A light rain began to drizzle over the track on Sunday morning, setting the scene for the GT America powered by AWS field as they set off for Race 2 at Circuit of The Americas. The damp track surface certainly made things interesting for the 24 drivers, with slipping, sliding, and overtaking happening up and down the track.
SRO3 class
The action among the front-runners ramped up from the second the green flag waved. Saturday’s Race 1 winner and today’s pole sitter George Kurtz had a challenging start, with his No. 04 Crowdstrike by Riley Mercedes-AMG GT3 dropping back a few positions. This allowed a battle to emerge between Adam Adelson in the No. 120 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3-R and James Sofronas in the No. 14 GMG Racing Audi R8 LMS GT3 EVOII.
The two continued to exchange positions back and forth, getting their elbows out while keeping it respectful. While they continued to fight for the lead, Kurtz was back on the charge and rejoined in podium position, catching up to the leaders ahead.
With 17 minutes left in the race, Kurtz and Sofronas collided and ran off track, allowing a patient Anthony Bartone to sweep past the drama and into the lead in his No. 427 RealTime Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 right before the yellow flags came out. The drama continued as Bartone spun on the restart, with Adelson making contact with him in the first corner, but the two were able to continue the race.
Johnny O’Connell crossed the finish line first in his No. 56 SKI Autosports Ferrari 458 Italia, but a 10-second penalty dropped him out of podium contention due to a pre-race procedure violation, promoting the No. 27 CRP Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 of Jason Daskalos into the top spot. Adelson and Kurtz were able to recover in the closing stages of the race to take home second and third place.
GT4 class
In was an Aston Martin party at the front of the grid in the GT4 class, with Elias Sabo and Jason Bell forming a Flying Lizard sandwich in their No. 8 and No. 2 Flying Lizard Motorsports Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT4’s, with Gray Newell in the middle on them in his No. 25 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT4.
The three battled back and forth, with Bell ultimately moving up into second before going on to attempt to battle for the lead against his own teammate. Sabo focused on the road ahead and was able to pull a slight gap as Bell found himself having to defend against Newell.
The restart following the first full course caution re-ignited Newell’s podium fight, moving back and forth between the inside and outside of Bell’s machine to take sneaky looks at possible overtaking opportunities.
A second full-course caution halted the potential incoming battle between the two, with Sabo taking the win in Race 2, and Bell and Newell completing a clean sweep of the podium for Aston Martin.
The fourth round of the GT America powered by AWS championship will take place in Alton, Virginia at Virginia International Raceway from June 16-18.
All race sessions are streamed live on the GT World YouTube page.