- #3 K-PAX Racing Win Provisionally Captures Multiple Championship Categories
- #20 Wright Car Fights, Holds on to Pro-Am Top Spot
- #23 Triarsi Competizione Captures First Series win
- PROVISIONAL RESULTS - PDF Link
Sebring, Fla. - The #3 K-PAX Racing Lamborghini Huracan driven by Andrea Caldarelli and Jordan Pepper held a master class in racing and led the GT World Challenge America field from flag-to-flag, provisionally capturing the Driver, Team and Manufacturer championships for the storied team and their new-this-season Manufacturer partner.
The #20 Wright Motorsports Porsche, driven by Fred Poordad and Jan Heylen, got in the mix fought it's way through a tough Pro-led field, capturing two positions from the class pole position and finishing third overall.
Newcomers Triarsi Competizione, with principal Onofrio Triarsi and Charlie Scardina behind the wheel of the #23 Ferrari 488 GT3, captured their first win from the Am class P1 qualifying position in Saturday's contest.
With one of the Pro threats removed due to the #96 Turner Motorsports BMW withdrawing due to mechanical issues, the pole-sitting #3 K-PAX Racing took off cleanly and without incident was able to never look back. A quick early move by Jason Harward (#88 Zelus Motorsports Lamborghini Huracan GT3) afforded him a pass on the #77 Compass Racing Acura NSX GT3 driven by Rodrigo Sales. This soon after turned into contact between the two, sending Harward in a recoverable spin and earning Sales the Drive-Through Penalty for causing the contact. Erin Vogel's (#19 DXDT Racing Mercedes-AMG) pass for overall position mirrored the same moves made by Taylor Hagler in the #93 Racers Edge Motorsports Acura NSX GT3.
The field further thinned when the #33 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG made an unscheduled pit stop after some in-the-field slowing, ultimately retiring due to a mechanical issue. With less traffic on the course, Hagler closed the gap to the class leader, Fred Poordad in the #20 Wright Motorsports Porsche, while Giacomo Altoe (#9 TR3 Racing Lamborghini) was able to split the K-PAX sisters and slot into the second overall spot, working to close the gap for the second driver stint after the pit window. Sales' fight to recover positions from the DTP got him as close as 11th overall, while Harward converted his bump and the slightly-cleared field into an assault on the front of the Pro-Am field, looking to pass Rearden Racing's Jeff Burton (#191) in the process. Shortly before the pit window opened, Harward was successful and was able to hand off the car to co-driver Madison Snow as the first car in for the mandatory pit, sitting third in class at the pit window opening.
As the pit window remained open, strategies unfolded and saw co-drivers take to the circuit to close out the races. The #3 K-PAX car had a comfortable lead and almost flawless pit execution that kept the car in place, while the #6 sister car strategy paid off and slotted the car in second overall position. Following up third would be a trio of drivers that battled intensely for almost the entire second half of the race looking to take the overall third place position; #9 TR3 Lamborghini driven by Dennis Lind, the #20 Wright Porsche with ace Jan Heylen, and the #93 Racers Edge Acura with GT3 Academy alum Dakota Dickerson behind the wheel. Just a hair behind that trio was the #88 Zelus Motorsport entry piloted by Madison Snow, followed by the #6 K-PAX Racing car with Lewis behind the wheel, #19 DXDT Mercedes-AMG entry now driven by Michael Cooper, the Am-class leading #23 Ferrari with Triarsi behind the wheel, Saada in the champion-elect #61 AF Corse entry, and McMurry in the #77 Compass car continuing the charge to the front from the penalty-induced positioning at the back of the field.
The various battles for positioning continued while the #3 K-PAX car managed tires and worked on growing the lead. The three-way battle for second overall included some first-in-class positioning; that raged for essentially the entire second half of the race until Dickerson's overzealous side-by-side action sent him off-course and out of contention in that battle in the final minutes of the race.
In the end Lind held on to the 2nd overall position and earned the team a win in its first all-Pro outing in the series. Heylen kept the third overall spot and took home the Pro-Am win for the team in front of Dickerson's second-place Pro-Am finish and the #6 K-PAX car taking the third Pro spot, with Snow in the #88 Zelus Lamborghini coming in behind him for the third-in-class Pro-Am finish. Triarsi took his team namesake Ferrari to the top of the Am podium on the team's first excursion in the series.
CBS Sports Network programming for the Sebring International Weekend, including live coverage of Race 2, will start on Sunday at 1:00 PM EDT; check your local listings for channel information. Fans can also watch Race 2 on the free livestream available at the GTWorld YouTube channel, or catch the audio simulcast on SiriusXM Satellite Radio, Ch. 392 (992 on the app) and check out the live timing and scoring available at gt-world-challenge-america.com.