SRO Motorsports America has released the entry lists for this weekend’s events at Circuit Of The Americas, headlined not only by GT World Challenge America powered by AWS – but also Pirelli GT4 America’s second edition of the ‘Lone Star Enduro’ three-hour race.
GT World Challenge America’s 18-car entry list features all the same teams and drivers as Sonoma – with one notable omission: The #04 CrowdStrike by Riley Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO of George Kurtz and Colin Braun is not on the entry list. They were second in the Pro-Am standings after Sonoma, behind Turner Motorsport’s Justin Rothberg & Robby Foley, and ahead of Regulator Racing’s Philip Ellis & Jeff Burton.
It is also the first race for Racers Edge Motorsports since the announcement that founder and Team Manager Jon Mirachi had retired from his post after 35 years. But otherwise, there is no change to their plans with Jason Bell & Michael Cooper in the #2 Aston Martin Vantage GT3.
Random Vandals Racing’s Kenton Koch & Connor De Phillippi lead the Pro standings after their Race 2 win in Sonoma last month.
The weekend’s races start on Saturday at 1:05 PM CT (local time) and Sunday at 2:15 PM CT.
GT WORLD AMERICA ENTRY LIST >>
GT4 America will have 30 cars for its three-hour race, with a few new entries making their first appearances of the year. In its home race, Lone Star Racing will bring in the #22 Mercedes-AMG GT4 – driven by Marc Austin and James Golan.
FastMD Racing with Remstar will bring the Audi R8 LMS GT4 back to GT4 America, fielding the #20 for Farhan Siddiqi and third-generation driver Jagger Jones, a standout in the IMSA VP Racing SportsCar Challenge.
ProSport Competition and Tim Savage, regular GT America powered by AWS competitors, are set to appear in the race with co-driver Dwayne Moses and the previous-generation #007 Aston Martin Vantage GT4.
Only one returning team from Sonoma has changed drivers – ACI Motorsports welcomes Kay van Berlo back to the team to join Dan Sibille in the #9 Porsche 718 Cayman GT4. Van Berlo replaces reigning Porsche Carrera Cup North America Champion Loek Hartog, who’s taking a prescribed weekend off before nine straight weekends of racing on his busy schedule.
The Lone Star Enduro will be a double-points race, paying 50 championship points to the winner in each class (Silver, Pro-Am, and Am), 36 for second place, 30 for third, then 24, 20, 16, 12, 8, 6, 4, and 2 for the rest of the top ten.
That race starts Saturday at 5:00 PM CT with Qualifying on the same day at 10:10 AM.
Justin Rothberg will look to build his lead in the GT America powered by AWS standings at COTA, as one of 14 scheduled entries including 11 GT3 cars.
The COTA round sees the return of SKI Autosports and the #56 Audi R8 LMS GT3 EVO II, now driven by the 2023 GT America Champion Memo Gidley who makes his return to the series after a year away.
In addition, Wright Motorsports is set to return to SRO America competition, fielding the Porsche 992 GT3 R for Canadian driver Jon Manship. This is Wright’s first SRO event since the news that Adam Adelson had purchased the team from founder John Wright. Local team Esses Racing, which entered cars for Will Hardeman in recent years, is back with the #19 Porsche of Joel Cortes.
GT4 class championship leader Judson Holt swept the Long Beach weekend but has no plans to race in GT America this weekend – leaving the #39 Van der Steur Racing Aston Martin of Max Hewitt, and the #69 JTR Motorsports Engineering Toyota of Anthony McIntosh, to try and take the lead in the table.
Finally, down the card, McLaren Trophy America will have a triple-header weekend with races on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday – including the postponed second race from Sonoma – while Rutledge Wood’s Toyota Gazoo Racing GR Cup North America debut headlines their upcoming weekend.
Images © SRO Motorsports America
