Compass Racing’s Harrison and McMurry Take Historic Final Race Win at Indianapolis Motor Speedway for Acura

Compass Racing’s Harrison and McMurry Take Historic Final Race Win at Indianapolis Motor Speedway for Acura
  • Pro-Am Pair Win Overall for GT World Challenge America Season Finale
  • Compass Racing Driver is First Woman to Win Overall in GT World Challenge
  • FINAL RESULTS - PDF Link

Indianapolis, Ind. - The Fanatec GT World Challenge America powered by AWS final race of the season saw the first three hours of the Indianapolis 8 Hour presented by AWS score championship points towards the 2021 season. 

With 39-cars taking the green flag for the start of the second edition of the Indy 8 Hour, the double-length finale brought a new level of competition with strategy and track positioning even more crucial to the GT giants’ successes. 

A relatively clean start saw Philip Ellis driving the #33 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 leading the GTWCA contenders after the first few laps and into the first full-course yellow, caused by an off-track excursion involving the #70 inception racing McLaren making contact with the #88 Zelus Motorsports Lamborghini. 

Although a few positions were exchanged on the opening lap, the FCY incident shuffled the field further. As the incident was being cleared, the #77 Compass Racing Acura jolted to the second position, followed by the #6 K-PAX Lamborghini

At the one hour mark, the order was reset once again as the #61 AF Corse Ferrari found itself stuck in the gravel needing extraction and pit strategies came into play to further improve positions. The #93 Racers Edge Acura led the field with the Compass Racing trailing behind, meanwhile the #04 DXDT Racing Mercedes-AMG made up three positions in-class after struggling with handling issues early in the race. 

At the two-third mark of the race-within-a-race, Harrison in the #77 and Hagler in the #93, the dueling Acura NSXs, were still battling for position while the #6 Lamborghini followed behind Indy 8 Hour traffic more than a lap down. DXDT Racing’s #19 Mercedes-AMG had already retired due to mechanical issues while the #33 Mercedes-AMG and the #61 Ferrari found themselves in the pit as the clock ticked over to the last hour. Ultimately, the #33 Winward machine was also forced to retire and the GTWCA pole-sitter failed to meet the required minimum race completion to be classified.

The first to take the virtual checkered on the double-points race-within-a-race was Ashton Harrison and Matt McMurry, co-drivers of the #77 Compass Racing Acura NSX GT3. The special double-length race saw Harrison earn the distinction of being the first woman to win Overall in a GT World Challenge race, in her first start with the championship, no less.

Racers Edge Motorsports' Taylor Hagler and Dakota Dickerson secured second overall in their #93 Acura NSX GT3 Evo, while the K-PAX Racing combination of Corey Lewis and Giovanni Venturini (#6 Lamborghini Huracan GT3) topped the Pro contingent and closed out the overall podium top spots. Hagler’s podium added to growing cache of trophies and secured her solid second-place finish in the GTWCA Pro-Am Drivers’ Championship, as did the third-place race finish for the #6 K-PAX drivers, who shored up the Pro Drivers’ championship runner-up position.

The Rearden Racing duo of Jeff Burton and Vesko Kozarov drove their #91 Lamborghini Huracan GT3 to the fourth spot overall, giving them the last step on the Pro-Am podium. They were followed by the #61 AF Corse Ferrari 488 GT3 co-driven by Jean-Claude Saada and Conrad Grunewald, who won the Am contingent with their placement. The #04 DXDT Racing car slotted in next with the #70 inception racing pair, Pro-Am champions-elect Poordad and Heylen (#20 Wright Motorsports Porsche) following and the #88 Zelus Lamborghini hit with a post-race technical infraction that put them at the back of the classifiable field.

After 7 circuits and 13 rounds successfully completed during the throes of a global pandemic, SRO Motorsports America extends its congratulations to all of its champions for a strong 2021 season and return to form with exciting, wheel-to-wheel GT competition. Competitors will wrap-up the celebrations and receive their official crownings at the PRI Show in Indianapolis this December. Stay tuned for details.

DRIVERS’ CHAMPIONSHIP

Pro - Andrea Caldarelli and Jordan Pepper
Pro-Am - Drivers’ Champions Fred Poordad and Jan Heylen
Am - Jean-Claude Saada and Conrad Grunewald.

TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP

Pro - K-PAX Racing
Pro-Am - Wright Motorsports
Am - AF Corse

MANUFACTURERS’ CHAMPIONSHIP

Lamborghini