LIVE FROM NASHVILLE | RACE 2 | GT AMERICA POWERED BY AWS

music city usa has rolled out the welcome mat for the cars and stars of gt america powered by aws yesterday's race into the twilight saw james saffronis prevail in a hard-fought street fight setting the stage for a rematch today here on the streets of nashville hello everyone my name is ryan marine kyle heyer is alongside amanda busek is down in the pit lane it is a pleasure to have your company for the eighth round of the championship it is a hot one temperatures approaching 50 degrees celsius nearly 90 degrees fahrenheit humidity right around the 50 percent mark as well kyle yesterday conditions were totally different racing into the night time and this grid for race 2 is mixed up compared to what we saw one day ago so everything we thought we knew i think we could throw that right out the window there's so much that's new this weekend the race track the conditions the field is going to be new today for race number two several drivers who ran into trouble yesterday are looking for a second chance and those who found success yesterday probably wouldn't mind a second trophy i will take an eye take a look at exactly who will be fighting for that second trophy here in a moment but it was dramatic wasn't it kyle with james safron is prevailing he was the pole sitter but it took some misfortune for brett curtis for james to end up at the point and in contention to win yeah safronas did not lead most laps yesterday but he was leading at the time when the checkered flew which is all you need to be doing it was brett curtis that made a mistake at the exit of turn number eight spun the rear tires up got into the fence that car has been repaired and it is ready to race today from pole third member of the broadcast team is standing by on the pit lane hello amanda busick hey ryan and guys from aston martin's to aldi's from ford's to ferraris there's 10 different manufacturers represented here in race number two for the gt america series presented by aws but i specifically want to talk about the ferrari right here behind me you can see brett curtis getting locked in you talked about looking for second chances this is this team they stayed up all night to make sure they could start in the pole position from the hood from power steering from the front strut everything was replaced they're going to go out and look to redeem themselves from the mistake that happened by staying on the throttle a little too heavy and from night time conditions brett curtis is going to look to take the track checkered flag here in race number two thanks amanda yeah that's a great story of perseverance from af from the scenario of course excuse me a very experienced campaigner as far as ferraris are concerned brett's got some history with that team as well and it was hard work overnight but that's what it takes sometimes kyle just to be on the grid and have a chance to fight here from pole position there are some more dramas as well in the gt4 category of course derek deboer in the trg porsche a crash with the 98 of paul sparta yesterday unfortunately the 98 has been withdrawn but derek deboer's team and trg were able to get a backup chassis ready to go for today it has never raced and never competed in this championship this is the first time it's been on track and competition just some track days and some practices for that chassis but pressed into surface here they've had to do a lot of work to get that car ready to go for the race itself and derek deboer will start towards the back of the grid and you mentioned the different classes gt3 gt4 gt2 also in the mix this is the gt america powered by aws championship kyle and many respects a throwback single drivers sprint race with multiple different classes fighting amongst themselves a race within a race i love it and also it creates an additional challenge at a track like this not a lot of places to pass it gets very dicey very tight with the different class cars the gt3s being a little bit faster the gt4 is being more compliant but a bit slower so as the drivers get into lap traffic things can get very dicey we saw some of that yesterday i'm sure we'll see it more today exactly so closing in on those famous words that will get this field fired up and ready to go around the streets of nashville it's an interesting racetrack we'll talk more about that in a few moments the fans have come out in their thousands it's been great to see how motorsports has been embraced here in music city there's been plenty of music involved in the music city grand prix as you might expect there is the site overlooking pit lane nissan stadium home of the nfl's tennessee titans just across from the pits it's a unique pit lane as well with a 90 degree bend about halfway through it but we shouldn't see these cars making any pit stops here if things go correctly that is the goal well it's about time to get going let's go down for the command as you said ryan these are the most famous words in motorsports and john from atlanta has it on hand drivers start your engines and with that command 22 race engines fire to life we had 23 cars kyle when the weekend started you mentioned the issues for paul sparta the random vandals racing team contact earlier in the weekend they repaired that race yesterday ultimately too much damage to be able to go today so we're down to the 22 but that's still plenty as we've seen this track is treacherous it is challenging and it puts on a good race yeah it's just about 2.2 miles here orion 11 corners and it's got that of course the the korean war veterans memorial bridge six or one thousand six hundred and sixty feet long that's the defining characteristic but at either end two very tight sections right that's right so turns four through eight on the other side of the bridge that's in downtown nashville proper across the cumberland river and then they come back over that bridge for the second time into a sequence of 90 degree left hand corners turn 9 10 11 and then into turn number one once again to start up the lap for the second time and all of those sections on either side of the bridge are incredibly tight and they are very narrow as well it will make for a serious challenge for these gt3 gt4 and gt2 cars and the drivers behind the wheel let's meet the field that will take the green flag here in a moment starting on pole courtesy of a fast lap in yesterday's race that will be brett curtis just his second start of the season charlie luck alongside the current points leader james safrones and jason daskalos make up row number two behind them jeff burton yesterday's master's class winner will start fifth with jason harwood sixth elias sabo in the single gt2 entry in the field this weekend he'll have stablemate kyle washington alongside both from gmg racing row five is made up of george kurtz and cj moses a pair of dxdt racing drivers both in mercedes amg gt3 entries their teammate and team owner david askew had a grid penalty he'll be starting a ways back at the back of the gt3 field on our grids at least set to roll off in the 18th overall starting position in the gt4 category on pole to be chris kagnazzi alongside thomas surgeon who led early yesterday ran wide in turn number nine finished second he's going to start on the front row again for race number two alex welch and mark bruhmann share that second row row three rob holland and adam adelson row four points leader coming into the weekend sean quinlan and jason bell row five matt four bush in the toyota supra grey newell rolls off alongside him in the aston martin derek deboer lines up at the tail end of the field and that brand new car that we mentioned earlier ryan untested unproven but uh it should be just as fast as the one he had yesterday well the good news is he's got the mind of the racers group trg kevin buckler's operation behind him so that should help to get that porsche up to speed speaking of porsches earlier today amanda had a chance to catch up with charlie luck the points leader ahead of today's race we'll start from the first row here in race number two and charlie you are the points leader but the biggest thing on your mind right now is this start what strategy are you going to use as you try to battle for position yeah so it's really interesting leading the points is our number one goal to the end of the year and so we have two players today basically both sopranos and curtis that are not in the points run they've done a very few races this year so you know part of racing is knowing when to push and when not to so what you can't do here is take i would say high risk moves unless you're right at the end and unless uh i'd say reward is really high so we're absolutely going to try to get the jump on the start and obviously curtis and the ferrari next to me is going to try to do the same thing and then you never can plan how to go through turn one because there's so many variables around braking around traction around what other people do so you've got to have this sort of 360 degree sort of vision of what's going on around you and where the hole is inside of you i'm going to be on the outside so we're going into the corner um if curtis jumps me he's going to be on the inside and strongest is going to be tucked in right behind him so i've got to try to squeeze those guys a little bit without tearing anybody up and see if i can get them to break check so i can get in if i need to get him behind the ferrari and if not behind the uh behind sopranos so yeah the best uh the best one is for me to jump him and go in there in p1 really insightful comments from charlie luck who will roll off on the outside of the front row the field on the formation laps two of them on schedule here on the streets of nashville and the initial race start will take place on the bridge going the other direction for what we're seeing here to hopefully get a nice clean start to this race but back to charlie's comments kyle really interesting to hear him plan out the strategy as much as you can and crucially that risk versus reward quotient that's what it's all about we talked about that yesterday the risk versus reward here there is no extension to track limits here if you find a wall it's not going to be very far from where the racing line is and a lot of drivers have discovered that so the risk versus reward component of course you can put it all on the line but sometimes it's not going to pay off can you put the car right on that edge if you can you're gonna win if you step over an inch it could be game over talked a lot yesterday about some of the veterans of street course racing everyone now at least has one street course race under their belts for several of these drivers this was the very first street course they had encountered it's a unique one no doubt about that but what can 24 hours do with that experience and the chance now to sleep on it due for the perspective of some of these guys that are taking to a street course for the first time this weekend i think you'd get braver or more confident or a combination of both uh we talked yesterday about the risk of turn one or i guess turn nine in this case on the initial start of the race clean through the first lap last time through in race one yesterday today though a little bit more confidence i'm not so sure that everyone's gonna go down there and get out the other side clean but we're gonna hope for that well little extra bravery that might be dangerous sure and uh well we know some of the teams have been talking to their drivers about exactly that trying to keep the long game in mind it's an interesting mix as well when we talk about multi-class racing on a street course because the performance level of a gt3 car even a gt2 car relative to gt4 is much higher you can see the clock has already begun because we're on that extra portion the extra half laps so to speak before we take the green coming back towards turn number nine the pace car has already taken off ahead and left the field in the hands of the pool sitter brett curtis but that said there are portions of this track where the performance advantages of the faster classes basically are nullified because the track is so tight and narrow that's right the gt3 cars have a lot more downforce than the gt4 cars now the problem is downforce works a lot better at high speed uh at the far end of the racetrack where we're headed to turns four through eight a lot of that is first gear for these gt3 cars you're going basically 60 miles an hour or less for a lot of that you can't use those big wings those big splitters all the dive planes and the arrow pieces on it so the difference really just comes down to mechanical grip grip levels that are pretty similar between the two different classes yesterday's street fight set the stage for today it's a street course unlike any other you've got the korean war veterans memorial bridge tight twisty sections high speeds bumpy braking zones it throws everything at the teams and drivers of gt america powered by aws the field through turns four through eight for the final time before taking the green they'll be forming up into rows of two over the korean war veterans memorial bridge in just a moment pole sitter to the right of the screen that's the ferrari that belongs to brett curtis charlie luck the pole sitter alongside then yesterday's winner james safrones has jason daskalos to his flank already they accelerate there's the green flag we are racing round number eight of the gt america powered by aws series big move there up the inside as sofronus moves into second but here's dascalos with jeff burton on the attack contact there safronus and luck both into the runoff area that will be costly for our championship leader who's now effectively at the back of the field pandemonium in the first quarter and this what we talked about on the pace lap is the risk versus reward too much risk there not enough reward curtis gets away free safronus though perhaps a favorite in this race down deep behind the rest of the gt4 field early it's going to be a long drive to get back to the front here ryan jeff burton was the instigator there very aggressive in the braking zone he got it done but it was four wide the first time they're in to turn nine somehow though everyone continues on albeit a bit way late in the case of safronis and luck good battles going on in the back of the gt4 field as well but right now it is brett curtis out in front leading the way he's got jason jason dascalo's giving chase jeff burton behind then you get to elias sabo in the first and only gt2 car in the field this is out of class competition here with alex welch yesterday's winner in gt4 trying to fend off cj moses gt3 machine this is what we talked about also on the the opening grid lap is the difference between the gt3 and gt4 cars not significant in this portion you see right behind him mark brummond in the bmw m4 stuck behind the mercedes of moses but when we get to the straightaway or the bridge i guess it's a little bit of a straight that's where that mercedes should be able to pull away that's what we expect to see speaking of pulling away though brett curtis with a sizeable advantage it was up over one second over jason vascolos to update you we've seen thrones all the way back to the 20th position charlie luck is in 22nd just derek deboer's backup gt4 car after yesterday's crash splitting those two and it'll be interesting to see how they recover from their misfortune early on that is thomas surgeons yesterday's pole sitter in gt4 in the mclaren able to put the pass on the bmw of bruman so give him an extra spot as he continues his charge back towards the front put him in third place in that category now it's hearing a lot of drivers talk about how fast that mclaren is in a straight line a lot of straight line here on that bridge section so the mclaren will be able to get up on its legs there here's a look at jeff burton again currently third overall winner in the uh the masters championship ryan for drivers 55 and older and we saw burton in the thick of that tussle at the very first lap amanda's got more from the pit lane oh and that's exactly where i want to go you guys talked at the top of the show just how drivers are getting more brave and the bravery growing over the weekend as they get confident with this track you go back to practice jeff burton actually went into the wall so when you see him in turn one take those moves to get back into position he is now in the first place in the master's class as you just said kyle but what's so big is charlie luck is all the way at the back of the field so you have to think that his second win in that class might be coming right here today got the first one just yesterday jeff burton does not lack for confidence or aggression we saw that on display and it served him well jumping a couple of spots to get up into overall podium contention plus the lead in the master's classes kyle and amanda have noted interesting here that jason dascalos has been closing in somewhat on oh oh boy that is a big hit i think that's the gt2 spec audi elias sabo indeed it is that will bring out a full course yellow that was a massive hit you see the wheels ripped off of the right side of the car and usually those are tethered on pretty tight there you see it full course yellow for the first time here that car is used up yesterday was the north american debut for the audi r8 lms gt2 second race does not go quite as well as it did yesterday suffice it to say no and a lot of drivers were talking about coming down off of the bridge in both directions the bumps how rough and violent it is coming off of the bridge back onto the solid ground a pretty violent uh situation and that stresses suspension components and all sorts of things that are right it can also be a handful especially for the gt2 car which has a lot more power and a lot less downforce than its gt3 counterparts elias is a veteran he's been rotting gt4 spec out he's over the last couple of years has some experience in mclaren's as well going back before that some porsches in his past too but has stepped up to gt2 here for this season unfortunately his race is not going according to plan here's chris kagnazzi number 39 car from rin tech a guy who has been coming along strong over the course of this weekend kyle he's got john miller down there helping him out this weekend as well i talked to both of them extensively yesterday and it sounds like for next year the plans are the same trying to you know figure out how the schedule is going to look and they're going to continue to contend with this gt4 mercedes amg you see now elias climbing out of that car that's great to see and of course the safety structures of these cars ryan uh built very very well and at a speed like that like we're about to see uh i'm glad to see him climb out of that car replay here and he's already around boy that is a huge impact kyle right into one of those massive concrete barriers you saw them give and they're designed to do that that helps cushion the blow but to give you an idea of how much force this is kyle these are really heavy concrete barriers each barrier is nine thousand four hundred pounds there are about uh two thousand of them here uh but to move ninety four hundred pounds of concrete back three or four feet that just gives you an idea of how much force is involved in a collision like that and that is phenomenal to see elias climb out of that that is a pretty scary impact there at high speed you can see there how the concrete barriers give but rigid barriers are not great so that's why they're designed to to move and flex like that right exactly so unfortunately the debris field is substantial and there's some fluid down on the race track as well the safety crew quick to go to work there to get the speedy drag on the sro medical staff quickly there to assess elias they'll take him in the medical car which you can see at the bottom of the screen for a quick overview to make sure he's doing all right and he's given the debrief there just wiggling his hands that tells me that something didn't feel right to him that led to that spin it came in a strange place you know again as i mentioned the coming off the bridge and you can see come in both directions how the rubber you can see how it gets lighter and darker kind of in a pattern that's because the cars are basically slamming down on the bumps as they come up over the bridge and every time they do that that's imparting a lot of stress on components to the point where it could rip the wheel out of your hands it could break a suspension piece cut a tire down ryan so many things that could lead to a spin like that in a high speed area we should note that this yellow is not what charlie luck or james afronis wanted to see all this is doing is taking away opportunities for them to recover to come back up through the field we'll get to that story in a moment but first an update on elias sabo from amanda ryan yeah we're standing next to his team and if elias looked confused he had no driver aids there no traction control and it's interesting because i actually talked to elias in the pits yesterday about where he was most nervous on this racetrack and it was off the bridge you talk about the change of of surface from concrete old asphalt new asphalt along with the bumps it can be a bit tricky for drivers but i want to go back to the smile that we saw from elias yesterday after he took that gt2 to a checkered flag for his class yesterday in the pits his gt2 was surrounded by fans guys we have an open paddock here this weekend and the amount of kids and people that have come up to talk to elias this week and i think that will be the highlight for him here in nashville it's been great to see how motor sports in general has been embraced and that extends as well to cheating america the fans have been coming out in huge numbers since the very beginning of the weekend they stuck around all day we were the nightcap yesterday in a busy day of track activity and the fans stuck around to watch as the the racing went into the twilight hours and already with indy car on the docket a little bit later on this afternoon you can see the crowd filing in people taking advantage of their hotel rooms of apartment buildings any place you can get a nice view over this circuit they're doing so and that experience of being in the middle of a major event like this has been so well received by everyone within the paddock yeah nashville's population is just about 700 000 people it feels like every single one of them is lining the racetrack right now which is great to see the energy here has been fantastic bubbling with excitement all weekend long a variety of motorsport on display with their friends of course with the open wheel cars at indy car we've got the stadium super trucks here this weekend as well trans am was here alongside uh gt america powered by aws so a great environment for anybody that's new to motorsport to get a taste of a little bit of everything it has been a festival environment and that's spitting here in nashville known for its festivals known for the music scene and for the motorsports too it's worth going back to some of the history of racing in nashville the nashville fairgrounds were formative in the early days of stock car racing in the states helped launch pretty big careers their wall trips comes to mind the nashville super speedway just outside of town some 40 minutes or so played host just this year actually the cup series returning and before that there was a long history of some of the lower stock car series coming as well as open wheel but uh now this is something brand new here with street course racing for the first time in nashville and it has been really well received the event so far has been phenomenal let's look at some of the the highlights of what we've seen in this race going back to the very start brett curtis the pole sitter in the ferrari did exactly what he needed to do but keep an eye on the lamborghini third in line on the right this is jeff burton and this is the move of the race so far yeah right here touches with that skelos there and all just going in there four wide it's just not gonna work 80 feet wide on entry not 80 feet wide on exit ryan that was never gonna happen well charlie luck talked about needing to have the 360 degree view at the start and it's probably difficult to swallow but this was the right choice bail on it preserve the race car live to race again another day i don't think he had any contact and here's that crash with elias sabo and the gt2 audi and a big impact coming down the hill again uh hearing that driver aids potentially all of a sudden not there and that can be a shock as was that impact and thankfully he climbed out of that okay that was the best news of all big hit there for elias sabo there he is with the help of the medical team and that hand signal pretty universal in motorsports anyone who's ever had a failure of some kind has probably made that at one time or another it's never a fun one no you wanted to be doing the race car hands after the race after you won and you tell everybody how you did the pass that's right that's the ideal bit of charades motorsport charades done after the fact so back to the story lines though and how this is playing out again this looks like it's going to be a lengthy cleanup and possibly the need to to get some kind of equipment there to move the barriers back into position and as the seconds continue to tick down kyle that just makes it that much more difficult for james saffronis and charlie luck who started second and third but had to bail there early on to try and make their way back up through the field we'll talk about that in a second but first more information on our pull sitter our race leader as well brett curtis ryan as you take a look at that ferrari that is leading from the pole right now i want to go back to what we were talking about at the front of the show when you look at his incident yesterday he was honest in saying that he missed his reference point on the track he was a little too aggressive on the throttle which sent him into the wall but you have to think that there's some conversations that he's having with himself again right now as we get prepared for another restart i have eyes on his team right now they're kind of pacing around looking at the big board i'm sure they're in communication with brett on strategy but ryan as someone that's covered this series and you know these drivers in and out what's going through the mind of brett curtis right now i'm sure he's rehashing what happened yesterday because it's going to be a very similar situation when we get restarted he'll have to be trying to fend it off from the lead and that's where things went awry yesterday kyle life's all about second chances ryan you get another chance to do it he's in the same spot he was yesterday different driver behind him now but one thing i wanted to go back to briefly is jason daskalos in the audi r8 lms same car that sophronis was in yesterday and i noticed how good that car was through four through eight sephora said his car is fantastic through that section as well i was going to make the same point in fact just before the crash i noticed the same thing that it is the same audi r8 lms ultra which is the older generation gt3 car and that is one of the things that gt america brings to the table it's targeted at the bronze driver it is targeted for some of those the the different types of cars gt3 gt4 and gt2 but this older generation gt3 car hard to find a place for it to race competitively in a pro environment these days this provides that chance and a lot of these cars they're in hands they're being used and many of their owners would like to race them that's what's brought jason dascalos back to the series and i love that as well i mean we got these these older gt3 cars here we're running on an old school style street course i mentioned yesterday how a lot of american road racing began racing in town or city streets watkins glen was like that elkhart lake where road america is same thing there we've seen street races in baltimore obviously long beach belle isle this is how american road racing started and to have these older gt3 cars competing alongside the shiny new evo generations of like the mercedes amg gt3 evo that george kurtz from dxtt racing is driving i love that and through the sro's balance performance system those cars despite there being significant gaps in age between them can fight on an equitable playing field that's one of the beauties of gt racing and then in gt america specifically where the bop is done slightly different than some of the other gt3 series in order to take into account the older generation gt3 cars all right back to the storyline we'll try this for the third time of charlie luck and james safron is coming back through the field they've made some progress in doing so sephora's is back to 12th overall made his way through most of the gt4 field charlie luck is 15th overall a few cars in between those two so they have made some headway in a short amount of time but they need this race to go back green if they're going to salvage a result i think that's the bigger concern is the clock running down the caution will bring them all back together a little bit for better or for worse perhaps they would have preferred the traffic to come every once in a while rather than have them all stacked together in a group but the clock ticking down 22 and a half minutes left to go there abouts they're going to run out of time so the intensity level is going to come up charlie luck has had such a phenomenal season competing in the masters class for drivers 55 and older and he's been dominant there jeff burton breaking up that dominance to some degree with his victory yesterday in the class but even still it's been consistent performances inside the overall top three for charlie that has him leading the overall championship points throw away the master stuff he has been there week in and week out in this series logging those results this would be a pretty big hit but as he pointed out in that interview with the open a lot of the drivers that are featuring towards the front this weekend are not drivers that are running a full season so james afronis who had the win yesterday that's one example brett curtis as well this is his season debut here this weekend so that might help soften the blow a little bit for sure and just for the fans at home the gold on the ticker that is the gt3 overall championship drivers the red is the masters class drivers of course burton uh askew and charlie luck then the gray background numbers those are the gt4 cars of which cagnozzi and welch are the current leaders thomas sergeant running in third behind them uh ryan hopefully will be getting back to green at some point in the next couple minutes but it's going to be less than half the race distance remaining so 40 minute race let's make it 15 or 20. that's going to ramp things up even more so i'll tell you what though i'm starting to see the drivers weaving back and forth more and more aggressively than we have over the past few laps behind the safety car that tells me that maybe we're getting that much closer as chris kugnonski continues to lead the gt4 field he runs currently in the eighth position overall that's that mercedes on the screen right there he's got uh yesterday's winner in that class alex welch right behind and possibly the fastest car in gt4 this weekend has been the mclaren just behind the gunmetal gray car of thomas sergeant who had a couple of mistakes yesterday but otherwise looked primed to have a very very good results you talked to him earlier today and and he's starting to get his head around this street course you know one of the things he was telling me about is how street car like this mclaren 570s gt4 is it retains a lot of the street car characteristics it's detuned from about 550 horsepower down to 430 i think we're coming into the coming to restart potentially soon here ryan looked like we had some speeding up and slowing down we will be on the lookout for a restart to this race that is thomas sergeant we were speaking about tenth overall as you see on the loom rank display that alternates between his position overall and the first three letters of his last name looks like we'll have at least one more lap behind the safety cars we've passed the restart zone on this really difficult race track there you see the safety crew taking one more look at that barrier still a depression i guess you could say in that barrier i'm not sure if that's something they feel comfortable with or not but most of the staff at least has moved on and hopefully that signals a return to racing very soon tell you the drivers looked like they wanted to go they were revving up and down the bridge and almost seemed like they were coming to the green but i wanted to also mention when we were talking about tom thomas surgeon the restart we're going to single file restart but we're not going to start where we started the race heading into turn nine we're going to get the green flag between turns 10 or 11 and turn one so as we wait for the lamborghini uras pace car to peel off there is a good look at where we will restart this race a lot more confined than where we started the race originally it is remarkably tight so we'll do at least one more lap that's a good point kyle because the restart zone actually is just behind where these cars are coming through now we're getting word that it will be a green flag this next time around but this is the very tight one two section which also includes a pit redrawing we shouldn't see that come into play with this series because there are no scheduled pit stops at least but that has caught a couple of drivers out so far in the practice sessions the blend line is quite challenging leaving the pits yeah when you leave the pit lane you basically have to juke left and right very quickly there's actually two scoring loops there and one of which checks to make sure that you're far left and not going to be in the way of traffic when you rejoin on the racetrack and in a moment the pace car is going to pull off we're going to single file restart here ryan so we're not going to have the double file grid that we had at the initial start but they've got to run a long way around to take the green again at the start finish line or the finish line i should say and we're gonna get about 17 minutes of racing remaining in this race before we get the race back under green let's head back to the pit lane for an update on our gt4 class leader yeah we talk about the different classes racing here this weekend ryan as you just said the gt4 class leading that right now is chris cagnazzi i ended up talking to him prior to this race and he's one of those that enjoys the track from the transitions he loves going from the concrete to the old asphalt to the new asphalt he found that the new asphalt on this track was holding up very well but one of his favorite parts of this entire track is coming back over that korean war memorial bridge back into the fans back into that long straightaway he feels that's where the mercedes has an advantage but also in the really really tight corners so look for chris cadnazzy coming off of that double podium at vir he could be the one leading here with the win today he's in that position now we are just a few quarters away from the restart zone the pace car has already pulled off it's under the control of brett curtis now in the skidaria course of ferrari out in front panning back through the field that is james cipronis right behind him charlie luck they are trying to recover from the issues earlier but tom hansig displays the green flag and we are back to racing on the streets of nashville brett curtis with a great jump this is a bold move by kyle washington trying to find a way past the brightly colored lamborghini if jason harward has to duck back in line for now single file through this part of the racetrack kyle so much threading the needle so far so good and up over the korean war uh veterans memorial bridge 1 660 feet from end to end up over the crest kyle washington looks to drivers right on jason harward slams the door shut on the run down to turn four our word slammed that door right in kyle's face kyle has to settle in line here we go this is safron is trying to make his way back up through the field he has made it past one of the dxdt racing cars for position in gt3 so did charlie luck so that's up one more spot for him he's now pinned behind the second place car third place car in gt4 alex welch who has slipped behind thomas sergeant on that restart so sergeant now up a position into second in that class meanwhile brett curtis leads comfortably over jason daskalos and jeff burton here we go watch this mclaren 570s get a little bit of the toe from james the frontis now they're going to be battling side by side down the hill towards turn nine thomas sergeant surges to the lead for a moment but here comes kagnazi back up the inside for nine the mercedes very strong on the brakes and here comes charlie lock trying to recover in his gt3 spec porsche for right motorsports he has to try and find his way through this fight for the lead in gt4 patience is going to be needed here charlie chris kagnazi currently holding off thomas sergeant for the moment it's mercedes ahead of mclaren here comes the porsche from out of class able to split those two for the moments that was what knows he wanted to see in the mirror of that mercedes gt4 for the moment he now he's gonna have to deal with charlie luck in the right motor sports porsche going by him but he'll have the bridge to do it as we have a look at george kurtz leading harward and kyle washington right now for fourth fifth and sixth overall been a nice charge through the field for george kurtz who struggled yesterday he has a tendency of having great runs on sunday after struggles on saturday that's been the theme all season long luck has now been able to make his way through the gt4 traffic and he sets off in pursuit of james cefronis but here is george kurtz currently fourth overall in his crowdstrike mercedes amg gt3 evo for dxdt racing yeah they were chasing a lot of traction control and abs settings to deal with a lot of the bumps and bruises around this circuit but george kurtz and that crowdstrike mercedes team they got that thing dialed in and it has just been progressive progress all week long here's the fight ferrari versus audi it's a reprise of what we saw yesterday although it's a different audi running second with jason dascalos playing the role that james saffronis was cast in just one day ago this is safronis in the orange and blue gmg racing audi he's trying to find a way past a car that he helps to run that's also from the gmg racing stable kyle washington just up ahead and washington embroiled in his own battle trying to fight his way past the zelus car of jason harwood yeah washington's tried a couple times to get by the hardwood machine but hasn't been successful now with some pressure from safronis behind i think the patience level is going to drop significantly here washington tried to lead apex there to get a run out of the corner has to tuck in single file not much you can do through turns one and two this is the right hander at turn three crucial corner kyle because it leads to the long straightaway up and over the bridge at the front of the field though ferrari versus audi back on again dascalos takes a peek to the inside but falls back in line brett curtis holding him off for now i love that move to pop out of line get out of the mirrors of the ferrari out front that's a big distraction through six and seven right to the rear bumper of the ferrari as they come over the crest and turn seven nothing between these two it's been nip and tuck ever since we went back to the green flag brett curtis past the area where he crashed out of the lead just one day ago can dascalo stay in the slipstream or is there too much power behind the hood of that prancing horse it seems like the straight line edge goes to the ferrari kyle the turbocharged v8 engine certainly pulls that car away the audi in behind closing on the brakes and in the titan twisties though through turn nine and jeff burton just watching from behind hoping they get spicy out front albertans in the cap bird seat because he's already leading him oh class that's a lunge from uh kyle washington able to whoa it down and avoid the tire barrier that lets his team a boss james safron is slipped past and breaks off that fight for the moment although it brings charlie luck to his back bumper porsche versus porsche as they climb up onto the pit straight again and here is again the battle for the lead i want to see dasglose get right to the rear bumper of brett curtis as they head into turn four that's where the advantage is he might have to make the pass between six and seven we haven't seen anybody pass there yet but he might have to now with a straight line advantage of the ferrari you might be on to something but this is as close as stascalos has been able to get at the exit of turn eight curtis already defensive over the bridge we see him take this different line into turn nine that's not just being defensive that is his preferred line for whatever reason it seems to suit the ferrari we've seen him doing that both days so far and he's used it to his advantage it holds that audi at bay at least for now but dascalo's not going away quietly seems like street courses are constant compromise and that might be what dasilos has to do but a little bit better run here but getting up through the gears seems to be where that audi struggles as they climb up onto the korean war veterans memorial bridge again it just stretches that gap to about 10-15 car lengths by the time they crest the bridge it is a massive drop in elevation from the peak of that bridge down here into the braking zone you don't think of street courses as having tons of elevation change but it's not just the bridge kyle this section of the race track here actually has a surprising amount plus all the camber change that goes on as you crest the hump at the center of these public roads absolutely here's our race vision powered by aws corner speeds at turn 10. we told you the opposite ends of the racetracks are very very tight 33 miles an hour ryan i drove faster than that around there i think but it's pretty tight down there for sure 33 miles an hour and that's fast that's the fastest anyone's made turned in so far that is the penultimate corner around this 11 turn race track one of the three consecutive left-handers that are 90 degrees as far as their radius goes that's uh that make up really the back third of this racetrack curtis though forced to go on the defensive here with just over 10 minutes left in the race trying to fend off jason dascalos in the white outing it's been a dog fight out front but i think dascalos has to get creative with this pass it's not going to come on the best spot on the racetrack to make that pass which i would say would be turn nine he's going to have to do it here you don't want to use the bumper ryan you don't want to draw the attention of the stewards quickly to update you on what's going on in gt4 it's still chris cagnancy leading thomas sergeant but it's very close less than a second between those two less than half a second at the line between the top two here and don't look away because well i was about to say jeff burton is closing in but that is the sergeant car we were speaking of a moment ago it's wound up in the fence with just under 10 minutes left full course yellow yeah he was second in the gt4 category and there is definitely some fluid leaking from the nose of that machine and that is unfortunate to say the least the number 26 the private motorsports top racing car uh with some major left side damage and you see it's got damage on the left rear as well so he's pancaked something pretty hard big hit it would appear on the left side of that mclaren 570s gt4 he was giving it a really good run let's take a look at what happened just went straight at the exit to turn three i might be wrong but i thought i saw a little bit of smoke or or dust from the inside wall and you might have clipped that inside apex and that shoots you wide we've seen that in a couple of other series this weekend so that's my guess because if it's not that then something went wrong well before the corner yeah you can see actually a little bit of that concrete dust on the wheel on the rubber of that pirelli tire and i think you're right ryan i think you just clip that inside and once you go straight i mean it just looked like it just stopped turning and that's what happens when you clip it inside walls it just sends you straight to the opposite side of the racetrack and unfortunately that is going to be terminal damage for that car that thing is done for thomas surgeon who was giving it a nice run up to that point he led a great deal of the race yesterday had a little slip up that cost him the weed and then something happened that dropped him outside of the top five in gt4 and we did not catch but looked like he put all that behind him and was giving it a great fight there trying to run down chris hugnanzi when something went wrong and a little bit ginger walking away from that race car yeah that's got to be a pretty hard hit unfortunately one of the fastest gt4 cars here this weekend but ryan we all know motorsports sometimes the fastest car does not win the racing there's so much more involved especially at a street course so with just eight minutes on the clock now it becomes a race against time to try and get this restarted step one is to get the medical crew to thomas to make sure he's doing all right get him checked out but then they've got to clear that car they've got to clean up any of the fluid that's down on the racing surface it's going to be difficult to get that done the the biggest hurdle you've got on a street course is there are limited places for a cutout is what they're called where you can position a safety vehicle that can go out and retrieve a damaged race car it can bring the medical crew it can bring the materials required to clean up an incident like this one basically your only options are on either side of these bridges and you can't send them counter course so trying to get a wrecker out to this car to get it cleared off when it's sitting right here as it is basically on the bridge this is not an easy place to get to the tow truck did get there so that's the good news but it's going to be very very tight to try and get this race restarted they'll do their best i know there is a a dispatch location from the turn three area and you can see the truck in the background just making its way out just past the exit of pit lane essentially so we may be able to get that recovered but my bigger concern will be the fluid cleanup ryan you do not want to turn a field loose on a racetrack with any sort of water or coolant or oil of any kind that would be a recipe for disaster this is jeff burton let's go back to the move he made at the start of the race kyle really impressive stuff from someone who does not have extensive street course racing experience by the admission of the team was working his way up to speed around this place when i checked in with them earlier in the weekend but there was no lack of confidence headed into turn nine for the first time after the initial green flag made it three four wide up the inside and no contact he was perfectly clean he made it stick it was the move of the weekend 80 feet wide down there he used all 80 feet i mean that's uh the racetrack's wide enough to get four cars into the corner it's just you could can't get four cars out of the corner like that so unfortunately couple drivers had to bail out but burton was able to squeeze through and get himself up into third overall and leading that masters category critically this could be a weekend sweep for him yeah it's looking that way he's got the lead charlie luck currently second but seventh overall so that shouldn't hurt him too much in uh in terms of the points and so and that's the good news for charlie but as far as the overall is concerned that's where he is going to to suffer somewhat second place running car right there is the outing of jason daskalos and for an update on jason let's go to amanda well when you think of uh you guys were comparing uh the advantage of the ferrari and the long straightaways for the audi it's in the tight spots it's in the slow spots where they can work on the braking zones and really take the advantage over the other cars and jason dasglose feels like he has the car for it you got to remember on the restart they're using term one two and three so if there is going to be a play here in strategy this is where jason could potentially get the overtake on curtis and that's where he's going to look to try to get it done guys if we go back to green you're exactly right that's the place to do it this is charlie luck as mentioned seventh overall that will hurt him in the points but he does have the crown strike fastest lap of the race so 130.928 that's impressive because he's done that battling through traffic yeah he had to pass a handful of gt4 cars and also some gt3 cars as well and he did a great job i mean to have the uh the ability to see what was coming down in turn 9 in the start and be able to turn away make that decision and avoid any crash damage ryan that was more impressive to me than finishing on the podium that was amazing driving there he did a great job in that situation no question about that this right motorsports team as well prepares a a mean porsche they've got a lot of experience they're racing simultaneously right now they've got a race going on up in elkhart lake at road america with another one of their porsches they've been doing some single make porsche racing up there this weekend too plus this program here it's a monumental effort for the ohio based team split between two different locations two very different types of race track between the street course here in nashville and road america up in wisconsin which by the way is the next step stop on the calendar in this championship we'll be headed there in just a few weeks national park speed one of my favorite places on planet earth ryan 14 corners four miles in through the wisconsin countryside not a whole lot of better venues than that one i'm really excited as far as natural terrain road courses go it's about as good as they get but this street course here in nashville is quickly earning its spots in terms of the registry of must-see events in north america motorsports just the first year of the event but amazing facility amazing effort behind the scenes to get this event off and the reception as we've talked about several times has been remarkable the crowds have been huge and you don't make a comparison to the long beach grand prix lightly but i think in terms of the atmosphere the number of people you see how difficult it is to move around in the paddock it is an app comparison and that speaks volumes to what uh scott porchetta and the rest of the music city grand prix organizing committee have been able to do in the first year of this event i've heard a lot of comparisons to other racetracks the bumps of sebring the tightness of saint pete the atmosphere of dare i say monaco or macau ryan there's so much happening here this weekend uh and it's been such an exciting time there's a good look at james cephrones who is battled back from that same turn nine incident that we saw at the initial start and this was an event that as soon as it as it was announced he wanted to be a part of it he talked about that openly he loves street course races and he loves nashville so a perfect combination got the win yesterday in dramatic fashion after issues for brett curtis on a late race restart but uh not gonna get it done here nevertheless kept the thing clean and hopefully we'll see james at a future event before the season is up i know he's got good memories of road america i believe that's where he made his pro racing debut so if that is uh that might be one where we might see james behind the wheel again george kurtz right there fresh off of a top 10 running class at the total energy's 24 hours of spa in belgium and if you're looking for someone with a crazy travel schedule this is a place to start because not only did he run in belgium last week it's not like he went home in between he went out to las vegas and did some supercars lapping on a special course they got out there in vegas did that for a couple of days before heading here to nashville plugging himself into a supercar of his own this gt3 spec mercedes and uh he's had a nice weekend a bit rough yesterday but a solid run into fourth overall and third as far as the overall runners are concerned although i guess that really doesn't matter because they're they're scoring relative to all the gt3 cars uh with points but uh remarkable the man just loves his racing doesn't he he sure does and can you mention that run at the total energy's 24 hours of spa then coming here but think back to the inaugural gt america powered by aws races back at sonoma earlier in the year george kurtz won both of them so he's already found success in this series as unfortunately ryan we see the white flag waving under full course caution here tom hansing up in the flag stand not what we wanted to see unfortunately both races this weekend will end behind the safety car but there were no lack of fireworks in case you're just joining us by the way this second safety car of the race was brought out due to a uh an accident involving thomas sergeant who at the time was challenging for the lead in gt4 ultimately caught the wall with his mclaren and we saw him walk away from the car that was good news scary accident earlier involving elias sabo also able to walk away from his heavily damaged gt2 audi which was great news after something went awry in this section of the racetrack earlier in the race so again unfortunate that it'll have to end under yellow but plenty of highlights to come away from this one uh both yesterday and today kyle plenty of fireworks racing around the streets of nashville we got some sprints in there ryan and they were good ones and it just makes me want more of this i want to come back next year and do it again i mean the the the spectacle of gt racing on a street circuit like this is like none other and this track you and i walked it on thursday we walked around you know this is this is creative this is really cool the track that we've got here in nashville and it's been a pleasure to race on it to see the drivers take on a new challenge here in gt america powered by aws i definitely want to do it again that was a blast right around this part of the track actually just beyond the wall there's a speed limit sign that's been altered to say speed limit 240. i love the locals getting involved very excited about their events and it's only going to grow from here they cap their attendance for the weekend to try and keep it at a number they felt was manageable but have plenty of reasons to believe it could expand even further in the future and again hats off to all the event organizers for what they've been able to unveil for us for the first time ever racing on the streets of nashville but it looks like it's going to be brett curtis in the scenario course of ferrari up at the front of this field who's going to get the win atoning for the mistake yesterday on the restart that cost him victory brett curtis bounces back in a big way he leads flag to flag on the streets of nashville brett curtis wins race two of the weekend of the music city grand prix jason dasilos wasn't able to take on brett curtis underground flag conditions but he finishes second jeff burton third overall but winner in the masters category in that reardon racing lamborghini see james staphon is able to recover to a fifth overall jason harward comes home six charlie luck seventh but second in the master's class and then we dropped out here to chris kugnozzi got it done in his mercedes then it is the audi of alex welch who comes home in second in gt4 and rob holland a second consecutive podium didn't get to talk about him a whole lot but the old veteran shouldn't say old he's not that old but he is a veteran having raised just about anything and anywhere including the pikes peak hill climb just a few weeks ago he's able to put together a solid run which should be a nice boost for him in the championship as he's finished ahead of the gt4 points leader sean quinlan in both races so far this weekend that's what he needed to position himself for a championship run believe it was a second yesterday and a third today so a really good weekend for rob holland i had a great time talking with him there's so many drivers that i had such a pleasure chatting with and even elias sabo that that persistent smile the the grin on his face it's such a pleasure to chat with all these drivers uh for my first round up here to to chat with them for the first time and everyone's been so welcoming and chris cagnosi chat with him for a little while yesterday was so excited to be here and so excited to be back next year with an additional program so this is very exciting for kagnazzi to get this victory and alex welch good weekend for him first in a second can't complain no question about that he'll take it and that should tighten things up in the gt4 points battle as we get closer to the end of the season heading next to road america and the full component of sro america championships will be there fanner tech gt world challenge america powered by aws gt america powered by aws pirelli gt4 america as well as tc america powered by the skip barber racing school it's a busy busy weekend and i'm most excited about the fact that after a one-year hiatus the parade of race cars into downtown elkhart lake is coming back so if you're in the midwest if you're in driving distance of road america and you're on the fence it's a great video but this is something new that was started in 2019 modeling after what's done at spa where they bring many of the race cars into the town center and you get to mingle with the drivers see the cars up close and uh enjoy the hospitality in this case of elkhart lake it's it's so so cool then you throw in all the racing on top of it over the course of the weekend we hope to see so many of you up there joining us at road america in a few short weeks i'm very excited for that we've also got watkins glenn coming up a little bit later in the fall i'm excited to head back there ryan where i i'm that's my home track out there so uh it'd be great to head back to the three and a half mile uh 11 turn circuit up there in watkins glen new york well let's think about what's left on the schedule we'll do that in a second here are the unofficial results brett curtis with the win rebounding from the disappointment yesterday jason daskalos tonight's result to get up to second jeff burton winner in the master's class third overall then george kurtz and james safronis on down the list it goes checking out 10th overall though that's where you'll find the gt4 class leader chris kagnazzi picks up the win there alex welch in second rob holland completing the podium in gt4 the second page unfortunately those that didn't have so much luck tough go on the home track for matt forbush that team for bush performance located down the road in memphis didn't really have the results they were hoping for with their supra derek deboer good to see him in the field today after the heavy crash yesterday and then a couple others that had their issues in today's race but uh talking about what's still to come on the schedule you've got watkins clan road america sebring and the indianapolis motor speedway that's not a bad quartet of racetracks to wrap up your schedule with coming on the heels of this beautiful venue the skyline of downtown nashville overhead let's go down to our overall race winner who's standing by with amanda oh and ryan you gotta love the smile on these winners right here on the streets of nashville but brett it was an all-night affair for your team they were here to three o'clock in the morning replacing almost everything on the front half of that car when you look at your tenure in racing where does this win rank for you oh it's way up there well first of all street courses are always my favorite and the team gave me such a good car all weekend long and i had a great race up until it was a bad race yesterday and it was my fault and made a really big hit on the car and the team did such a good job they rebuilt the whole entire front end last night made it perfect gave me a really good card today so i owe the team and so it's way up there it was really really a fun weekend nashville did a great job with the track it was awesome super fun you guys get to ride around this track and you see all the fans even looking at us as we interview right now from a driver's perspective what's it like sharing this experience with them unbelievable this is one of the very best fan experiences i've ever had in my life and i've been able to do le mans and all the imsa races united states and this is unbelievable the fans have been tremendous and it's just so cool to see everybody out here rooting us on so i felt like i owed the fans to some extent a win too with the only ferrari out here today the prancing course gets the win here in nashville awesome drive from brett curtis and yeah we talked about how he is a veteran he's driven a lot of different cars in a lot of different places so that is high praise to hear him heap the praise over what we've had in store for us this weekend in nashville kyle and i love that he was talking about how the team got the car repaired it's a team effort in motorsports and road racing especially so uh congratulations to not only brett but the entire scenario corsa team to get that car repaired and in better shape to go out there and win the race today they did just that maybe we didn't play up that story enough during the race we talked about him bouncing back mentally but that's a long night for the team when they encounter so much damage from the previous race and on top of it the immense frustration of almost having the race win yeah i went and looked at the car this morning and i thought they had a backup car looked perfect i couldn't understand how they could make it look that good after taking a hit that hard yesterday so again props to the team props to brett and even with the full course yellows he still had to drive and not make mistakes to keep dascolos behind him great work by that team saw a great drive as well from uh jeff burton and jeff is standing by with amanda right now well guys this is a new one for me we're actually walking to the podium here on the streets of nashville i'm with the masters class winner jeff burton who sweeps it here in nashville what made this effort possible jeff well like i said last night we've really worked hard at this we really have and and i do the easy part truth truly they've they've made it they've made it easy for me the reardon group and it was scary when i came i love this track now i should right jeff when you're on the top spot of that state of the podium what are you looking out and seeing i'm probably envisioning my family being here because not one of them's here so i'm hoping that they're watching that's what i'm seeing that's what i'm looking for well congratulations well deserved jeff heard him give the credit to the reardon racing team they've done a lot to step up to gt3 they just moved to a brand new shop by the way in park city utah just down the road from salt lake where they have been based they've got a ancillary headquarters out at thermal in uh california but laura tallman vesco kazarov that whole operation at reardon racing trending in the right direction they're very very busy with racing lot a lot of different series but a big victory for them here in nashville back to amanda ron we're rounding the corner to the podium and i tell you it's even an experience i know chris sees this there's fans on this side there's fans on this side chris you came you told me yesterday that you love coming across that korean memorial bridge when you came down as the winner what was going through your thoughts i mean it was really a special moment you know really was a special moment because going to a street course for the first time this is my first time um never seen it before i think i adapted really well to it and i just kept the pedal on pedaled i kept the throttle all the way down so i got around the corner every single lap and i think that's what helped me separate from the rest of the pack so it was great great experience next weekend when you're talking with your friends and family and you're reminiscing on this weekend what's going to be the leading emotion for you from this weekend yeah i think the leading emotion is going to be from what happened yesterday under yellow where i had a small little incident because i didn't i didn't want to rear end alex so i went to the wall instead and i couldn't get the car started so i missed to the emotions of today of now being on top so i think for me that's what i'll be most most proud of congratulations enjoy your celebration great drive from chris who has taken to gz4 racing very nicely got a lot of experience in single make ferrari racing you can see rob holland standing by there the motool uniform he's talking with alex welch that's your gt4 podium jason daskalos coming into the picture as well handshakes all around everyone just thrilled to be here and uh everyone who stands on the podium this weekend at a track like this i'd say they earned it i'm glad that they're shaking hands i thought after a weekend here in nashville they'd all be trying to fight each other after the confines of the circuit but uh great to see them all you know hanging out and having fun and you know fist bumping and shaking hands that's great to see here ryan let's take a look at the highlights for race two of the weekend for gt america powered by aws it was greg curtis who led the field to the green flag over the korean war veterans memorial bridge there was the green flag curtis took the lead but keep an eye on the lamborghini coming from further back jeff burton on the charge here kyle yeah he got in there a little bit hot and behind him a big stack up you see the 45 of charlie luck bail out and avoided major collision here's the crash with elias sabo backing hard into the barrier on the entry to turn nine glad that he walked away and uh and got out of that car safely that was the first of two full course yellows we saw in the race today but as you said very fortunate that saba walked away from an incident that moved several of the 9 000 plus pound concrete barriers stationed around this 2.17 mile street course and there he is giving the signal something not quite right but we did go back to racing tom hansing with the green flag and brett curtis able to get the strong restart ahead of jason dascalo's giving chase in the homegrown audi effort just behind but dascalos was strong especially on either end of this racetrack kyle yeah definitely really good in the four through eight complex but couldn't quite have the power to get him at the end of the straightaway here is thomas sergeant the crash at the exited turn three just clipped the apex wall and unfortunately the battle for the lead ended in the crash that was the fight for the gt4 lead unfortunately we couldn't go back to green the checkered flag fell for brett curtis on the streets of nashville we'll see you at the next round in elkhart lake [Music] foreign there he is

Channel: GTWorld

Views: 48,994

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, music city grand prix race 2, music city grand prix 2021, gt america, gt america 2021, gt america music city 2021, music city nashville, gt america nashville

Id: dvy-fn-sl3M

Length: 65min 25sec (3925 seconds)

Published: Sun Aug 08 2021