Fanatec GT World Challenge America powered by AWS first visited NOLA Motorsports Park one year ago under extraordinary circumstances. On short notice the venue was able to host a full slate of SRO America racing, the first professional race weekend held at the circuit in over seven years.
The return trip to the remote circuit in Avondale, Louisiana saw all sorts of weather calamities and high drama within SRO America’s flagship series, and two different overall winners.
Race 1 on Saturday was delayed over two hours due to a heavy rain shower which flooded portions of the track – and also disrupted the rest of the afternoon schedule.
Eric Filgueiras had to wait a while to start from the pole in his black and green #28 RS1 Porsche 911 GT3 R (992) but once the race started on a track that was still wet, he and Stevan McAleer led virtually from start to finish for their second win of the season.
Filgueiras broke out to a big lead during his stint, and when it came time for the compulsory pit stops and driver changes, McAleer was able to build an even bigger lead as he and the rest of the field could now take slick tyres.
But with less than 40 minutes to go, contact between the #04 CrowdStrike by Riley Mercedes-AMG GT3 of Colin Braun and the #45 Wright Motorsports Porsche 992 of Jan Heylen resulted in Heylen’s left rear tyre bursting. The Safety Car eliminated a 20-second lead that McAleer had built.
On the ensuing restart, Mario Farnbacher in the #93 Racers Edge Motorsports Acura NSX GT3 was second and immediately homed in on McAleer in a bid for the race lead. Instead, Farnbacher hit a wet patch around turn six and skidded off into the gravel. The Safety Car was deployed a second time to retrieve Farnbacher’s stranded Acura which retired from the race.
McAleer would hold off one last push from Bill Auberlen in the #94 BimmerWorld BMW M4 GT3, who tried a late pass for the lead into turn one but couldn’t make it stick – opening the door for Alessandro Balzan to swoop in and take second place in the #21 Conquest Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 – behind McAleer, who took the #28 RS1 Porsche 992’s second overall and Pro class victory of the season.
“We had early conversations after qualifying about the potential incoming rain and how it affects this place,” Filgueiras explained. “I did everything I could to try to build up a gap like we had at Sonoma, but the full course cautions made things tricky yet exciting for us. It was a nail-biter at the end, and that’s why we have Stevan in our car because he is always able to deliver under pressure.”
McAleer talked about Auberlen’s pass attempt at the end: “I knew the BMW behind me had quite a lot of straight-line speed, and I had to wisely choose my approach. The track conditions were difficult, but I knew the two hairpins were dry on the inside so I could go on the defensive around there. When I saw Bill coming off the last corner it was clear that he was closing the gap and ready to make a move. I gave him two choices to attempt an overtake; one on the rain line and one on the dry line, and he overshot it so I managed to pull back ahead. I am very happy to get another win for the team.”
Porsche swept both the Pro and Pro-Am classes as the #120 Wright Motorsports Porsche 991.2 of Adam Adelson and Elliott Skeer drove to the class win in fourth overall – meaning that the same teams and drivers that won Race 1 at Sonoma also won Race 1 at NOLA.
Adelson got past the #08 DXDT Racing Mercedes of Scott Smithson at the start of the race. Skeer would continue to lead after the pit stops with Bryan Sellers now aboard the pursuing Mercedes.
Even after the back-to-back Safety Cars, Skeer was able to hold his nerve in the changing conditions and take the class win ahead of Smithson.
Adelson, who picked up two class wins in two GT4 America races here last year, said after the race: “These cars are absolutely incredible. The team gave us the most amazing machine to drive and I am so glad we were able to capitalize on this performance today. My teammate did a fantastic job and he has taught me so much throughout our time together.”
This was also a great win for Skeer, who won here eight years ago in a Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge event. “This track is where I grabbed my very first win with Porsche, and it feels incredible to be able to do it together again. I’m very proud to be able to do this again 8 years later, not only with John [Wright], but with my best friend as well. We’ve been working together for the past three years and I couldn’t have asked for a better result today. This is absolutely perfect, many thanks to the team for giving us an incredible car and flawless strategy.”
The fourth-placed Pro car, the #53 MDK Motorsports Porsche 992 (Seth Lucas/Trenton Estep), finished in sixth overall, ahead of the #007 TRG Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 (Derek DeBoer/Valentin Hasse-Clot) which was third in Pro-Am.
Rounding out the rest of the top ten from Race 1 were more Pro-Am cars, led by the #38 ST Racing BMW (Samantha Tan/John Edwards) in eighth, the #9 TR3 Racing Mercedes (Ziad Ghandour/Daniel Morad) in ninth, and the #16 ACI Motorsports Porsche 991.2 (Pedro Torres/Spencer Pumpelly), tenth place after a drive-through penalty for a jump start.
When the sun came up the next day, conditions were absolutely picture-perfect for Race 2. Valentin Hasse-Clot had won the pole for the race, doing an exceptional job in relief of fellow Aston Martin factory driver Ross Gunn.
The Frenchman led early on aboard the blue #007 Aston Martin, ahead of John Edwards in the #38 BMW. Haase-Clot had to pit earlier than expected due to being low on fuel. Braun in the #04 CrowdStrike/Riley Mercedes was able to execute a successful overcut strategy – he waited until there were only ten seconds left in the pit window to come in, which put George Kurtz out front after the pit window had closed.
With 30 minutes left in the race, the #28 RS1 Porsche and the #93 Racers Edge Acura found themselves battling for position yet again – this time it was Filgueiras versus Ashton Harrison battling for the Pro class lead. Filgueiras tried to send it up the inside of Harrison into turn seven, but instead made contact with the Acura and sent it spinning into the same gravel trap that it ended up in the day before.
The Safety Car was deployed for the first time, though Harrison would be able to continue and finish the race two laps down. Not as bad a catastrophe as their qualifying crash in Long Beach, but it was a brutal weekend for the reigning Pro-Am class champions in their bid for the Pro title.
With ten minutes left, Manny Franco spun off at turn seven aboard his #21 Conquest Ferrari, to bring out a second Safety Car. The race boiled down to a three-and-a-half-minute sprint, where Kurtz got a good jump on second-placed Samantha Tan.
Kurtz held on to take the overall and Pro-Am class victory, the second of the year for himself and Braun after they did it in Race 2 at Sonoma last month. It was a much-needed turnaround after a difficult Race 1 outcome.
“Exciting race after a rough day yesterday,” said CrowdStrike’s head man Kurtz after the Race 2 victory. “We had a great drive. For a while, it was like, how many restarts can we do? I hope it made it exciting for the fans. We wanted to be back on top and here we are.”
After the final restart, Chandler Hull drove his #94 BimmerWorld BMW past Filgueiras to take the Pro class lead. In the opening stint, Auberlen was pushed off track, but with some brave overtakes including a three-wide pass around Trenton Estep and Alessandro Balzan put BimmerWorld right back in contention.
Hull and Auberlen finished second overall, and BimmerWorld scored its first win since moving up from Pro-Am into Pro class racing.
Filgueiras and McAleer were provisionally classified in third place overall (second in Pro), but after the race, Filgueiras was given a 44-second time penalty given for avoidable contact with Harrison. This will demote them to 12th overall, but only drops them one position in the Pro class order.
Samantha Tan took the final restart in second place and was on course for second in Pro-Am until her #38 BMW came to a stop on the final lap, breaking the hearts of ST Racing and all of the Canadian driver’s supporters.
In the interim, DeBoer would move up to second in Pro-Am, which becomes third overall after the #28 RS1 Porsche’s penalty – a fantastic result for The Racers’ Group as they continue their comeback to GT3 racing.
The #45 Wright Porsche 992 of Heylen and Charlie Luck will take fourth overall and third in Pro-Am. Luck tangled with Ziad Ghandour in the #9 TR3 Mercedes after the final restart, but was not given a penalty for the collision which sent the silver and orange Mercedes spinning.
However, a broken splitter on the #120 Wright Porsche 991.2 cost Skeer and Adelson a chance to earn a Pro-Am podium of their own. The damage was a legacy of lap one contact from Skeer, and with less than three minutes left, Adelson took a scary ride as his car plowed up the grass and dirt off the course.
Inheriting fifth place was the #19 Esses Racing Mercedes (Will Hardeman/Adam Carroll), followed by the #91 DXDT Mercedes (Jeff Burton/Corey Lewis) which had two clean races and were rewarded for their improvements with a great result.
MDK Motorsports’ Lucas and Estep finished second in Pro and seventh overall, followed by the ACI Motorsports tandem of Torres and Pumpelly.
After a 15th overall finish in Race 1, the sole Am class entry, the #43 RealTime Racing Mercedes (Anthony Bartone/Andy Pilgrim), finished ninth overall, followed by the #33 Triarsi Competizione Ferrari (Justin Wetherill/Ryan Dalziel) in tenth – something of a miracle after a crash in Thursday testing left Triarsi scrambling to repair its car for the weekend ahead.
After a year’s hiatus, GT World Challenge America will return to Austin, Texas and Circuit of the Americas for the fifth and sixth rounds of the 2023 season, on 20-21 May.
Images © SRO Motorsports America
