Wright Motorsports took on Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta for the fourth round of the 2026 GT World Challenge America season this past weekend, the Ohio-based team delivered another top-five finish in challenging conditions that tested the field across the three-hour race.
Piloting the No. 31 Porsche 911 GT3 R in the Pro-Am class, Dave Musial Jr. and Driver Ryan Yardley entered the weekend looking to continue their strong championship momentum.
After qualifying fourth in class and ninth overall, Musial took the green flag and spent the majority of his opening stint battling inside the top five of the competitive Pro-Am field. He maintained a strong, consistent pace through the opening half of the race and kept the Porsche in a competitive position before handing the machine over to Yardley during the driver change near the halfway point.
Upon taking over driving duties, Yardley quickly moved back into fourth position in class before finding himself under pressure from competitors behind as the race got neutralized following a full course yellow just before the final hour that compressed the field together again.
In the closing stages, Yardley engaged in a fierce fight for fourth place. While attempting to mount an attack, traffic through the Esses and onto the back straight placed the New Zealander in a difficult position, but he fought back to reclaim a place and remained locked in battle all the way to the finish, ultimately crossing the line fifth in class. This marked the fourth consecutive top five finish for the No. 31 entry.
The result allows Musial and Yardley to maintain a strong hold on second place in the Pro-Am championship standings as GT World Challenge America heads into the SRO America summer break.
“P5 was not quite the result we wanted,” admitted Dave Musial Jr. “But we are still second in points in the Pro-Am championship! Now we’ve got a couple of months away to build up to the next one. On to Road America.”
“Fifth place for us at the checkered flag, which is still a good collection of points for the championship,” added Ryan Yardley. “Time for a bit of a reset over the summer break, we’ll be ready to put up another good fight in the next round.”
As for the No. 242 Porsche 911 GT3 R Pro-Am entry, Therese Lahlouh and co-driver Thomas Merrill faced adversity early in the race. During the opening stint, Lahlouh was struck by a competitor who made contact on the inside and sent the Porsche into the runoff area just before the crest leading onto the front straight. With nowhere to go and little opportunity to avoid the incident, Lahlouh’s race was compromised through no fault of her own. Race officials later issued a drive-through penalty to the other competitor.
Despite recovering from the incident, the No. 242 crew was later assessed a technical infraction for an improper pass-around procedure, resulting in a stop-and-hold penalty that significantly impacted the remainder of the race and affected the final outcome.
Even so, the race featured numerous overtakes from the duo, with the final results failing to accurately reflect the pace and potential demonstrated by Lahlouh and Merrill over the weekend.
“I think rocketing around Road Atlanta in a GT3 car might be just about the most fun I’ve ever had,” exclaimed Therese Lahlouh. “I made a ton of passes in mixed conditions but more importantly I really got to know the car and learned so much. While the results don’t reflect our performance due to getting hit and a technical infraction, I leave with my head high and hungry for Road America. It’s nice to have a summer break but I can’t wait to get back out there!”
“The results sheet doesn’t tell the whole story,” echoed Thomas Merrill. “Therese made tremendous strides throughout the weekend and handled the difficult conditions very well. We had the pace to be further up the order, and while it’s frustrating when things don’t go your way, there’s a lot of momentum and confidence we can carry into the second half of the season.”
In GT America powered by AWS competition, Dave Musial and Jon Manship competed in the weekend’s doubleheader sprint races in the SRO3 class aboard the No. 72 and No. 216 Porsche 911 GT3 R entries. Battling both fierce competition and the sweltering Atlanta heat, the pair each collected a pair of seventh- and eighth-place finishes as the series crossed the halfway point of the season.
Wright Motorsports now turns its focus toward the next round of the 2026 SRO America season, taking place August 28–30 at Road America.
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About Wright Motorsports
Wright Motorsports is a professional race car preparation facility and championship-winning Porsche customer racing team, based in Batavia, Ohio. The team is proud of its work with some of the world's most famous brands and successful race car drivers and racing teams, creating an impressive one-stop shop in the motorsports industry.
In addition to holding wins at iconic races such as the 24 Hours of Daytona, Twelve Hours of Sebring, and Indianapolis 8 Hour, the team holds championship titles in all of North America's major sports car racing series: the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, Michelin Pilot Challenge, VP Racing SportsCar Challenge, GT World Challenge America, GT America, and the Porsche Carrera Cup North America.