For the eighth time this season, the #1 K-PAX Lamborghini Huracán GT3 was the overall winner in GT World Challenge America.
And its star driver, Lamborghini factory ace Andrea Caldarelli, has clinched his second consecutive Pro class Drivers’ Championship in the series.
Caldarelli and Michele Beretta won Race 2 today from Sebring International Raceway, capping off their fourth weekend sweep of the season.
There was a growing threat of rain for Sunday afternoon’s race, but all 90 minutes of today’s race were run under dry, sunny, and hot conditions. Ambient temperatures exceeded 30°C throughout the day, with track temperatures peaking at just under 45°C.
With the #43 RealTime Racing Acura NSX GT3 (Erin Vogel/Michael Cooper) withdrawing after crash damage from Race 1, and the #96 Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT3 (Michael Dinan/Robby Foley) dropping out for the weekend due to prior commitments from Dinan, a field of 13 cars was ready to take the green flag.
But on the second formation lap, there was massive drama with implications in the Pro-Am championship. The #93 Racers Edge Motorsports NSX GT3 (Ashton Harrison/Mario Farnbacher) went to the pits before the start to try and resolve an issue with the brakes. Farnbacher was able to make the start from pit lane, but he crawled around on the opening lap, and immediately went back to the pits for more substantial repairs.
Farnbacher and Harrison would finish the race three laps down, earning points for ninth place in Pro-Am.
Alessandro Balzan started from pole position aboard the #34 Conquest Racing Ferrari 488 GT3, next to Ryan Dalziel in the #13 Triarsi Competizione Ferrari. Early on, the two K-PAX Lamborghinis scrapped for position as Caldarelli had to fend off the challenge of his team mate Jordan Pepper in the bright green #3 Lamborghini.
Pepper got past his team mate at the first corner of the opening lap, but on lap six, Caldarelli was able to tuck into the slipstream of his former co-driver’s car, then carried enough speed and grip around the outside of turn one to take third position overall.
Balzan built up a two second lead over Dalziel, who was coming under fire from Caldarelli. 40 minutes into the race, the compulsory pit window opened, but with the Pro drivers starting the race, it would be to their benefit to stay out and extend the stint all the way to the end of the ten-minute window.
Balzan brought the #34 Conquest Ferrari in one lap before the rest of the front runners. Co-driver Manny Franco emerged from the pit cycle in fifth overall.
Quick pit work from the K-PAX Racing mechanics helped give the #1 Lamborghini the overall and Pro Cup lead, and with Beretta at the wheel, he was able to pull out a huge gap over the #13 Triarsi Ferrari, now in the hands of young gentleman driver Justin Wetherill. With thirty minutes left, the gap was over 15 seconds – and climbing, with Wetherill and the field behind him becoming embroiled in wheel-to-wheel combat!
From there, it was smooth sailing for the all-black #1 Lamborghini, taking the chequered flag after 44 laps of racing, with a margin of over 40 seconds. This was Beretta’s sixth win since joining the K-PAX team in May at NOLA Motorsports Park. He also occupies second place in the Drivers’ Championship in a K-PAX 1-2-3-4 at the top.
And for Caldarelli, it’s his eighth win – and the victory that secures him his second consecutive GT World Challenge America Drivers’ title.
Behind him, Manny Franco was able to fight his way past a trio of Pro-Am cars in front of him, moving up to second place with a pass at Tower Corner (turn ten) inside the final ten minutes of the race. All the while, he had Misha Goikhberg in the #3 K-PAX Lamborghini trailing him.
Franco held on to finish second, to cap off a strong debut weekend for the new Conquest Racing GT3 programme. It was also a strong first weekend of GT3 racing for the 27-year-old Wisconsin native, who did more than enough to prove that he was more than just a young man chasing the racing dream afforded to him by a life-changing lottery prize!
Goikhberg was able to bring the #3 K-PAX Lamborghini home to third place overall.
Individually, the result was bittersweet for Pepper – especially when considering that he entered 2022 as co-champion alongside Caldarelli, and was meant to continue racing with him until a regulations change in the Pro Cup class.
But he and Goikhberg can still take pride in their respective roles in securing the Teams’ Championship for K-PAX in 2022.
Behind them, with the #93 Racers Edge NSX out of contention, the battle for Pro-Am victory was a sight to behold. While Dalziel was able to hand the car off to Wetherill with the class lead, he soon had company in the form of the championship-leading #45 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3-R.
Near the end of his opening stint, Heylen made a strong move up the inside of the #08 Qelo Capital/DXDT Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 (Scott Smithson/Bryan Sellers), to move up to second in class and fifth overall.
The #04 CrowdStrike Racing with Riley Motorsports of Colin Braun followed Heylen through past Sellers. After pit stops, Charlie Luck in the #45 Porsche was right ahead of George Kurtz in the #04 Mercedes.
Luck found himself fighting to stay ahead of not only Kurtz, but also the Silver-rated Franco and Goikhberg for overall position. The former NASCAR Grand National Series veteran, just into his second racing career, did not buckle under the pressure – or the harsh bumps of the Sebring circuit.
And instead of holding up the likes of Kurtz, Franco, and Goikhberg, he was able to catch up to Wetherill and bring the train of cars behind him into the picture. With five laps to go, Luck set up his move for the class lead out of turn one, and eventually, he would overtake Wetherill through turn three, before letting Franco and Goikhberg go ahead of him in a bid to protect his class lead.
Luck would hang on by just half a second to finish fourth overall and win Pro-Am for the fourth time this season – the first since winning overall at Watkins Glen Race 1. He described it after the race in a brief comment, saying that it was “the most concentration, the most focus, and the most calibration for the fact that I’m out of shape,” that he’d ever had to apply as a sports car racer.
And with that victory, Luck and Heylen – who entered the day eight points behind in the Pro-Am Drivers’ Championship, now lead it by 14 points.
To get there in the end, Luck had to hold off a hard-charging #94 BimmerWorld BMW M4 GT3 of Chandler Hull and Bill Auberlen. After their race ended literally at the drop of the green flag yesterday, Auberlen would claw his way back from 13th on the grid straight into the top ten, with the car still carrying its bare carbon scars from their crash yesterday.
But Hull had the pace in his closing stint. First, he overtook Smithson’s #08 DXDT AMG GT3 for fourth in class. Every position would keep BimmerWorld’s faint title hopes alive. He passed Kurtz with four laps to go, and then passed Wetherill the following lap, before trying with all his might to catch Luck. He finished a close second in class.
Wetherill hung on to give the #13 Triarsi Ferrari third place in class and sixth overall. This was their first podium in class since picking up the win in Race 1 at VIRginia International Raceway.
Kurtz would hang on for seventh overall, and fourth in class.
Kurtz and his team mate Braun moved up into second in the Pro-Am standings, 14 points behind Luck and Heylen. Harrison and Farnbacher salvaged two points on the day, and are now 15 points behind the new points leaders.
And there’s still a small mathematical chance that Hull and Auberlen can become champions – they’re still mathematically eligible, trailing by 46 points with 50 points available in the Indianapolis 8 Hour Race on Saturday, 8 October.
Smithson finished eighth in the #08 DXDT AMG GT3. The sole Am Cup entry, the #23 Triarsi Competizione Ferrari (Charlie Scardina/Onofrio Triarsi Jnr), had its battles with the #91 TR3 Racing Lamborghini (Jeff Burton/Corey Lewis). In this battle, the Orlando-based Ferrari beat the Miami-based Lambo for ninth overall.
All 13 cars made the chequered flag, including the #63 Usalco/DXDT Racing AMG GT3 (David Askew/Dirk Müller) and the #12 Ian Lacy Racing Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 (Frank Gannett/Drew Staveley) – despite Askew and Gannett colliding at Le Mans Corner (turn 16) on the penultimate lap.
Unlike last year, the GT World Challenge America will not be a three-hour mini race within the Indy 8 Hours – the teams will aim to run the full distance, in what is also the third round of the Intercontinental GT Challenge.
This is the battleground where the Pro-Am titles will be decided – as it deserves to be.
Images © Brian Cleary, Fabian Lagunas / SRO Motorsports Group America
