Race 1 at Virginia International Raceway was a challenging 40-minute event for the GT America powered by AWS field, as the race was punctuated by a number of yellow flags. Championship leader Memo Gidley kept it clean and brought home the win and fastest lap leading into tomorrow’s race. Robb Holland also added another win to his racing resume this season in the GT4 class.
SRO3
As the green flag waved, Adam Adelson put the pedal to the metal and began working on building a gap in his No. 120 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3-R (991.ii) as Memo Gidley was giving it his all to hunt him down on board his No. 101 TKO Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT3.
A safety car came out a little over three minutes into the race to retrieve the stranded No. 27 CRP Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 of Jason Daskalos. The yellow flags halted the battles and brought the field back together before restarting for a brief moment, but yellow flags were brought out once more shortly thereafter.
Polesitter Adam Adelson saw his race cut short before the field could go green again, as he suffered a mechanical issue, promoting championship leader Gidley into first place, with Anthony Bartone sitting directly behind in the No. 427 RealTime Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 and was ready to pounce at the first opportunity.
The majority of the race was spent under yellow, but as the action resumed once again with seven minutes remaining on the clock, it was a mad-dash to the finish. George Kurtz was sitting in fifth in the No. 04 Crowdstrike by Riley Mercedes-AMG GT3, with the No. 096 Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT3 of Vincent Barletta directly in his sights, pulling off the overtake in swift fashion.
Double yellow flags were waved for the final time as the safety car was brought out again with four minutes remaining, subsequently following after Bartone ran wide and made contact with the tire barriers. As a result of the late-stage incident, the race came to a close under yellows. Memo Gidley took home the win and secured the fastest lap, setting him up in pole position for Race Two tomorrow. Todd Treffert was runner-up in the No. 41 CRP Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3, with George Kurtz making it an all-Mercedes podium.
GT4 and GT2
There was action around every corner as Robb Holland and Gray Newell immediately began to duel it out for the lead in their No. 099 Rotek Racing Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport and No. 25 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT4. It wasn’t long before Jason Bell and Ross Chouest started catching up and inserting themselves into the mix as well, positioned side by side in the No. 2 Flying Lizard Motorsports Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT4 and No. 50 Chouest Povoledo Racing Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT4.
Elias Sabo was sent spinning on the restart, which put the No. 8 Flying Lizard Motorsports Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT4 into the barriers, bringing out another safety car as a result of the contact. The race went green again at the halfway mark, but did not stay that way for long, as the pole sitters in the GT4 and GT2 classes were sent spinning a couple of corners later, with Newell unable to continue, and CJ Moses picking up race-ending damage in his No. 58 GMG Racing Audi R8 LMS GT2.
Holland went on to claim the win, followed by Ross Chouest in second place, and Jason Bell completed the podium in third.
The series will be back on track for Race 2 tomorrow at 8:45am ET. Fans can follow progression with Griiip Live, live timing. The studio makes it easy to follow class battles, lap times, and pit strategy for the five SRO America series. Stream the races live on the YouTube page, GT World.