Parente/Soucek Win Blancpain GT World Challenge America Round 6 at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park

Parente/Soucek Win Blancpain GT World Challenge America Round 6 at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park
(BOWMANVILLE, ONT.) – K-PAX Racing teammates Alvaro Parente and Andy Soucek piloted their Bentley Continental GT3 to victory in Sunday’s Blancpain GT World Challenge Round 6 at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park. Canadians Martin Barkey and Kyle Marcelli won in the Pro/AM class.

The 90-minute, 68-lap race was held under sunny 20-degree Celsius/ 68-degree Fahrenheit conditions. Pro division pole sitter Parente from Portugal, in the #9 Bentley Continental GT3 led the pack to the line and the green flag ahead of second-on-the-grid Finland’s Toni Vilander, co-winner of Saturday’s Round 5 race in the #61 Canadian team R. Ferri Motorsport Ferrari 488 GT3.

In the Pro/Am division, pole sitter Norwegian Dennis Olsen, piloting the #91 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R, slotted into third overall with Scottish driver Ryan Dalziel in the #63 DXDT Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 slotted into 5th overall and second in class. The Japanese team of Naoto Takeda and Takuya Shirasaka in the #96 Turner Motorsports BMW F13 M6 GT3 led the Am/Am division.

At the end of the first lap Parente held a .572-second lead over Vilander, with Olsen in third, Belgium’s Maxime Soulet in the second K-PAX Racing Bentley Continental GT3 in fourth and Dalziel in fifth.

The leaders held their positions through Lap 20 with Parente building his lead to over a second. In the Pro/Am division Marcelli in the #80 Racers Edge Acura NSX entry began to close on Dalziel for second in class running sixth overall. By Lap 26 Parente and Vilander had gapped the rest of the field by over three seconds.

The pit window opened on Lap 30. The first to enter the pits was Soulet who changed over to Brazilian teammate Rodrigo Baptista. By lap 33 with the pit window still open, Vilander closed to .600 seconds on leader Parente. Two-laps later the lead was down to .461 seconds. On Lap 34 Dalziel passed the car over to teammate American David Askew.

The leaders came in on lap 36, with Parente changing out for teammate Soucek, and Vilander changing out for Molina from Spain.  Soucek was able to leave the pits just ahead of Molina.

When the pit window closed on lap 38, Soucek had the #9 Bentley out front with Molina in the #61 Ferrari in pursuit. Baptista in the #3 Bentley remained in third, while Olsen’s teammate Anthony Imperato in the #91 Porsche maintained the lead of the Pro/Am division.

By lap 47, Soucek pushed his lead over Molina to 7.5 seconds, with Baptista in third and Pro/Am leader Imperato in fourth overall.

On lap 50, Imperato entered the pit for a mechanical issue putting Barkey into the Pro/Am lead, seventh overall in the race. Imperato exited the pits back in 10th overall and third in class.

At the checkered, Soucek (Parente) crossed the line first to claim the second race win of the season for the team – the team won Round 3 at VIR. Molina (Vilander) and Baptista (Soulet) finished second and third respectively. In Pro/Am Barkey (Marcelli) crossed the line 8th overall and first in Pro/Am – the Canadian duo came into the weekend atop the Pro/Am driver championship standings. Askew/Dalziel finished second in class, while Imperato/Olsen placed third. Naoto Takeda and Takuya Shirasaka won the Am/Am class the #96 Turner Motorsports BMW F13 M6 GT3.

“Looking at the results from the weekend, second yesterday, first today we are really happy with that and got great points. Andy’s qualifying session makes it look even better because unfortunately it happened but if it hadn’t happened, maybe we would’ve put it on pole for both races. Really good race weekend with good points, we both drove well, and the team did perfect.” – Alvaro Parente

“Perfect race today. Good start from the beginning, a lot of pressure from Toni (Vilander). I think they started on new tires, we started on used which was the difference for the opening laps, but Alvaro held Toni behind which was key for the pit. We know K-PAX does a very good job on the pit stops, we also did a good job on the driver change so we were spot on, I think. I could push on the first few laps to make a bit of a gap on the new tires from Miguel (Molina) and after that I was just talking to the team instead of looking back to know the gap to the guys behind. Clean race, all perfect. The car felt really good and I want to thank K-PAX for another great car because every time we come to the U.S., the car is just phenomenal, and Alvaro did a mega job yesterday in qualifying. We are a good driver pairing, I just hope we can keep winning the races and be on the podium to get the points and be right up there at the end of the championship.”  – Andy Soucek

“This is an exciting venue for us, racing on home soil. It happens once a year so there’s an added element of pressure knowing that friends and family are trackside. It crosses my mind several times through the race, wondering where they are and what they’re thinking out there. Fantastic result, we’ve got our head down, focused on the points championship in every weekend. That’s what we’re thinking about, executing to the best of our abilities. A first and a second this weekend I’d say was a pretty good weekend. Martin (Barkey) did a fantastic job, Racer’s Edge did a great job, team effort.” – Kyle Marcelli

“Can’t say enough about Racer’s Edge. Acura provides a wonderful car and Racer’s Edge just gets it tuned and ready to roll for the driver’s here. I had a lot of family here yesterday, it’s amazing to see family and staff from MBRP come out. It’s an added bonus, even if it’s only the second step, it’s still nice to have everyone around the podium and wishing us well. It’s head down, big picture for the championship.”  –Martin Barkey

Results are provisional until posted final. Blancpain GT World Challenge America competitors now head to Sonoma Raceway in California June 7-9 for Rounds 7 and 8 of the 2019 Championship. Watch the CBS Sports Network tape-delayed coverage of races from CTMP at 2:00pm ET this afternoon or in an encore presentation on May 22nd at 8:00 pm ET.


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