The first four race winners of the 2023 Historic Sportscar Racing Fall Historics were crowned in a pair of flat-out sprints at the end of a fast and full schedule of competition at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta on Friday.
The Sasco Sports International/American Challenge and Stoner Car Care Global GT sprint races combined to deliver the weekend’s opening quartet of race winners ahead of two more days of on track competition on the 2.54-mile Road Atlanta road course today and Sunday.
For the second consecutive year, the Sasco Sports overall and Porsche class victory was secured by longtime HSR competitor Jack Lewis in his quick and clean Jack Lewis Enterprises 1974 No. 9 Porsche 911 RSR.
Friday’s other overall winner was David Richardson who made it back to the top step of the podium in the Stoner Car Care Global GT series in the FlatSix Motorsports 2018 No. 06 Porsche 991.2 GT3 Cup. Richardson last won a Stoner Global GT race at Barber Motorsports Park in 2019 but he has been a frequent visitor to the podium in recent years in HSR feature race competition.
Second overall and in the Sasco Sports Porsche class was David Hinton who was guest driving the Damon DeSantis-owned Heritage Motorsports 1974 No. 82 Porsche 911 RSR.
Third overall in the Sasco Sports race was secured by Clair Schwendeman, who also took American division honors in the 1968 No. 37 Duntov Motor Company Corvette Roadster.
Richardson was joined on the Stoner Car Care podium by second-place finisher Richard Stuart Milne in the Autometrics 2013 No. 54 Porsche 997 GT3 Cup while David Pahl scored the third-place showing in his 2016 No. 82 Porsche 991 GT3 Cup.
The Sasco Sports Porsche podium was completed by Colin Dougherty in his 1988 No. 77 Porsche 944 Turbo Cup series car prepared by DAS Sport that also finished a strong fifth overall.
Ernie Wilding also impressed in the Sasco Sports sprint with a stout top-five finish of his own in his FAS Autosports 1995 No. 182 BMW M3. Wilding crossed the line fourth overall and scored the International class victory.
Wilding was joined on the Sasco Sports International podium by Mike Banz who took the checkered flag second in his Arnage Motorsports 2004 No. 99 BMW M3. Third in Sasco Sports International went to Scott Lovett in his 1995 No. 33 BMW M3 to complete an all “Bayerische Motoren Werke” podium.
Craig Ross finished second in the Sasco American division in his 1970 No. 72 Cross Ross Boss Racing Ford Mustang Boss 302 while Greg Dietz crossed the line third in class in his 1976 No. 00 Datsun 280ZX fitted with a Chevy LS1 V8 engine.
Saturday’s HSR Fall Historics race schedule began with the weekend’s first WeatherTech Sprint rounds and concludes later today with the B.R.M. Chronographes Endurance Challenge one-hour race for Historic, Prototype and GT Modern (GTM) competitors at 4 pm ET.
Tickets for the HSR Fall Historics are available exclusively at the Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta main gate through Sunday.
