LIVE FROM NASHVILLE | RACE 1 | GT AMERICA POWERED BY AWS

[Music] [Music] so as the sun starts to set over music city the streets of nashville are about to come to life with the roar of racing engines hello everyone and welcome to the inaugural music city grand prix and round seven and eight of the gt americas powered by aws season my name is ryan marine kyle heyer is alongside amanda busick is down in the pit lane there you look at the conditions it is cooling off it has been a hot day with temperatures topping out in the upper 80s high humidity as well as you can see there on the screen but the sun is starting to come down the temperatures come down with it and with that we are in store for a spectacular backdrop for a first ever event kyle this is so exciting just to be here in nashville first street race for the sro america series since long beach 2019 and we're about to turn them loose here on a brand new street course ryan i'm thrilled to be here this is a first time for a lot of things this weekend but nashville this weekend bubbling with energy so much excitement in the paddock and downtown a lot of exposure to motorsports and road racing for a lot of new fans out there which is always great to see the sun might be setting tonight but gt america powered by aws is gearing up for a race into twilight i love it that should be a ton of fun the crowd has been massive all weekend long and this is the nightcap on a busy day of racing that has included our friends with the indycar series all kinds of other series in action earlier today as well but we saved the best for last we're about to go as we take a look at a very unique street course here on the streets of nashville you can see nissan stadium in the background that is the home stadium for the tennessee titans that section of track you were looking at a moment ago very twisty that's the turns one two three sequence that is going to pose a challenge very early in the lab kyle this track is 2.17 miles around 11 corners and almost all of them are extraordinarily challenging there's a couple that are straightforward if you're familiar with belle isle in long beach but as we head up over the bridge at 600 feet across his 190 foot uh tall bridge ryan you get to the back side and this that's where the chaos all starts in that twisty four through eight section this is turns four through eight right here just on the other side of the korean war veterans memorial bridge what an interesting portion of this racetrack it's been a huge talking point but kyle some of these sections tight twisty and very very narrow those have been the real talking points more so than the bridge for sure the track narrows down significantly we're going to take the green flag on the the far side uh in an 80 foot wide section it's going to narrow down to just about two carwits in some of the tightest sections ryan a lot of variation in width and elevation here at this place third member of the broadcast crew is patrolling the pit lane for us it's my pleasure to welcome in amanda music [Music] amanda is gt america last year this weekend there are four two different manufacturers representing here we have four right here on the front two roads you'll see charlie left behind me in his porsche he is the overall voice leader in the sro3 class you also have uh thank you very much amanda yeah james saffron is the veteran strapping in he picked this event kyle because he loves street circuits and you can tell why he only ran a handful of laps in practice too he was that confident leaving practice one keep in mind brand new track no experience no simulation can prepare you for this but he was ready after just one practice he was ready and we had two practice sessions uh earlier in the weekend in the first practice session we had a red flag drivers only got about four laps to practice their cars in the second practice we had three different drivers run 13 laps brett curtis jason hardward and adam adelson here is amanda on pit lane [Music] david nolan there with the command to start engines and with that 23 race engines spring to life kyle we've got multi-class racing about to be turned loose on the streets of nashville gt3 cars up towards the front of the field but gt4 mixed in as well and the north american debut of the audi gt2 car that's slotted in right between those other two classes yeah it looks a lot like the gt3 spec out you see on that front row with safronus but the main differentiating factor is that big scoop up on the roof you're going to see that's the easy way to tell it apart a lot less downforce a lot more power a little less in the driver aids department ryan they are animals around this racetrack the top speeds are going to see well over 165 170 coming back down the hill towards turn nine it's gonna be a riot massive speeds on those long you call them a straight away that might be missing the point slightly because there is a slight curve to it but uh that said those are some long full throttle sections that lead to the heavy braking zone but then on the other side you have those really tight and twisty portions of the racetrack as well kyle this is a true compromise from an engineering standpoint to get a setup that works all around it really is a tale of two circuits you've got those long sections but you've also got the bumps and the tight sections you could liken this place to a saint pete i've heard sebring thrown around from all the bumps that you're gonna see pavement transitions manhole covers all these things that the track team has done an amazing job getting prepared for this these drivers in these teams but it still is an immense challenge to find grip over these different surfaces thankfully with the sun setting we're not going to see massive temperature changes from those surfaces but the bumps you're going to watch these cars slam over them and jason harvard in particular in the lamborghini for the the zelus motorsports guys he was particularly mentioning how rough it was and they were trying to tune that out they threw something completely different at it from what they ran in qualifying to see how it turns out for him so let's look at the starting grid on the pole is james safron is a race winner in one of his two starts already he'll have sports car racing veteran brett curtis making his season debut starting alongside then it's jeff burton from reardon racing and charlie luck starting in row two jason daskalos and kyle washington row three there you see on the screen elias sabo with jason harward alongside then a lot of work being done from the z loose guys to give him a platform to work with david askew and cj moses make up row number 10. in row number 11. it's going to be george kurtz in the dxdt racing number zero four alongside uh lester's actually gonna wrap up the uh gt3 field the gt4 cars would be alex welch in the audi r8 lms gt4 he will start first for the gt4 category alongside chris kagnazzi for rentec motorsports behind him it's gonna be thomas surgeon in the private motorsports top racing car that's the number 26. derek deboer in the trg porsche in the 66 starts in fourth in class behind them it's gonna be rob holland and the road tech racing mustang paul sparta for the random vandals racing bmw he will start in sixth adam adelson for the premier racing porsche will roll off in seventh alongside points leader sean quinlan from steven cameron racing in his bmw m4 gt4 that is matt forbush the 4 bush performance toyota gr supra gt4 in 9th in class jason bell for gmg racing and the aston martin vantage gt4 alongside gray newell and rounding out the rest of the field mark brummond for classic bmw didn't get a qualifying time broke a tie rod they've gotten it replaced they will start and lasted class 12. earlier today amanda was able to catch up with a number of drivers down on the grid let's go back to the pit lane and amanda busick apologies for the technical difficulties we'll hopefully hear from george kurtz a little bit later on george a race winner in the debut of the gt america series back in sonoma to get the season started and he's got some work to do starting a bit further back on the grid than he would have expected all the way back in row number six but kyle you made mention to some of the points situations in your run through the grid earlier and this is in a lot of respects the turning point of this season because we've reached the halfway mark and championships are starting to come into picture this could prove to be a very pivotal weekend it certainly could and i think you know the race is going to play out here we got 40 minutes on the racetrack but i think qualifying was going to be one of the more important sessions of this weekend because it is going to be an immense challenge to find and make passes happen anywhere in this racetrack if you qualify upfront and stay out of trouble you're probably going to finish up front if you're starting deeper in the field jason harward david askew cj moses you've got a lot of work to do and you have to be really careful not to overstep those bounds or run into the back of someone who has overstepped those bounds so risk versus reward right it feels like a lot of risk well let's talk a lot about that risk here i think that's going to be one of the story lines throughout the course of this race because it is a street course race you can see it right there there is no margin for error concrete awaits you with just the single slip of concentration that's all it takes and on the flip side the speed is found closest to those concrete walls so trying to find that balance between aggression and preserving the race car that's going to be crucial throughout these two races this weekend a lot of drivers were stepping up to that limit i talked to jason harward after practice there was about a quarter inch of carbon missing off the left mirror of that car and the glass was cracked and asked him what happened he said well i found the limit i told him you got another three inches if you don't need that mirror but uh the limit is defined here track limits not a thing if you overstep the track limits your day is going to be over so keep it between the walls and preferably up at the front of the field right the cars making their way around this circuit behind the lamborghini euros safety car the lights are off two formation laps to bring the tires up to temperature there's gonna be a big part of this too because we're gonna stack them up two by two and turn them loose down the bridge now the start line for the race that will be located between turns eight and nine that is coming back over the korean war veterans memorial bridge the finish line and the restart zone will be going into turn one about where the cars are now near this portion of the race track the reason they do this is to guarantee the best possible effort at a clean start so that's what we're hoping for as the lamborghini euros has pulled off we're going to start to see the field come into alignment two by two but there is a lot of trepidation about taking a start here given the high speeds giving the bridge given the big braking zone awaiting on the other side there's a long time to set yourself up for this start as well you basically the base car pulls off entering or exiting turn three then you've got this entire run down through four through eight and then you've got the entire bridge ticket over so you got a lot of time to form up got a lot of time to think about that run down to turn nine ryan but it's 80 feet wide at the entry and i promise you it is not 80 feet wide at the exit you can't go three wide you probably can't go too wide down there so you're gonna have to have a lot of cooperation here in this opening lap a couple drivers were pretty nervous about the start but some of them also thought hey if everybody's nervous about it maybe we'll take it easy and we'll get through it but single file that's what i want to see by the time we get out of turn 10 and 11 and come through the start finish line because that's how you're going to make it through it cooperation will be crucial in this race especially in the mixed class portions of it if we go green long enough and the gt3 cars start to catch the gt4 field there are portions of this track where it will take cooperation to go side by side and make those passes even in a mixed class type of situation 40 minutes is the race distance the field into alignment over the top of the hump at the korean war veterans memorial bridge it'll be james saffronis in the blue outing on the right of the screen brett curtis to the outside in the ferrari and we are racing in the inaugural music city grand prix three wide of the gt4 field behind them down into turn number nine for the first time the 62 is through so far so good everyone looking a bit dicey behind them the gt4 field would still side by side hitting down their ryan but i think we got him all through there the first time all right brett curtis the veteran able to snack the lead from james staphrotis there into turn one now into this twisty section of the track a couple of 90-degree left-handed corners turn nine turn ten turn 11 then out onto the pit straight for the first time as we take a look at a couple of dxdt racing teammates cj moses in the mostly white mercedes leading his teammate george kurtz behind him it was thomas sturgeon in that mclaren 570s gt4 i've heard that car is a rocket ship on the straightaways right now he's got gt3 traffic to contend with already but by the time they get over the bridge the gt3 cars will utilize their extra power to drive away but in the titan twisty but there's just not a lot to differentiate the cars the downforce is not gonna help you a lot in the tight sections ryan the gt3 mercedes i've heard first gear through all of four through eight climbing the bridge for the first time in race running here for gt america powered by aws aws it is brett curtis with a nearly half second advantage over james saffronis when they cross the timing loop for the first time jeff burton with a solid start he runs in third then it's jason daskalos and charlie luck as we drop back through the field that is the top four coming through now this is david askew all the way back in eighth slipping a little bit wide and that could allow one of the gt4 cars to pounce a little bit of shuffling at the exit of turn number eight but then this long straightaway speeds for the gt3 cars well over 160 then art on the binders back to turn nine the first time through a full lap this time there is charlie luck uh and he is actually a recent winner from the series back at vir ryan so he's coming off with some successes hoping to repeat that as we have a look at jason harwood behind elias sabo in the 511 audi gt2 this is charlie luck in this porsche from right motorsports he is the points leader in the gt3 category and that's overall despite the fact he runs in the masters class his points finishes overall have been good enough to elevate him into the lead but he runs back in fifth here at the moment and he's trying to chase down jason daskalos in the battle for fourth heading up over the bridge again a lot of the drivers were talking about the braking zone into turn four all the pavement changes you actually have to kind of kick the car to the right before you can jump on the brakes a lot of drivers lifting early and coasting for a bit just to let the car settle before you get back on the binders see the dxct teammates uh at the table gt3 field here heading up over that bridge again sixteen hundred feet of bridge structure before you get down to turn four you wanna keep an eye on one of the three dxdt racing cars george kurtz in this machine the zero four we got a report from amanda in the pit lane that there might have been some contact at the start of this race so some question as to whether or not that car might be wounded by the way keep in mind that car right behind that mclaren you see that is the gt4 class leader thomas sergeant giving that car a ride he has been dominant so far in practice put down a great lap in qualifying and you're seeing that playing out here early on because he's hanging with the back of the gt3 field again the gt3 cars have a lot more downforce they've got a lot more aerodynamic components those are good to add for us but they also can add drag so the top speeds are not going to be as wildly different as you would expect so that mclaren is hanging tough whoa way late in the breaks he's going to miss the corner he misses turn nine and i think that's gonna almost hand the lead over yes here comes the audi r8 behind him that is going to be uh alex welch able to make the pass he is now the gt4 class leader after that little slip up so apologies for the commentators curse that comes up and strikes thomas sergeant right on cue chris kagnazzi right behind though he's stalking in his mercedes amg gt4 so if you're new to gt racing there are two mercedes versions effectively running there's the gt3 version that we see in the hands of the dxdt racing cars than the gt4 version in a separate class they look very similar but they do perform at different levels as the battle for the lead is starting to heat up and now look at this move to the inside that's jason harward didn't have a car he was happy in qualifying kyle but he's looking comfortable there making a move for sixth great pass there and you saw in the background over the crest the ferrari 488 the 62 with uh curtis leading he has got a lot of pressure from sopranos behind him as they head back over the bridge and you see a lot of cars still grouped together pretty tight here ryan i asked about the slipstream that that would be a big factor a lot of drivers told me not really so i don't think you're going to see a lot of slingshot maneuvers like you'd see at some of the bigger tracks but looks like now curtis has extended that lead back out but strongest is not very far back right curtis though very defensive in that breaking zone taking the inside lane and that's let james saffronis pull up a little bit closer i think if you pulled the paddock these two would have the most street course racing experience there are several street course racing neophytes in this field and there's not been a lot of track time quite honestly in preparation for this race especially if you've had an issue at one time or another so relying on that experience looking for similarities on this track to other tracks they might have raced before that's such a huge asset to have in your quiver going into a brand new circuit like this one we mentioned earlier long beach and belle isle and how those things are fairly similar in some ways to this circuit those are tracks that both uh that curtis has raced on for both uh this class and others and you see now the audi behind him closing in just a little bit but in the breaking zone that's where the bravery comes in here a little bit ryan that king's corner there's a lot of pavement elevation and bumps that you have to really struggle with on the abs to get the car slowed down james safron is still feeling it out a little bit but starting to put the pressure on brett curtis who snagged the lead away from the pull sitter going into that sequence right there on the first time of asking greg curtis in the ferrari leads james safron is then it's jeff burton's lamborghini and that's a great story because jeff had some wall contact earlier in the weekend they made some repairs the car is good to go and he bounced back in a big way and qualifying to put that car up towards the front he told me after qualifying that he thought the car had more left in it and you mentioned that the car crashed it was actually this corner right here turned nine in practice yesterday went sideways into the tire bundles ryan but a lot of drivers told me if you're gonna hit something hit it square so it doesn't knock the suspension out right now jeff burke are looking real solid in third with a little bit of pressure from dascollos behind jason striving that number 27 that is a homegrown team but he's called in some help long time sro america entrant nick short is helping to prepare that car that started in the last round at vir the car has actually been in nick's shop the crp racing shop in north carolina between that event and this one to do some prep and they're putting some of his expertise to use i asked nick about the setup what have you done what can you do to prepare for a track like this one that really doesn't compare that much because of this bridge and said with the long straightaways to other tracks that you've engineered cars on before and he said we're taking a hybrid st pete long beach setup and using that as the baseline it seems to be working so far for jason daskalos who's holding down fourth at the moment and jeff burton we also should mention he's leading the masters category right now for drivers 55 and older there's the overall running order as well as the gt4 so a couple different classes to follow throughout the race today but look at the section through turn five a big jump right through the center that get a little bit airborne a lot of drivers were saying that was basically compressing them into their seat how violent it is around here on the street circuit for the driver certainly not uh necessarily physically exhausting all the time but mentally exhausting ryan to have to deal with that fighting the car all night long something appears to have happened to thomas surgeon because he has dropped back even further now to ninth in class so gt4 is led right now by alex welch chris kagnazzi runs in second derrick deboer for trg now up to the third spot this is that mclaren that was the pole sitter was the race leader and has dropped back quite a bit thus far the rest of the top five adam adelson in fourth and rob holland in fifth as we jump now to the leader in this class another one who does have some street course racing experience going back a couple of years it's alex welch in this gt4 spec audi well it didn't really have to work too hard to get by the leader a little while ago they just ran themselves off the racetrack opens up the door so welch's slid on through and he's established now [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] hmm [Music] we talk about no room for error there's no room for curtis to do anything other than do the line that he's doing as we roll through and head back go along the front straight away here uh sophronis is keeping that pressure on here one of the things i talked about with some of the drivers was asking if the nighttime was going to pose a challenge with the headlight glare now some of these cars ryan they have rear view mirrors some of them have rear cameras some of them have both now the cameras have a lot of glare and bloom from headlights from drivers behind that can certainly be a distraction so now heading up over the bridge and down towards turn 9 the gap again expands for curtis and into the breaking zone and behind them there's jeff burton and das closed charlie lucknow creeping into the picture back in fifth overall running second in the masters class at the moment and we have mentioned how charlie luck is coming off a victory at vir a couple of weeks ago and charlie luck also has had some experience running nascar bush series races back in the 80s and interesting to note that back in the 80s in the bush series was running the family number 45 number 45 is what he's running on the side of his porsche here today coming back down over the bridge 27 and a half minutes left to go and brett curtis has led since the drop of the green flag muscled his way by safranus on the opening moments and now continues to lead on the run down here through turns 10 and 11 right it's been a great fight between these two veterans brett curtis right now getting the better of james safron is there's a spin on the entry to the pit lane was that 63 card which would be david askew david was having a really good run prior to that running just outside the top five but a little bit of a spin there for him to get that car rided that's going to be costly here with just 26 minutes left in the race here comes charlie luck in that number 45 porsche like you said for right motorsports busy weekend for that team running a bunch of cars in a bunch of different series up in uh elkhart lake wisconsin at road america this weekend plus this effort here and this is a potential championship winning effort as mentioned charlie's had a really good season and it was this format the single driver format of gt america powered by aws that coaxed him back into top level racing and he's been ready to go from the word go he was great in the debut at sonoma and has been so consistent all season long consistency is key and running fifth right now that's a great place to be and now he's actually approaching the battle for third overall and as these two fight ryan you always know that we've got cars side by side it will bring them back to you so just be patient here a little bit and that battle will probably spice things up here for third overall a really impressive drive for jeff burton and that burton lumber lamborghini from reardon racing first year running gt3 cars for that team first ever street course for jeff oh jason daskalos goes a little bit long there and uh able to hold off charlie luck for the moment a little bit of a mistake at the exit of turn number nine for dasilos charlie luck is gonna go through and take that spot away move luck into the fourth spot let's allow the driver ahead of them jeff burton to get away he maintains third spot overall move luck into that and now that'll be a battle for first in the masters class here got some action some lap traffic uh great newel put a lap down so watching again the battle for the race lead brett curtis still running just car lengths ahead of james cipronis as they head up onto the bridge again they have pretty much followed each other's tire tracks since the drop of the green flag now with a little bit of gt4 traffic coming into the mix that will certainly spice things up not a lot of opportunity to get by gt4 traffic you're going to rely mostly on the not so straight straight over that uh that korean war veterans memorial bridge dascalo's on the charge back to the tailpipes of charlie luck and the porsche 911 gt3r and tucked in behind it's at the heart of racing aston didn't get quite a good look at that but i think that's what that is as they head back through turn number six and seven and here they are now heading through turn eight renewal in the 25. well this is what we talked about kyle that crossover between gt3 and gt4 and it's gonna take a lot of patience that's what all the drivers have been saying some parts of this track you just can't fit two of these cars side by side without a lot of compromise and so you got to give up those sections and know that it's going to be the same for everyone hopefully it all evens out at the end but there you see it charlie luck as you talked about kyle able to take that spot away from das kalos they've worked through grey newell and the lap traffic there and we'll see what lies ahead as we look here at the four bush car that's a local car the team based out of memphis tennessee hometown driver behind the wheel yeah i was really excited about this we got our race vision powered by aws corner speeds at turn two one of the slower corners on this racetrack look at how even they are 45.9 for savo curtis and kyle washington very tight there at the top there there is our race vision powered by aws like you said kyle great stats from those folks and you could see what some of those corner speeds look like in the tight stuff that i mean that that's basically the speed limit going through this section of roads here in downtown nashville but that's what it takes and i'll tell you these cars really aren't made to go that slow it's a real challenge especially if you're trying to set them up also to have speed and stability in the high-speed sections like i said i talked to the drivers from dxdt racing all of them using essentially just first gear through that entire middle sector through turns four through eight now they go up to second briefly through turn five but you're not using a lot of gearbox down in the twisty bits here as we got the battle for the lead still raging safran is looking left looking right trying to distract curtis he's not buying any of it though he is not curtis has been excellent in his defense of the lead and you can see he takes that inside line but maybe that's more than just being defensive maybe he's found a way to avoid some of the bumps that is one section of track that has been reworked a little bit over the course of the weekend to try and smooth things out but there has been a lot of discussion about the bumps here's jason bell's gt4 machine going a lap down to the overall leaders oh and possibly problem source of frontness or does he just back out of it to avoid contact he's able to get back up to speed so i think that's the caution we were talking about trying to cooperate between two disparate classes they were essentially following each other in their tire tracks for the first 15-20 minutes of this race all that work gone in just one corner oh big crash that is the trg porsche of derek deboer and he's got massive front end damage there is the 98 car yeah paul sparta and the random [Music] vandals [Music] so [Music] uh [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] uh [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] my [Music] hmm [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] up [Music] now [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] um [Music] so [Music] hello [Music] oh [Music] [Music] um [Music] oh [Music] [Applause] so [Music] [Music] so [Music] [Music] [Music] ah [Music] [Music] so [Music] nation and you can see why he's taken to it like a duck to water but all credit to brett curtis because brett got the jump at the start and the wily veteran james afronis has not had an answer no not yet but again this is probably the best opportunity he's going to have on this restart you know you're going to have to keep your tires warm and up to temp as the temperatures fall here ryan you're going to have to work pretty hard to keep the temperature in the tires and breaks as the ambient temperature falls as the track temp falls all these cars are basically set up to be at their best in operating conditions which is hot warm keep those tires hot and sticky keep the brakes ready to rip uh there's a lot of of the weaving you're seeing some of the mercedes do to clean off all the marbles as well and so many different surface types which has been a discussion this weekend at any street course you've got you know streets changing concrete asphalt manhole covers as i mentioned earlier there's so much to navigate at a track like this that it's a constant battle to find a room behind the safety car here on the streets of nashville the lights though off on the safety car as the lights come off just about everywhere else around this circuit six and a half minutes to go and coming up on a restart here it would appear very soon under yellow for a caution involving derrick devore from trg in the random vandals racing bmw of paul sparta both racing out of the gt4 class greg curtis outside pole sitter he will control the field headed into the restart he's got james safronis right behind and we'll head and do our first restart during that run along the pit straight we had the initial start just a moment ago and to start this race on the bridge but maybe a delay here because there are problems for chris knazzy who was running 11th in class and something has gone wrong for him but as that happens here comes the field pouring out of turn 11. and they will be looking for the green flag here shortly actually this is turn number 11 here brett curtis behind the wheel of the ferrari restart zone is the apex to turn 11. so looks like we might have an extension potentially of that yellow flag due to chris cagnosi or perhaps i got ahead of myself this is turn 11. they all look the same well there are three straight 90 degree turns so there you go tom hansing with the green flag in hand 5 minutes and 15 seconds to go under the lights in nashville we go back to green slalom through turns one and two and then up to turn three before you make that right-hander up onto the bridge sofranis has got to get right up on top of that ferrari out front and jeff burton lingering not too far behind there ryan he might have a look at this as well don't rule out that lamborghini and he's got some lap traffic between himself and his closest pursuer charlie luck as far as gt three honors are concerned here comes the frogness sparks flying from under the outing as he slams on the binders throws the anchor out behind him to woe that car down into the tight twisty portions of downtown nashville turns four through turn eight whoa wiggle from the 62 as he came up over the crest to turn six there was just a bobble there maybe the tire is not fully back up to temperature yet that's a sign of weakness maybe blood in the water person is just to smell as we head up onto the back straight oh and around curtis the leader puts the pedal down a bit too hard and he spins into the outside wall from the race lead brett curtis man with major damage to that ferrari and that puts james defronis to the point the pole sitter takes control of the race with just four minutes remaining can rick curtis get back underway or will this race end under yellow that's 62. there was something not quite right it was just bobbling and it just seemed like it wasn't quite up to temperature there ryan the tires may be a little bit cold but look at this here's charlie look now putting pressure on jeff burton in the lamborghini this is now a battle for a second overall here for the podium ryan charlie luck was able to dispatch that lap traffic without too much trouble but there you go double yellow flags from the starter stand and with just three and a half minutes left i think that's about gonna do it brett curtis could not extricate himself after they heavy contact there you said it the wiggle in the preceding corner starting to come under threat from james to frodis maybe that blood in the water puts the pedal down and around he goes costly error with just a handful of minutes remaining here's a look at it again and we'll probably see the car break loose here again how bumpy it is you get back to the throttle just a little bit too hard get a lot of wheel in it to keep the car off the fence and it just steps out on him ryan and that's so unfortunate he had been flawless for the entire first 25 minutes of the race and right there the impact with the concrete that's a hard hit there too on that right front it is a real shame for the skidaria corsa operation that's a race-winning operation with a ton of experience brett actually ran with them in the sro winter series a couple of years ago prior to a partial campaign in an nsx in what is now vanatech gt world challenge america powered by aws he's found a home back with canary of course however this race coming undone for the pennsylvania looks like he will not be able to get restarted here in just a couple of minutes left update by the way from the pit lane that might go a long way to explaining the accident that we saw that brought out the first full course yellow amanda telling us derek deport was dealing with some abs issues that'll do it that does explain how that car got away from him so quickly in the breaking scene yeah it just it just swapped ends on him i mean he was out pretty far track left but it was still surprising how quickly it came around again abs anti-lock braking systems on these cars to keep the wheels from locking right and you rely on that in to the gt3 and gt4 categories you've got dials to adjust how severe it is you can turn it down turn it up depending on the conditions but if it starts malfunctioning it can massively change the brake bias how much front or rear brake the car has if you have too much of either you're going to have a real big balance issue and especially combine that with the bumps that's a pretty unsavable situation i think there's the white flag in conjunction with the yellow so assuming james staffronis can make it around this track behind the safety car without further incident he is set to pick up his second win of the season in just three starts it's been a great run he made his season debut at circuit at the americas cherry picking his events not quite sure this is how he expected to win this race from paul but looking like it's headed that direction another win for the esteemed gmg program if i recall correctly would this be his first win in the audi gt3 this season i believe that's right yes i think we saw him in a porsche back at uh circuit of the americas if memory serves it's one of the great things about his team and he's built gmg from the ground up it's not just a great race team but a great aftermarket art supplier in the los angeles area but they've got tie-ins with many many manufacturers from audi to porsche to lamborghini on down the line if it's a a car that has some track potential he's probably worked on it at one point or another and so i say he picks and chooses his events he thinks it chooses the weapon also that might suit the event uh the best and and it seems like the outing very well suited to running fast lap times around this street course really has been a successful weekend for him so far you mentioned how he'd only ran three laps in that second practice just felt comfortable right out of the gate that's a challenge and a new place to run you know like seven laps total in the two practice sessions and then go out there and win the race that's pretty impressive a couple of other stories from elsewhere in the field alex welch appears set to clinch the gt4 class win you see james the front is dropping down the order on the timing loop but we believe there's just a transponder issue because that's happened a couple of times before and you can see that car is running without issue so welch a former gmt driver actually former co-driver with james ciprones is set to finish on the point to pick up the race win in gt4 adam adelson in second rob holland all the way up to third that's big for him but maybe even bigger sean quinlan in fourth the championship leader in gt4 coming into the weekend has maybe a mixed take on street course racing but he's got to be here for the championship and i think he's done a great job of damage mitigation coming home it would appear in fourth for stephen cameron racing as they run clock has hit zeroes and we expect the checkered flag imminently for james the front is there it is the inaugural win on the straits of nashville belongs to james the frontis in gmg he picks up his second win of the season here at the music city grand prix think about alex welch as well picking up the victory in the gt4 category the way that he got the race win the same way that zafron has got the race with with the race leader having issues in that category uh it was the mclaren of of uh of thomas surgeon that went off in turn nine that's how that lead swapped the gt4 it stayed that way all the way to the checkers so congratulations to alex welch in the rotr motorsport audi r8 lms gt4 elias sabo picking up the victory in the gt2 category uh fifth overall and of course also the masters category jeff burton and charlie luck one and two in that category and again charlie look the consistency continues to pay off p3 that's another podium to add to the list this season he's had a lot of them he won a couple of races overall effective 1-1 race overall at the first round at the ir he's won most of the races so far this season all but one as far as the masters class is concerned and that consistency lands him not just on top of the masters points table but also in the overall and he looks poised to hang on to that no questions asked leaving this weekend with his closest pursuer brendan erie not here this weekend and george kurtz and jason harward both having relatively difficult race weekends back to the gt4 points picture sean quinlan as i said mitigating the damage with a solid run to fourth rob holland since third in points has another podium to his credit now jason bell not quite the evening he was hoping for finishing back in seventh in class he was the second place points man entering the weekend here are the results unofficially we'll have more to say about that once the stewards take a look at everything tomorrow but we anticipate this is the way it will wrap up overall win to sephora's master's class win the burton gt2 win de sabo and the gt4 win to alex welch who is due to jump one spot at the points by virtue of rosh west being unable to start here this weekend that should move stop excuse me that should move welch up into fourth in the point standings coming into tomorrow's race it's a great way to get momentum rolling again we have that race tomorrow that will also account for points and ryan we set the grid for tomorrow's race based on this one so it'll basically if you finish well today great because you're gonna start up front tomorrow that'll be really handy i think fastest lap of the race uh tomorrow's result that's right there's matt four bush back finishing in the 16th spot on home soil and a couple of the others that didn't have as much luck as they would have hoped for here tonight well we hope to hear from our race winners in just a little while amanda music will be down in the pit lane james safron is already getting ready for the beauty shot he's got the gloves off working on the helmet already he's not going to waste any time to take a chance to chat with amanda because anytime you're talking to amanda after the race it means you did something right yeah that's always a good thing and you know i know he would have rather just passed the 62 straight up but he put in the effort he was there the entire time and and had that caution not happened you know potentially he could have gotten back there i think he was a little quicker and the 62 potential was holding him up but he put in the effort he was there ryan he pounced on a mistake from the leader that's a win that's exactly what we saw as james defront is pulls to the end of the pit lane where he will be congratulated by his crew double win for gmg and almost by default in gt2 it is worth noting but still you got to survive and 40 minutes around this track is no mean feat we've seen that all weekend long in every category we've seen racing here this weekend that the the line between success and failure is a pretty thin one and so elias sabo able to bring his car home the gt2 spec car with a nice run as well but there is james safron is climbing out from behind the wheel told me a few years ago he was thinking he'd retire and just manage his team not do any more driving can't keep this guy out of a race car you can't keep him out of victory lane either certainly can't and that's got to feel really good you can see he looks exhausted all the bumps and how physical it is out there as well ryan looking great big kiss to his wife there she's his biggest supporter joe foster you can see him in the black cat he does a lot of work to over see this gmg team and there is amanda you can tell she's ready let's get down to hitler well james we talked at the start of the show that you're going to have to pick your battles here today and have patience we know you would have wanted to race the ferrari straight up but what up those philosophies did you use here today in this win well i just wanted to see where brett was quicker he has a little more grunt off the corners but i was a little better in and in the middle so i just had to buy my time the cool suit didn't work that's why i'm a little out of breath but uh for the most part the restart i turned my traction troll up knowing the grip was going to be down and i wanted to be aggressive coming off the corners the only way i was going to get around him is try to get off the corners good because he'd pull away on the straights too much and i wouldn't be able to gain but uh hats off to the gmg guys four cars i love racing with my buddies elias jason and kyle first race here in nashville the music city grand prix this city rocks these fans are amazing and i love sro and i know we'll be back here and i can't wait i know we got another race tomorrow i'm looking for a bathtub full of ice cubes right now but again the audi r8 lms ultra still has some legs it's one of my favorite cars so really pleased for the win we do it again tomorrow congratulations on the inaugural we're in here at the big machine music city grand prix in the second win on the season great stuff from james saffronis great stuff great race and and you heard it was not just an audi gt3 this is one of the older spec outies this is the ultra spec and one of the things that gt america does is provide an opportunity to bring some of the older gt3 cars and give them a place to run and he shows that the old horse still's got some legs under it doesn't it yeah well he was going to retire the car was going to retire but i don't i think they're both good to go victory lane's the best place for a race car he looks tired but that is a man who has worked hard for what he just earned ryan so that's fantastic more happy drivers to chat with back down to amanda well ronnie talk about happy drivers look at the smile on jeff burton's face jeff you pick up your first win in the masters category how did you know that this moment was right around the corner for you well we've worked really hard at it the the crew that i have doesn't let me soften at all in fact yesterday and the day before you'd have wondered how i would be sitting right here now because they push and they're good and they gave me a good car they really did and we've worked real hard at it it's not just me when it's me it's made it real easy because of the crew congratulations jeff thank you so much big year for jeff burton the big year for riordan racing as well making the step to gt3 both at gt america as well as gt world challenge america and it's been a big challenge for the team and they've been the first to admit it but they said they need a good weekend here to help turn the corner i'd say a class win and an overall podium gets that job done absolutely after coming off that crash in practice to get that car repaired and out there to win in the category ryan that's all you can ask is even if you make a mistake to come back from it and go out there and win that's a phenomenal weekend and another race tomorrow to do it again let's go back down to amanda business well alex welsh was in the poll spot for the gt4 class he would take that on to the win here today as you look forward to tomorrow's race how important is that when being in the position for the gt4 category you know it's everything at this track there's nowhere to pass and as you saw when you try to pass the walls get you so i think just putting your head down and staying up front is definitely what we've got to do you're behind the wheel of your car with the headlights on going around this street car what is that experience like for a driver you know i've raced uh i've raced a couple street courses in the past but never with these conditions it it you know the sun going down into the night and the glare and just you know seeing the fans which we haven't seen in a long time especially at a street course was really really awesome congratulations i'll see you tomorrow all right thanks a lot that's a great point we've talked about how unique the track layout is kyle but you don't see a lot of street course racing under the lights it's done a few places singapore comes to mind with the grand prix there but that is unique for sure and quite a challenge darryl walter used to say it was like turning the contrast up on your tv it just makes everything look so much brighter and it's just such a cool environment to be in and we mentioned earlier how there's so many new people to sports car racing here this weekend that haven't been exposed to this kind of racing what better way to expose them than with a spectacle like what we just saw ryan even with a couple full course yellows the sights and sounds of sports car racing and gt america powered by aws always fantastic at any track we go to but this one tonight was very very cool to watch totally different conditions lie ahead tomorrow and that's going to lead to a lot of challenges for the teams overnight let's get to our gt2 class winner elias sabo was with amanda i tell you guys all the drives are just super smiling down here on fit lane it's so great to see and elias you took the gt2 in your car around this track in front of these fans you get to do it all again tomorrow explain this experience for us yeah this is the first time i've been on a street course so it was just incredible i mean the racing out here was outstanding jason who's in the lamborghini had a really hard race with him the whole time you know it's a really tight track there's not a lot of great passing opportunities and you know i was just fortunate on where there were opportunities i had a really good car today to the fans still sitting in the grandstands describe what the horsepower feels like for you yeah so it's about 650 horsepower and when you put it down you know it's a little hard to control you got to really finesse the throttle so you don't smack a wall but man when it gets straight and goes it feels like a rocket thank you so much great to hear from elias what a fantastic weekend here on the streets of nashville can't wait to see what tomorrow has in store as we take a look at the highlights of race one of the weekend the green flag comes out and we go racing for the first time mixed class racing gt3 gt4 and gt2 this was the big incident abs issues for derek deboer in depaul sparta that brought out the first full course yellow of the race then we go back to green the race leader brett curtis around into the wall that opens the door for james the frontis to come through and take his second win of the season fantastic racing here in nashville and we'll do it all again tomorrow hope to see you then [Music] um you

Channel: GTWorld

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Keywords: BlancpainGT, Blancpain, GT, GT3, Endurance, Sprint, Series, Cup, Motorsports, watch, FIA, driver, sportscar, racecar, car, events, Spa, 24h, team, europe, pro-am, pro, racetrack, music city grand prix, music city grand prix 2021, music city nashville, music city gt america, music city gt world, music city gt racing, music city grand prix race 1, music city grand prix full race, gt america live, gt america live stream, gt america highlights, gt america highlights 2021

Id: nWQ6moyo6yY

Length: 62min 52sec (3772 seconds)

Published: Sat Aug 07 2021