22 (Ashton Harrison/Mario Farnbacher), just 23 points out of first place, with another six points between them and the fourth-ranked #94 BimmerWorld Racing M4 GT3 (Chandler Hull/Bill Auberlen).
The #23 Triarsi Competizione Ferrari 488 GT3 (Onofrio Triarsi/Charlie Scardina) has a 50-point lead in their Am Cup duel with the #61 AF Corse Ferrari (Jean-Claude Saada/Conrad Grunewald), which is due to return to action with a new chassis after a crash in Race 1 at VIR knocked them out of both races.
GTWCA WATKINS GLEN PROVISIONAL ENTRY LIST >>
Feature image © Fabian Lagunas / SRO Motorsports Group America
