Las Vegas, NV – Close to 1,000 drivers, team members, series partners, SRO staff, media and invited guests attended Sunday night’s spectacular SRO Motorsports Group Awards Gala in the heart of Las Vegas’ Strip at The Bellagio. The international stars from GT and sportscar racing from SRO’s North American, European and Asian series were celebrated for their 2019 achievements.
After the checkered flew for the final time Sunday afternoon ending action from 2019’s finale race weekend at Las Vegas Motorsport Speedway, focus shifted to the Grand Ballroom at The Bellagio as Blancpain World Challenge GT America, Pirelli GT4 and TC America Champions were on hand to receive some serious hardware.
Blancpain GT World Challenge America Overall Driver’s Champion Toni Vilander took center stage to receive his trophy and Blancpain timepiece, as well as representatives from Ferrari who accepted honors as the division’s Manufacturer’s Champion. Darren Law, Team Principle for K-PAX Racing accepted the trophy for the Team Championship. Pro/AM Driver’s Championship victors Martin Barkey and Kyle Marcelli were celebrated, while RealTime Racing’s Team Manager Nathan Bonneau accepted the trophy for the Pro/Am Team Championship. Am Division Champion Martin Fuentes received his hardware, while Fuentes’ team manager Ronnie Vogel from Squadra Corse accepted honors for the Team Championship. The Zimmermann Cup in honor of Jerome Zimmermann (1967-2003) for exemplary performance, and passion to motorsports was awarded to Racers Edge Motorsports’ Jon Mirachi. The Business Mechanic of the Year Awards presented by Purple Monkey Garage went to Rearden Racing and Blackdog Speed Shop.
Pirelli GT4 Sprint and SprintX Champions also took the stage to receive their trophies. Sprint Driver’s Champion Ian James as well his Team Championship winning squad Panoz Racing were celebrated. McLaren took the honors for the Sprint Manufacturer’s Championship. Drew Staveley won the Am division Driver’s Championship trophy. In SprintX, Sean Quinlan and Greg Liefooghe accepted honors for the Driver’s Championship, while Preston Calvert and Matt Keegan were celebrated as Am Division Champions. Porsche picked up the SprintX Manufacturer’s Championship trophy while Stephen Cameron Racing took home honors for the Team Championship. SprintX West Pro/Am Driver’s Championship winners Harry Gottsaker and Jon Miller were on hand, while their team ST Racing also picked up Team Championship honors. SprintX West Am Driver’s Championship winners Jeff Burton and Vesko Kozarov were also honored. SprintX Pro/Am East Driver’s Championship winners Stevan McAleer and Justin Raphael, as well as Team Champions Park Place Motorsports were celebrated, while SprintX East Am champions Matthew Fassnacht and Christian Szymczak received their awards.
TC America Driver’s Champions Michael Hurczyn (TCR), Bryan Putt (TCR Cup), Johan Schwartz (TC) and Tyler Maxson (TCA) also took the stage to receive their trophies. Series Rookie of the Year honors went to Chandler Hull (TC), and Maxson (TCA). Team Champions FCP Euro (TCR), Rooster Hall Racing (TC), MINI JCW (TCA) as well as Manufacturer’s Champions were also announced – Volkswagen (TCR), BMW (TC) and MINI (TCA). Special Awards handed out included the Jim Cook Memorial Trophy in honor of James Edwin Cook (1939-1985) for sportsmanship and significant promotional contributions to the series – FCP Euro’s Nick Bauer received the award.
Thank you to the teams, drivers, partners, and fans for an outstanding 2019 season. We look forward to kicking off 2020 at a race track near you.