Samantha Tan and Neil Verhagen claimed the overall win, along with the PRO-AM Class win at Sebring International Raceway. It was Tan’s first overall win in the Fanatec GT World Challenge America powered by AWS series. Jan Heylen and Madison Snow took home back-to-back victories with a win in race two. Green flag conditions gave the two teams nothing but a runway to victory.
PRO Class
Heylen started his day from the pole position and immediately faced on onslaught of PRO-AM Class competition racing past him. He gave space to the separate race to hand over the No. 45 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R to Snow, who cruised to a second win. Bill Auberlen and Chandler Hull in the No. 120 BimmerWorld BMW M4 GT3 gained position early in the race and maintained progress to finish second.
Stevan McAleer in the No. 28 RS1 Porsche 911 GT3 R was the first to pit after running his stint in fourth. Eric Filgueiras made up a position for a third-place finish in part to the shuffling of pit lane and by overtaking Seth Lucas in the No. 53 MDK Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R. Lucas and teammate Trenton Estep used smart strategy to maintain position until Filgueiras pushed past, settling the MDK Motorsports team with fourth place.
Manny Franco and Alessandro Balzan in the No. 21 Ferrari 296 GT3 brought home a fifth-place finish. Mario Farnbacher in the No. 93 Racers Edge Motorsports Acura NSX GT3 EVO slowed on the second lap after overheating, ending Farnbacher and Ashton Harrison’s day early.
PRO-AM Class
Verhagen in the No. 38 ST Racing BMW M4 GT3 received a penalty in qualifying that had him start from the rear of the field. He quickly moved his way back up the field to hand the car over to Tan in the third position. Tan came out of the pit lane in first after the handoff from pole-sitter Ryan Dalziel to Justin Wetherill in the No. 33 Ferrari Triarsi Competizione 296 went awry and had difficulty closing the door. She only built her lead as the race continued and was relatively unchallenged for the win.
Elliot Skeer in the No. 120 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R started the race fourth, but he began his attack for the lead in Turn 1 on lap one. Skeer pushed past Heylen in the PRO Class as he attempted to gain ground on Dalziel. Adam Adelson would have a similar story after he took over for Skeer, spending his race chasing Tan before taking the checkered flag in second. Third place would go to Wetherill and Dalziel in the No. 33 Triarsi Competizione 296 Ferrari.
Fourth-place finishers Geroge Kurtz and Colin Braun in the No. 04 CrowdStrike by Riley Mercedes-AMG GT3 had a quiet race with multiple seconds of gap both ahead and behind. Anthony Bartone and Adam Christodoulou in the No. 43 RealTime Racing Mercedes-AMG finished fifth after a side quest to avoid on-track drama in the rear of the field went to plan.
Ross Gunn in the No. 007 TRG Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 began the race fourth; however, Derek DeBoer would be spun after contact with the No. 08 DXDT Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 of Scott Smithson. Smithson and teammate Bryan Sellers would finish behind teammates Jeff Burton and Corey Lewis in the No. 91 DXDT Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3.
The 2023 race season comes to a close at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Oct. 5-8. The race will be live-streamed on the GT World YouTube page.