GT America, the all-Bronze, multi-class sprint series, returned to action today with two practice sessions at historic Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin.
It was a tight turnaround after racing on the streets of Nashville two weeks ago. SRO3 championship leader George Kurtz wasn’t at his very best in Nashville, but in Practice 1 at Road America, he was quickest by a wide margin.
Aboard his #04 CrowdStrike with Riley Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT3, Kurtz went fastest with a time of 2’09.148 in the early morning session.
His time was over a second and a half quicker than that of the second-fastest SRO3 car, the classic #56 SKI Autosport Ferrari 458 Italia GT3 of Andy Pilgrim, in second. Jason Harward was third-fastest in his #88 Zelus Motorsports Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo.
CJ Moses was seventh-fastest overall in Practice 1, driving the #58 GMG Racing Audi R8 LMS GT2, the only GT2 spec car in the field this weekend, as has been the case all season. Moses’ best time of the day was a 2’17.265 in the morning.
In GT4, Robb Holland, coming off a weekend sweep in Nashville, set the quickest time in Practice 1 with a time of 2’19.260 aboard his #99 Rotek Racing Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport.
Holland, who is third in the standings, was followed closely by the #55 Accelerating Performance Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT4 of Moisey Uretsky in second, and the #50 Chouest Povoledo Racing Vantage GT4 of Ross Chouest – who is second in points – rounding out the top three in the class.
Practice 2 got underway after the mid-day lunch break at 1:45 PM local time. There were rain showers after the first practice session, and then the track dried out and the sun had a chance to heat up the tarmac, with track temperatures nearly 14°C higher than in Practice 1.
With the session halfway over, proceedings came to a screeching halt when the #37 Triarsi Competizione Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo of Justin Wetherill crashed head-on into The Kink at turn 11. This immediately brought out a red flag. Eventually, the session was called off with eight minutes left for barrier repairs.
Wetherill luckily escaped any serious injury after a high-speed collision at one of Road America’s fastest corners.
However, the silver and white Ferrari is a write off for the weekend. This was also the same chassis that Wetherill, the Race 2 winner in Nashville, was meant to share with Ryan Dalziel in the GT World Challenge America series tomorrow and Sunday.
And the stewards weren’t best pleased with Chris Alliegro for causing the collision that sent Wetherill into the concrete barriers. Alliegro will be forced to start Race 1 tomorrow from the pit lane in the #124 ARG/Rotek Racing Ford Mustang GT4.
Kurtz again set the quickest time in Practice 2 with a 2’08.721, followed by Wetherill who was second before his accident. Harward was third-fastest, ahead of the #27 Daskalos Motorsports Audi R8 LMS Ultra of Jason Daskalos.
Aston Martins locked out the GT4 top four in Practice 2, as Uretsky took his bright yellow #55 Accelerating Performance Vantage GT4 to the top of his class with a 2’19.674. He went a tenth of a second quicker than Moses’ GT2 class Audi in the session!
The #25 Heart of Racing Team Vantage GT4 (Gray Newell) was second-quickest, followed by the #15 BSport Racing Vantage GT4 (Bryan Putt) in third, with Chouest in fourth.
GT4 championship leader Jason Bell was fifth-fastest in Practice 1, and eighth in Practice 2. His #2 GMG Racing Vantage GT4 has a 12-point lead over Chouest.
Seth Lucas was sixth-fastest in both sessions in his #016 Hattori Motorsports Toyota GR Supra GT4. After Practice 2 it was determined that the 16-year-old, Bronze rated rookie will continue to be provisionally rated as a Bronze driver – but will have to carry an additional 20 kilogrammes of ballast for the weekend.
GT America qualifying will kick things off tomorrow, bright and early at 8:00 AM local time. Race 1 follows, with a scheduled start time of 1:10 PM local time. Rain is in the forecast for Saturday as it stands, which could make things very, very interesting as this series is concerned.
Images © Brian Cleary / SRO Motorsports Group America
