In its first race, the #63 DXDT Racing Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R of Alec Udell and Tommy Milner won Saturday in GT World Challenge America Race 1 at Circuit of the Americas.
It is a milestone first win in worldwide competition for the new Corvette Z06 GT3.R, which debuted earlier this year in GT World Challenge America, the IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar Championship, and the FIA World Endurance Championship.
On Saturday morning, another new challenger in GT World Challenge America took pole position: The new #88 AF Corse USA Ferrari 296 GT3 of Riccardo Agostini took his first pole position, by just 0.031s over the #91 Regulator Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 of Philip Ellis.
Udell started third, then had to drive around a multi-car incident at turn one. Ellis was spun out by the #93 Racers Edge Motorsports Acura NSX GT3 of Luca Mars at turn one, and the accordion effect also led Ross Chouest in the #50 Chouest Povoledo Racing Mercedes to spin out Pro class points leader Adam Adelson in the #120 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R.
Mars retired due to suspension damage, while Ellis was given a drive-through penalty for incident responsibility – Ellis and Jeff Burton would eventually finish 12th as the last car on the lead lap.
Agostini skipped out to an early lead over the #28 ST Racing BMW M4 GT3 of Bill Auberlen in second, while Udell dropped to sixth initially – before picking his way up to third and closing in on Auberlen for second. Udell made the overtake for second place, while Agostini stretched his lead out to over 15 seconds from the rest of the field.
The Italian driver led all the way to his 50-minute maximum drive time, handing the car off to his rookie co-driver Custodio Toledo. Unfortunately for Toledo, a slow pit stop from the AF Corse crew gave him just a five-second cushion over the #63 DXDT Corvette, now in the hands of Corvette Racing works ace Milner who quickly went on the charge, and with 35 minutes left in the race, Milner dove up the inside of Toledo at turn 11 to take the overall race lead.
Soon after, the #38 ST Racing BMW of Neil Verhagen ran down and passed Toledo for second overall and the Pro-Am class lead.
Milner drove a clean final stint and kept a healthy margin to Verhagen to win the race by 3.7 seconds. Milner and Udell completed 42 laps in a 90-minute race that ran caution-free from start to finish.
“There’s a lot of emotions, obviously. To claim the first win for this new Corvette Z06 GT3. R is very special,” Milner said after the race.
“It’s big for Chevrolet, for Corvette Racing and for Pratt Miller to get this first win for the Z06 GT3.R. As a customer car, you have to show that the car is quick and it’s capable. We’ve been close and shown that we’re fast. But until you get that first win, it’s different. This is a big milestone for the programme. That monkey is off our back and we don’t have to think about it any more! Now we can just continue ahead with this programme.
“I’m so excited to get this first victory. This team has been trying really hard over the last couple of years to continuously improve, and I’m thrilled that I could accomplish this with them.”
“When you’re starting a new program, there’s all kinds of unknowns,” added Udell. “This is the first time Tommy and I have driven together, and first time I’ve raced with the DXDT team. Everything has really gelled very nicely, which I think speaks to the calibre of the team. To be able to bring it all together is super satisfying, especially for me at my home race. It’s a great feeling and it takes a little bit of pressure off. Now we can continue to focus forward and make improvements where we can.”
Second overall was the #38 ST Racing BMW of Verhagen and Samantha Tan, who took their second Pro-Am class win of the year.
In third place was the #85 RS1 Porsche with the new Pro-Am line-up of Jake Pedersen and Trent Hindman, the latter coming off a weekend sweep at Sebring International Raceway and the former stepping into the car for the first time this season.
Despite losing a chunk of the floor after being hit by Varun Choksey in the last 40 minutes, the #120 Wright Porsche of Adelson and Elliott Skeer still finished fourth overall and second in the Pro class.
Fifth overall and third in Pro-Am was the #04 CrowdStrike by Riley Mercedes (George Kurtz/Colin Braun), followed by the #29 Turner Motorsport BMW (Justin Rothberg/Robby Foley), and the #08 DXDT Corvette (Scott Smithson/Bryan Sellers).
Toledo would settle to eighth in his first GT World Challenge America race alongside Agostini in the #88 AF Corse Ferrari. The #28 ST Racing BMW of Choksey and Auberlen slipped to ninth overall, finishing just ahead of the #32 GMG Racing Porsche (Kyle Washington/Tom Sargent) in tenth.
Verhagen will start Race 2 tomorrow on the pole position, on an all-BMW front row next to Foley.
Images © Fabian Lagunas / SRO Motorsports America, Corvette Racing
