- George Kurtz earns three wins in last four GT America races
- Pair of podium finishes in GT World Challenge America for Kurtz, Colin Braun
- Kevin Boehm, Kenton Koch win GT4 America three-hour race, take Silver class points lead
CrowdStrike Racing enjoyed a weekend of multiple successes at SRO Motorsports America at Circuit of The Americas. In front of a record crowd in Austin, CrowdStrike Racing drivers and teams climbed the podium in each of the five events they contested.
George Kurtz led the way with a victory in GT America Powered by AWS and two podium finishes in Fanatec GT World Challenge America Powered by AWS.
In GT America Powered by AWS, Kurtz scored a victory in Sunday’s second race of the weekend to go along with a third-place finish Saturday – despite a broken suspension on the final lap – in the No. 04 CrowdStrike Mercedes-AMG GT3. Starting from pole position on Sunday – after setting the CrowdStrike Fastest Lap on Saturday – Kurtz controlled the race despite three full-course yellow periods, including a final one with nine minutes left that ended the race behind the safety car.
Kurtz now has three victories in the last four races starting with his sweep at Sebring International Raceway earlier this month. After Sunday’s result, he is third in the Drivers championship standings.
In the premier Fanatec GT World Challenge America series, Kurtz and Colin Braun recorded a pair of third-place finishes. The driver duo shared the CrowdStrike by Riley Mercedes-AMG GT3 during the 90-minute races.
The results put Kurtz and Braun in second place in the Pro-Am Drivers Championship heading into SRO America’s summer break.
Boehm and Koch made the most of a unique three-hour endurance race in Pirelli GT4 America to capture their first victory of the season in the No. 97 CrowdStrike BMW M4 GT4. The duo dominated the race following a stellar opening stint as Boehm went from 12th at the start to the overall lead in the first 23 minutes.
From that point, Koch and Boehm controlled the race and held increasing leads that culminated with a 34-second margin of victory and an overall win. The result was doubly sweet as the Boehm/Koch pairing moved into the lead of Silver class Drivers championship.
The weekend’s results came in front of a large group of CrowdStrike VIPs and guests. As is tradition in Austin – site of the company’s headquarters – CrowdStrike held the latest in its series of CXO summits ahead of the track action Saturday.
CrowdStrike’s CXO summits allow VIP guests to learn how to secure their businesses from cyberattacks and stop breaches. CXO guest experiences also included activities such as tour of Circuit of The Americas in addition to meet-and-greet sessions with CrowdStrike Racing teams and drivers, premium trackside hospitality and ceremonial positions such as giving the start-engine command and honorary starter, plus awarding trophies during multiple post-race ceremonies.
CrowdStrike Racing’s next event in SRO Motorsports America competition takes place July 19-21 at Virginia International Raceway. In June, Kurtz and Braun will contest the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa.
CrowdStrike Racing Post-Event Quotes
George Kurtz, No. 04 CrowdStrike Mercedes-AMG GT3: “This was a positive weekend for the team despite some challenges with the heat and humidity. CrowdStrike by Riley team delivered a prime Mercedes-AMG GT3 for the World Challenge races and of course for me in GT America. We racked up a lot of points this weekend in front of a great group of fans and a lot of CrowdStrike supporters, which made the victory even sweeter. The success of this past weekend is a great way to head into the summer break.”
Colin Braun, No. 04 CrowdStrike Mercedes-AMG GT3: “Our CrowdStrike by Riley Mercedes-AMG GT3 team sure worked hard this weekend. We had to dig and scrap for each result. The competition is really tight so we’re pretty happy to come away with two podium finishes on the GTWC side and a win for GK in GTA plus another podium. George did great during his stints and as always, the CrowdStrike/Riley team executed a fantastic weekend, we knew this was going to be a tougher track for us. We have a bit of time to prepare and test before VIR, and I’m looking forward to getting back on track with this team at Spa next month!”
Kevin Boehm, No. 97 CrowdStrike BMW M4 GT4: "The CrowdStrike BMW was good, but a lot of my start was being in the right place at the right time. This track is really unique because it has a lot of track-out, so I tried to put the car in a place where I had an out if something went wrong, so I was on the outside for everything. That gave me a chance to fight multiple cars at once, so it gave us big gains all at once. I tried to carry that momentum all the way to the front. Honestly, the car was better than we thought. Once I got in the top-three, I thought that's where I would probably level out. But it was pretty apparent that I had the pace to go to the lead, so it was a matter of making sure that I didn't hurt the tire to see what we could do."