GT World Challenge Brings the Speed to Birmingham in Practice 1

GT World Challenge Brings the Speed to Birmingham in Practice 1

The Fanatec GT World Challenge America powered by AWS drivers got up to speed around Barber Motorsports Park very quickly, clocking in very rapid lap times as the entire field remained tightly packed together on the timesheets.

New teammate pairing Kenton Koch and Conor Daly were the ones to beat on Friday morning, as the Pro drivers went quickest overall. In Pro-Am, it was Phillip Ellis and Jeff Burton who were in top form. 

Pro Class

Elliott Skeer was leading on the scoreboard for the opening half of the session in his No. 120 Wright Motorsports Porsche 992 GT3 R before Kenton Koch took over at the halfway mark. The Random Vandals Racing driver continued to clock in faster and faster laps in his No. 99 BMW M4 GT3.  

Luca Mars took the opportunity to jump ahead into second place in his No. 93 Racers Edge Motorsports Acura NSX GT3 EVO22, just 0.076 seconds behind Koch, and only 0.122 seconds ahead of Skeer. 

Dominant force DXDT Racing got off to a steady start as Tommy Milner and Alec Udell experimented with their No. 63 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R, finishing the session in fourth position, while Varun Choksey and Bill Auberlen completed the top 5 in the No. 28 ST Racing BMW M4 GT3. 

Pro-Am Class

Phillip Ellis was the top Pro-Am contender, grabbing the best time in class early on in his No. 91 Regulator Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3, in addition to the fourth-quickest lap overall with a time of 1:20.986. Robby Foley was within very close range in the No. 29 Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT3 as the team looks to take home their third victory this season. Meanwhile, championship hopefuls Samantha Tan and Neil Verhagen concluded their morning in third place with the No. 38 ST Racing BMW M4 GT3. 

Tom Sargent and Kyle Washington followed in the No. 32 GMG Racing Porsche 992 GT3 R, wrapping up the hour-long session just outside of the top 3. Elias Sabo and Andy Lee also had a productive Practice 1 in their No. 8 Flying Lizard Motorsports BMW M4 GT3, completing the top 5 and showing great promise as they spent more time familiarizing themselves with their new machinery. 

Let’s Get Racing

The Fanatec GT World Challenge America Powered by AWS field will return to the track for Practice 2 on Friday, September 6th at 3:15 PM CT. 

If you can’t make it to Barber Motorsports Park, be sure to tune-in to SRO’s free livestreams all weekend long on YouTube (GTWorld) and Twitch (SROMotorsports) and follow all the action through our social media channels and the event hashtag #GTBHM.