RACE 1 - ROAD AMERICA - GT AMERICA 2021

foreign [Music] the inaugural gt america powered by aws season rolls into its first ever trip to america's national park of speed road america plays host to this multi-class championship and round seven make that round nine of the season coming off of a street festival in nashville the last time out hello everyone welcome to wisconsin my name is ryan marine calvin fish alongside amanda busick in the pit lane and it is a pleasure to have your company as we get set for 40 minutes of multi-class racing at one of the finest road racing facilities in the country calvin great venue for this race and a fascinating lineup up and down the different classes championship definitely coming into perspective but i want to start with the story on the outside of the front row the return of memo gidley to top level sports car racing great to see along with the return of the bentley continental gt3 yeah i think it's so cool to see maymo who had such an outstanding single-seater career ran in champ car for a number of years including running for chip ganassi racing one of the top teams of course in our sport then turned his attention to sports car racing but had a massive crash at the rolex 24 hours back in 2014 and just went through uh tremendous rehabilitation over the course of three years and uh but his desire for racing was never diminished despite that setback and to see him back here and to be on pace it's a pretty cool story remarkable comeback for sure we'll talk more about that throughout the course of the broadcast but before we get to that let's take a tour of this 14 turn facility with our porsche track preview [Music] hi this is jan helen with the porsche track preview here at road america coming on to the front straightaway getting ready to start a lap here at road america long straight away and a long ways from the start finish line into turn one always makes for a lot of good action at the at the start of the race sixth gear 162 mile an hour down the fourth gear really fast turn one using all of that exit curb really fun corner and then into turn three late on the brakes down the second gear and then getting ready to uh set up for a really good exit onto that long back straightaway into turn five getting ready to go under the bridge here and this straightaway is all about setting up for a late deep breaking into five lots of um good overtaking opportunities here hard on the brakes at the 200 sign sixth gear all the way down the first sharp left hander and then up the hill into turn six very short tap on the brake here car gets really light on the uh on the exit of the corner and then into turn seven just a short lift back to power and then flat out down the hill into turn eight breaking right at the 200 down the second gear using a little bit of that curve at the apex and then ready to enter the carousel long sweeper right fourth gear really fast really fun here in this uh porsche gt3r with all that downforce and then exiting the carousel setting up to uh to enter the kink kink is uh one of those famous corners here in america really fast fifth gear 137 miles an hour at the apex and then down into canada corner braking's going to be right at the 300 again a good place to uh to make some moves hitting that apex curb and then again using all of that curve on the exit and then setting up for billy mitchell super front corner blind on the entry and then using all that curb on the exit laid on the brakes for turn 14 making sure we set up for a good exit and then on to the front straightaway and that was a lap here at road america a truly fantastic venue a great ride along with john halen there whether you're in a gt3 car or a gt4 car this is the place to be and standing amongst the drivers is our amanda business we'll be hearing from her in just a moment but first calvin this grid the mixed class nature of it very much a throwback to the days gone by of pearly world challenge yeah it is and you're going to get that overlapping occasionally between some slower cars in the faster class and the faster cars of the slower class so that's always interesting but plenty of room here to stretch your legs we've got three spots where you got by a 4 000 foot stretch of flat out raceway but some very demanding corners as well long duration corners some very tight right handers but big brake zones and with those big brake zones come plenty of opportunity for overtaking lots of elevation change you could see it with the onboard lap there with jan halen such a great mix of machinery with a great view of it is our own amanda business and engines have fired down here so we're just moments away from the race starting but i want to go back to the race in nashville if you look at that weekend while james safranis did have a win i think the overall winner of the weekend is jeff burton and if you look at his performance of late let's go back to the last four races he has podiumed at every race uh of those weekends i asked him where the consistency has come at he said this team is just working really hard of it they are testing not only one time but two times ahead of some of these events they did that specifically here sessions and he said [Music] it's been a great season of growth for jeff no question about that thanks to amanda for that update those big wins at nashville have vaulted him into championship contention within the masters class but the man at the head of the masters class is driving that right motorsports porsche third in line charlie luck not only leading in the masters class calvin but also he's challenging for the overall championship yeah he's just been super consistent very impressive actually sit by the side of the track yesterday for a couple of sessions and was just really impressed with how committed he is very much on the money in terms of these lines around the racetrack how he applies the throttle coming through the corners just really has a lot of confidence right now and uh right motorsports are an excellent operation they're giving charlie a great porsche to work with and you know he's looking at the overall lead right now he's got that masters class the lead as well with five wins and three times he's finished second in the masters but i think he's got his eye on the big prize and uh with that overall uh championship lead and the fact that george curtis is not competing here this weekend after an incident yesterday in practice um jeff burton is the guy who's given chase as amanda said he's got a lot of momentum too coming off two class wins at the national street it's a very different scenario uh scenery and scenario here we've gone from a street circuit now to the four miles of open and very wide racing territory and landscape here road america certainly that reardon racing team rounding into form and plenty of form at the front of this field with james safron is starting on pole he edged out memo gidly by a mere 31 thousandths of a second for that pole it will be gmg racing audi ahead of flying lizard motorsports bentley at the front of this field but that's just the gt3 side of things gt4 is remarkably close as well sean quinlan weathered the storm that bmw maybe not the best package on the streets of nashville the opposite though very true here at road america because quinlan [Applause] however it's a hornet's nest behind him yes really tight you've got a bundle of different manufacturers represented in those front rows of the gt4 grid but certainly the bmw has proven already today as the gt4 car to beat here at road america just has really strong straightaway speed and as we said uh three times around this circuit you're really stretching the legs on these cars 400 feet run from turn 14 from the start finish right down at the turn one and there's 3 800 feet from the exit turn three down the marine sweep to turn five and even from the exit the carousel about four thousand foot run there so it's almost like a a track dino in terms of uh demonstrating how much horsepower you have jason bell will start on the outside of the front row in gt4 he sits third in treaty four class points coming into this weekend he's had several podiums but hasn't had that class win yet calvin i'm sure he's anxious to get that done and he's the next closest pursuer to quinlan in that bmw yeah and he's gonna be pushing hard so we'll have to wait and see i mean uh at this stage of the game i think it's all about getting back into your rhythm big break for many of these drivers but here we go let's uh get back to action some of them competed at nashville but for others it's been a big big break since the rounds of vir audi versus bentley in the front row memo gidley flying lizard motorsports with tko motorsports about to bring the thunder once again bringing that bentley back into sro america competition the second row is all porsches with charlie luck and andy wilson making his return since for the first time since circuit of the americas the green flag comes early and here comes james on the loud pedal quickly gidley now slotting in line right behind in that big old bentley then it's side by side further back with jeff burton making moves taking a peek to the inside in the silver and red lamborghini is around the outside there in the black and white machine so he's trying to tuck back in there nice move there he makes a move there on charlie luck and takes over third position great start from dascollos from sixth on the grid able to jump up into third there in that opening sequence of corners it's side by side further back kyle washington in the white porsche doing battle with jason harward in the brightly colored celus motorsports lamborghini everyone's starting to settle in here down into that big brake zone charlie look late on the brakes vascular sweeps across there doesn't go to apex gives him enough racing room everyone's being pretty respectful here on this opening lap generally eager to get that position back has to settle in for now jerusalem has made goodis escape at the front of this field memo gidley slotting in in second in the bentley and just behind dascalos the big mover in the early going trying to hold off the points leader charlie luck there aboard that silver and red lamborghini get the car tucked in this is where the damn force really comes into play through this long sweeping carousel corner when you're foreign close behind you lose that little bit of element of air getting to the nose and getting to the winged elements on these race cars which uh doesn't give you the grip you're looking for high speed keep here 130 miles an hour approach a little bit of oil dried down from an earlier incident today in the gt world challenge event quite possibly a problem in the viper club event that immediately preceded this race because that's even more oil than we saw from the incident in the earlier race that you alluded to so that is a treacherous part of the track for sure well washington might be a bit off the pace here in this gmg porsche number 32 we saw him go wide a few moments ago and behind him it looks like jason bell has made the pass of sean quinlan for the lead in gt4 32 machine back up to speed here but he did look really slow accelerating off of uh canada corner up towards the billy mitchell bend is here through turn one throwing it through there track limits will be observed there there's some perpendicular white hash marks that you have to be certainly touching with these prolly p zero tyres there is jason bell he has got the lead from quinlan dropping back here to the gt4 fight great start for bell as we talked about he's hungry for that first win of the season he's come close he's been second on two occasions had a further podium back in the season opener third in points coming into this weekend chasing sean quinlan who's well and as far as the points are concerned chasing sean quinlan but out in front on the racetrack quinlan's had a nice solid year continuing that development that we've seen out of him over the last couple of seasons yeah had that sprint next championship win he and greg lafouge back in 2019 and i think it really gave him a lot of confidence he's always enjoyed his racing but now he's really starting to get the seat time and gain the experience and certainly the knowledge to how to handle these races in these pressure cooker situations and the driver running third should be entering with a lot of confidence as well chris cognozzi got his first win of the season in the second race there at nashville did so from pull and was able to uh hold off a number of challengers in that race on the very challenging street course there in nashville despite now running at sonoma he's fifth in points and he's put together a nice string of results here in recent rounds currently runs third in gt4 yeah and right behind him is alex welsh who also had a win on the streets at nashville so he's got a lot of momentum with his new team that he's established this year he said he went to brad kettler long team uh audi and levar winning crew chief just said give me the a team put together a best package of guys and personnel you can and he's feeling pretty confident about their long-term objectives and potential jason bell leading in gt4 but sean quinlan is stalking and while he's doing so let's check in with amanda down in the pits why guys i i think you know how this goes sometimes during travel you end up running into some of these drivers in the airport well i happened to catch jason bell while we were in atlanta and we were just doing a quick little review on the music city grand prix and that performance they said this is a track here at road america where you really see the talent of the driver you have to be aggressive at a track like this so i'm really not surprised that jason made that move on quinlan i think he's been thinking about this as he even headed into the weekend guys wouldn't surprise me at all nothing passive about jason bell if there's an opportunity he always goes for it this is a problem for adam adelson premier racing the team and this might explain why we're seeing the smoke off of that car big contact with the 89 yeah that's ross west there that he gone into it didn't look like there was a big enough gap didn't really see how it exactly developed but it looked like a pretty late move there and uh consequently damage to the left front corner and tyre potentially cut down adelson appears to have gotten the worst of that contact as schwest has continued on albeit delayed somewhat he's dropped back to 18th the last car still running here is the battle for the gt4 lead sean quinlan putting that bmw to work we've seen all throughout the day the strength of the bmw whether it's the m4 or the m6 gt3 in a straight line and this road america circuit with three long full throttle sections of at least 3 800 feet is perfect for the bmw platform yeah he's got a lot of time on the clock here so we settled in they got a nice gap uh back there to uh their next nearest competitor which is kagnazi right now so uh just gotta settle in here just uh look at jason look where he's placing the car where he's vulnerable and as we know the bmw said ryan has been very strong here on the straight away so you've got to think he's got at least three attempts per lap to uh maybe have a track of the lead for quinlan i think probably you would say nashville has been was the worst weekend of the season for him and that kind of goes a long way to describing how good of a season it's been for sean because he finished third and fourth in those two weekends other than that it's basically been podiums every single race with the exception of the first race and circuit of the americas where they didn't start on pole but had some issues and ultimately finished in 11th so quinlan has been consistently the top performer in the gt4 class all season long and now biting his time trying to run down jason bell meanwhile we jump up to the front of the gt3 field where safronis leads gidley by one and a half seconds but jason daskalos is falling into the clutches of charlie luck who would dearly like to get that position back because while dascalos is not in the master's class and luck is luck is now starting to think about an overall championship and where you finish in the overall running order determines how many points are paid as far as that championship goes yeah and uh you'd think that charlie would like to get around jason here and gab himself a little bit further back to eddie wilson holds flying lizard porsche there great to see andy back running here on a more consistent basis so uh he's run a bunch of events over the years with the flying lizard squad and uh he's really found a good home here i think this is a good fit for him he ran at circuit of the americas got a class win and a runner-up in the master's class and i talked to him there he said he's been running in some other series where maybe the competition level just isn't quite as high and he's had a lot of success but it feels empty when you know you haven't had to beat the best to have that success and what he's found that he's enjoying he said i'm getting my butt kicked and i'm loving it that was his talk cocky pointed circuit of the americas and he kind of figured it out after that conversation because he went on to win that day but uh you that goes to show the level of competition that these drivers seek out as we see charlie luck take a peek up the inside of jason daskalos but can't quite get close enough and has to back out yeah and just really smart uh decision there i mean he got the big run got the draft popped out and got the track position down to the inside but recognize he wasn't quite close enough and jason's not afraid to uh get side by side and rub some elbows so he was gonna have to fight for that position and thought about it decided to regroup here and have another have another go at him it's one of the cool parts of this gt america series that audi that we see dasco loose in it's the same older generation ultra model of the audi r8 gt3 and james defronis is running that too this is a championship that among other things provides a chance for those that own some of these older gt3 cars that you really can't run elsewhere a chance to give them another life and some so much of the interest level has come from guys who own these cars and they track them and they do track days or club racing but want that pro environment and this is what they get in gt america and it's also a great marketplace for people who are hanging on to some of the older gt3 machinery is that drivers suddenly see this as a viable championship to go and contest and uh probably a ton of those cars uh in various locations around the country that would uh come for a relatively cheap song in terms of their price versus a new uh current evolution of gt3 machinery already 10 minutes into this 40-minute affair no pit stops here single driver multi-class racing in gt america powered by aws we have it a change for the lead in gt4 with sean quinlan evidently making the pass on jason bell so the championship leader back out in front you can see it on the racetrack there bmw ahead of aston and then back to that battle for third right behind yeah and this is at the point where jason just got to settle back in here i'm sure andrew davis his co-driver in sprint x competition is on the horn with him just talking him through this and for sean he's got greg leofoosh who's certainly one of the top pilots in our paddock in terms of his pace stephen cameron uh of the reigns on the team overall just a lot of experience there to lean on and uh i think that's what you need that calming voice just uh talking you through these scenarios and that's why it's such a great opportunity for these guys to get a get extra seat time but also have their coach and co-driver and mentor alongside them here on the weekend back to the battle at the front of the field and a man who has overseen the bentley's racing not just in the states but in europe in recent years also overseeing this program darren law is with amanda ryan that is exactly who we're standing with currently now he's catching up with him on mimo gidley and being here this weekend what do you think convinced mimo to come out here racing gt america what do you think convinced mimo to come out here and race in gt america he's been a racer for a long time and he just got a great opportunity a guy by the name of david dave churchill who owns tko motorsports bought one of the bentley race cars and they've worked together for years and he wanted to give nemo an opportunity to drive the bentley out of the gate the bentley's right up at the top of the pack why do you say that the bentley's actually great we raced it for three years i worked with that program and it's very good in the high speed corners and the high speed tracks so this track really suits it so it's been it's been good for the bentley thank you dear you bet so for those who don't know capex racing which ran this bentley in gt world challenge america but also gt world challenge europe last year uh so the last several seasons they've had experience running the continental they share a lot with flying lizard motorsports and that's what this car is running under that tent uh this weekend they are distinct programs in a lot of respects but darren oversees both and that experience that he brings and that some of the technical staff bring from previously running the bentley uh to flying lizard really gives them a big leg up quick spinning off there for uh chris gunprecht that's coming out of turn 14 final corner on the circuit because obviously he feels that he didn't get too much damage here let's see what happens just runs a little bit wide there start to pinch the car as he got towards the exit trying to look at the edge of the road and didn't want any part of it and consequently just turned it around that's where the experience comes in and just kind of letting the car flow out there just try and keep your hands straight if you do run off the road a little bit but look like he just elected to try and pinch it was on too much rolling speed through the apex no harm no foul and we drop back to this fight here and to be clear the talking about the k-packs program running in europe the the chassis that ran there were separate this is the car that actually ran a couple of races last year here in the states but capex very involved in the gt will challenge europe sign a year ago back to gt4 at the tail end of this train of cars is rob holland and he's running very much in championship condition uh contention in gt4 he's at the back of this train and would love to make some inroads here talking to the team they felt like if they could get on the podium this weekend with that mustang it would be a successful run for them that's the goal and they're a couple positions away but very much in striking distance yeah my memory fails me a little bit in terms of what year it was but i remember uh on the front straightaway after a big race where uh rob finished on the podium first podium for dodge in i think it was touring car competition so uh certainly road america has some fond memories for him that's true for so many racing drivers those who have come here and raced here i think pretty much all come away with big smiles it's alex welch out in front of this pack in the audi a winner at nashville the last time out in the first race of that weekend and that's a program that's just getting stronger and stronger you talked about it some already calvin but uh good brain trust that alex has assembled and branching out on his own a little bit after running with gmg for a couple of years he just uh really thought let's attack this from a slightly different angle rather than being a a customer for uh james the front of gmg group and he and james remain to be very good friends they want a championship together in fact so uh they just thought let's take it to the next level a new discipline in terms of being a team owner and uh he just wanted to put together a really good crew so um you know he's having fun doing it and um you know it's all about personnel and he went out and said listen let's find the best guys i can possibly get and they're starting to gel and the results are coming very quickly great battle here this is for fourth fifth and sixth as you can see on the screen running in the gt4 class out front in the class it's still sean quinlan over jason bell that was a close call there is rob holland late on the breaks almost got into the back of noble just ahead of him yeah and um you know use this experience there to uh escape that potential incident it's a cool little team this is the same team that rob ram with back in british touring car competitions so uh pretty cool that he's kept his nucleus together he ran that british touring car championship between years 2012 2015 came over with that group to run the world touring car race at sonoma believe it or not in 2012 so pretty cool uh it's all about relationships in this business and uh he's got together with a great group it seems there's a group behind the scenes filming his exploits for an upcoming documentary so keep your eyes out for that here's a change in position charlie luck now up to third overall finally got that pass made on jason dascalos after giving it a couple of good tries not quite sure where he got the move made but now charlie luck's starting to pull away he's got some work to do though seven point three seconds ahead of him that's where mabel gidley runs in third overall yeah courage to see what sort of pace he can demonstrate now compared to gidley it looks like sophronis is uh comfortable at the front but even keeping him honest there just a second and a half back but charlie luck's fastest lap so far has been seven tenths off good let's see with clean air now on the front end of that porsche whether he can demonstrate a little bit more pace we're not talking about james who's leading this race overall as a championship contender he's really picking and choosing his racing at this stage and his career is very busy of course running ggg but when he shows up he is the factory one overall in the first race in circuit of the americas got second in class the second race there was a winner overall at nashville when the first race had a top five in the second has the field covered at least for now with a 1.6 second lead over gidley then we fall back to this fight here with charlie luck getting around dascalos but jason's not going anywhere he's putting up a nice fight trying to stick with that porsche well that was demonstrated his pace by the fact that took charlie like this long to get by him we're working lap eight right now so uh long way to go in this race just let's get towards the halfway point so let's see if charlie can chase down the leaders or whether jason could come back at him how about this noble has made it a round welch in the fight for fourth so that is a change in position noble not a ton of experience that i can find on the cv to do some porsche club level racing and stepping up with nola sport and that is a busy busy team if you walk by their tent here in the paddock they've got i think five cars that they're running whether here in gt america powered by aws or pirelli gt4 america talking to some of the drivers there they say it's all good the more cars we can have under the tent the healthier the team is and it's good for everyone yeah they're a top flight organization just seem to go from trunk to strength always uh knocking on the ball for championship wins and a ton of race wins behind their name already in the variety of classes they run here in sro competition just great engineering cars always seem to roll off the truck quick and very competitive admittedly not great track for the porsches here but they're doing a great job with it whoa that was late yes it was wow that's commitment yeah i should be meant to do that or just uh go away with it and we certainly got away with it that's for sure but maybe he's starting to feel the heat a little bit emma getly not disappearing out of the rearview mirror and there's something to be said too a couple of veterans at the front of this field they know how to take care of their tires maybe not show their full hand early in the first half of the race but you can see it on the clock we're ticking closer to halfway through this 40-minute sprint race gidley knows how to get it done if he's got the car under him you better bet he'll be on the charge yes it's really interesting to think about the emotion inside the cockpit inside the helmet right now for both of these guys admittedly james has been more regular than memo has in terms of racing in recent years of middling now on a more of a part-time basis he says like my customers come first with the gmg racing team and then if there's the opportunity for me to go out and have a bit of a play without compromising their performance i'll go and do it uh yet for mamo um he doesn't have a ton of seat time in recent years so to be thrown in here and looking at the leader just in front of you how will he handle it i mean you'd think with his experience even though he's got a dig way back into his memory bank for that he should be able to handle this really nicely and just try and really put on a concerted effort here in the second half of this race some of it will come down to who's protected their tires the best bentley has typically been very good in terms of that not really abusing the tires but the lg is a very balanced car as well that james is running now the other factor to keep in mind is with mixed class racing there will be some out-of-class traffic to contend with as we get closer to the end of the race and you never know that can provide the opportunity that you need if you're the trailing car the leader just gets held up that little bit and a veteran like memo he knows how to work that traffic so does james to be clear but memo the one in pursuit right now and if that opportunity should present itself he's ready to pounce oh you bet he's gonna be looking ahead and uh certainly his team flying lizard motorsports we talk about the uh combination of them it's really flying lizard motorsport personnel running the capex team jim who he runs the capex team but uh a majority of all of that squad come across from the flying lizards group oh a little bit of a roadblock there coming out of uh turn seven cost me more a couple of tents maybe it's that next class racing we're talking about and did notice a couple shots ago looming there in the background was charlie luck making some inroads it seems like from time to time maybe not so much on the last lap but eight and a half seconds off the race lead 7.4 behind this bentley right here and we'll wait for it there he is yeah well he cut a half a second out of that overall lead on that very last lap so that was his fastest lap of the race so he is demonstrating more pace now he's escaped the attention of jason dascalos and that's what we suspected so good patience there by charlie in terms of he's got the masters lead and now we can set and see if he can uh eat into that lead he's got a big lead to eat into so i'm not sure there's no time on the board left but he's the fastest man on the track right now and the good news for charlie in terms of the overall championship is the two cars ahead of him really aren't two that he needs to be concerned with neither of them are full season entries so he is effectively the leader as far as full season gt3 entries are concerned and therefore should be set to make up ground and build an even bigger gap in the championship yeah for sure and uh you know that john wright and the whole right motorsports team will be uh telling him all about that very busy times for that team running in multiple uh locations and championships on any given race weekend this is a relatively quiet one they're just running here i believe but back when these guys ran at nashville they also had another squad on the road they had 43 team members eight transporters six cars on the road at those two different venues so uh that's a lot of multitasking for john wright and that's a change in position as rob holland has raced his way around welch to grab fifth in gt4 now scott noble just up the road who made that pass a few laps ago becomes his next target this has been a fun season to watch rob holland come back to the states like you talked about he's been racing overseas a lot at the nurburgring over the last few years but he's raised just about everything british touring cars the world touring car championship like you chronicled but this was a chance to get back stateside and put this team together many of the crew do come over from europe to help him out and he's a great personality i had not met him prior to this season but always a big smile on his face enjoying his racing and the results have been there to match the the attitude yeah very much so he's a great racer and um you know probably i mean he tried and tried to uh find new venues and new opportunities globally to uh continue his racing career but great to see him back on u.s soil and competing at the sharp end of the field once again a couple of podiums the last time out at nashville second and third in those two races it's second in the championship coming in two this weekend and as you can see on our race vision powered by aws in the carousel that ford mustang is awfully awfully strong you think of the mustang as this muscle car right with the brute force and raw speed but it actually corners incredibly well and you might say that's the strength of the car yeah very much so when multimatic uh put this program together i agree with you everyone thinks of uh the stereotype of a ford mustang but talking to uh drivers who were involved in the testing and development it was more about the handling about the braking ability and all of the things the attributes that you uh you may be uh think of different chassis and different manufacturers giving well that's what the ford drivers now have with this gt4 mustang he is chasing the gt4 leader right here sean quinlan out in front by 1.7 seconds for more on sean's race let's go down to the pits yeah guys i've been watching along this uh mini battle we have going on with sean quinlan and jason bell over the last couple of laps i'm standing by with steven cameron racing i was talking to them it looks like that sean can have that advantage in sector one in sector three he's kind of fallen off uh there by the carousel and the kink but what they're working with him on are his breaking points making sure as we get further into this race with tire wear that sean is on it with not breaking too late but being right on it to keep that advantage over the number two car watching that car make its way around the track cal what are you picking up from its body language how do you think it's handling for sean it seems to be okay i don't see it slipping and sliding yeah i mean admittedly you're only 25 minutes into this run the probably piece heroes used to go in a full hour in sprint x competition so in times of time management it shouldn't be a big consideration but i think the team is spot on i mean one thing in terms of uh we talked about the learning curve and how far sean quinlan has come there may be some weak spots in his arsenal still so they may feel you know what sean don't just think about a breaking point as being cast in stone as we see an incident here that's wilson in the side of dascalo's i think that's turn five yeah climbing the hill to turn six um so just reminding him listen you may have to back up those breaking marker points a little bit as you get deeper into this run even though the fuel though is burning off the car is getting lighter it's more about really managing and um thinking about the threshold of the turret how much grip you got available later in the run we saw the replay a moment ago of the contact between wilson and dascalo that did result in a change of position that was not for class position but it was for fourth overall i'm curious what the stewards will think of that one but for now in the flying loop blizzard motorsports porsche is up one more spot as dascalo slips back to fifth both cars though now coming into some gt4 traffic i love that graphic package on that flight that's important i mean they've had that traditional uh livery but i love it in those colors it looks pretty sinister and pretty cool there's a mean looking snake on the side of that car no question about that and it's moving very fast at the moment is wilson in his first race back in the series since circuit of the americas looking right at home running right there solidly in the top five continuing to move forward i wonder how um [Music] red mist is on board with jason daschler's having to take that little hit there may be looking for the opportunity to repay the favor here if he can get close enough and that car has got has gotten better as the season has gone along too for jason daskalos and you've got to give credit to nick short who is time entrant in sro america formerly pearly world challenge competition crp racing he's been looking after this car as wilsa goes wide there in turn five that might open the door for dasilos to come back but with nick's help it seems like that car has been more consistent he's been running at the finish at the speed has been coming up to boot yeah as you said coming off a really nice podium run at nashville so um that will build a little bit of confidence even as we said totally different venue here this weekend at road america but nick short certainly has a great reputation behind him with crp motorsports so much seth's success in this gt3 competition over the years and uh just a really uh good engineer a sharp racing brain we've seen him do a lot with very little in previous iterations another guy that is kind of known for giving drivers opportunities [Music] [Applause] but i think there have been some others along the road as well yes for sure daniel morad mike skeen um just top-notch pilots and uh it's funny when you look back in history and you look at the success of certain teams and then you look at successive certain problems sometimes they cross path across cards early on this still is the battle for fourth it has not ceased even after wilson made that pass jason dasglow's trying to find a way back by up front the lead has grown safrona's to gidley now 3.4 seconds but charlie luck continues to fly down this track and here comes dasilos back by wilson i wonder yeah did they make him give it there looks to be the answer to that question yes incident responsibility and i like that call rather than sending someone down pit lane if that is indeed the call he's not going to come down pit lane anyway but reverse the position if you've got it in an ugly way in terms of a bump and run if there's no damage to the car then give the position back sometimes it's not that easy by the time the decision is made sometimes you got other cars sandwiched between them i like that as well and it's a pretty neat tidy way to settle that dispute and now they can go back to racing each other hammer and tong once again for the final ten and a half minutes sofronis now putting a lap on the gt4 leader he's come through the gt ford field in its entirety now it's amazing isn't it in 30 minutes that just showcases how great these gt3 cars in terms of their outright performance here at road america where do they make it up where's the biggest difference for those new to this between gt3 and gt4 well certainly horsepower down the long stretches you're going to get that but it's really the downforce of the cars ton more downforce so through that big sweep and turn the carousel there you could see that james was able to just whistle through there whereas uh sean was having to be a lot more patient with his throttle application charlie luck now having to fight his way through gt4 traffic this is where discretion is the better part of valor but it's so difficult to be patient waiting behind a slower class car through a high-speed corner like the king but charlie luck very circumspect in his approach waits patiently makes the pass he's been making some inroads of memo ginley but remember he is already the leader in the master's class and wilson now is back behind danskolos so really there's no threat from wilson at this stage as far as that class is concerned and we already chronicled charlie luck's pursuit of the overall championship he's the leader as far as full season entrants are concerned so he's already in a great position to make up a lot of uh points here in the championship today yeah you're right he's really uh narrowed that gap to uh gidley there for that overall track position but uh that little moment there probably cost him a good half a second or three quarters of a second you're a high speed part of the racetrack he had to give quite a bit of uh through the rolling speed through the king there but he's got a little bit of time to work with he'll regroup and uh just focus forward in terms of uh looking at maymo gidley as a carrot the next target vasculos working his way through the lab traffic same for wilson they're able to clear jason bell among others it looked like right behind bell i thought i saw rob holland back there in the mustang to take a look and see if things are closing up in the fight for second third and fourth in gt4 this is still a great scrap here between the audi and the porsche for fourth and fifth in the overall running order in gt3 yep and here he comes again looks like wilson's making another bold move down the inside of turn five i'm not sure if he pulled it off or if there may have been contact this go around pretty late move don't see anything any signs of anything haven't got a miss so that's a good sign i think wilson is still behind him now dascalos has got trapped with some traffic watch the run and he gets right here does he thread the needle here nice move there by jason oh that was nearly a touch jason was a little bit offline elected to get on the brake pedal a little bit early there because he was compromised with his line there and andy nearly ran over him great job by both of them to avoid any kind of contact in that instance and they race on fun battle yes hopefully they got big smiles at the end of this one i don't think jason should be too uh upset with the bump and run because he's got position back and don't sleep on jason harward either he's in the brightly covered lamborghini at the bottom of your screen and he's putting together one of the more complete runs of his season slowly but surely reeling in these two that would be four positions in the gt3 class yeah we talk about some of the drivers like jason they're doing this event to sort of like double the track time to help in the uh 90 minute format with a gt world challenger race earlier today but it also works the other way he's already been out on the racetrack this afternoon so he's got the track knowledge in these sort of race conditions compared to these other drives that just during the single event looks like he's about to pass one of the gt4 cars and then we'll have nothing in between him and the battle ahead between wilson and dascalos this is the leader in gt4 it is still sean quinlan we drop back a little bit and there's jason bell as he lets the battle for fourth and fifth couple with the second place running gmg racing aston martin gt4 machine really great run here for jason bell had to give up the lead to the faster bmw or quinn quinlan but even so really good consistent run for jason oh look at that shot we have the potential for some more inclement weather to roll in to the elkhart lake area before it's all said and done it's been popping up all around us all throughout the day calvin so far it has not affected anything directly with five and a half minutes left in this one i'm not sure it's going to affect this this particular race but it still might you never know with this place no and it's a big old racetrack that eats up a lot of uh territory here so it would be raining on just one portion of the racetrack and not the other but just gotta hang on now no one will be done pit lane for any wet where the tires even if it comes down so you just gotta look at the sky and hope that it uh holds on a little bit longer but this battle is certainly uh [Music] deep here into this race been a great one really fascinating battle between these two drivers doing a great job jason therefore the audi swinging out a little bit wider jason having a good run here i think i find interesting about the dascalo's wilson battles we have seen the positions flipped and that's close right there with will's off when he was in the trailer big run through the king he might have a chance here takes a peek to the left-hand side of the road this is tight you got to really give each other enough room here don't go back online jason daschles he doesn't tucks it in tight and early but this has given howard a bit of a run behind these drivers yeah jason harward is there licking his chops watching these two fight that lamborghini appears to be the faster of these three cars here is harward headlights blaring he's closed into the back nearly went off roading there and turned 14. yeah really widening that turn in point in the radius through that final corner and that's what wilson is doing through the king wilson runs that porsche is very compliant running the outside curb on the left side as you turn in there that's giving him a big wide radius and a big run on daskalos as they head down the kettle bottoms into turn 12. taking a peek to the inside again wilson but not close enough to make the move dazzlers to chop off the nose just a little bit nothing untoward about that maneuver here comes harward though taking a peek to the inside squirming on the brakes jason harward in the zaylus motorsports lamborghini trying to charge his way forward after a string of disappointing results no finish better than fifth in the last four races he can sense there's a chance here in the final four minutes of this race to get that kind of turnaround result that could reinvigorate his season yeah howard started the year with three uh podium runs in a row and hasn't been on the podium since so he's looking for a little bit more looks very strong here this weekend and uh certainly this has helped ascola's because uh suddenly wilson has got the full attention of harwood right behind him toughest spot to be in is right in the middle of a battle like this right because you're trying to be aggressive on one hand oh little twitch there right at apex i had to open up his hands a little bit and that took him off the road it looked like just caught little bobbler looked like right at the apex of turn seven well he got away with that one that could have been a scary moment i'm sure it was plenty scary as it was but that now turns wilton loose to be the aggressor once again he doesn't have to think about playing defense see that i'm sure he got a little bit wide but suddenly there's a little twitch there had to straighten up and correct and that just means you're running out of real estate there on the racetrack able to reel it back in though that's the good news an e-race is on although with just two minutes and change left i'm not sure he's going to get back into this fight should update you on what's going on at the front of the field it's still sephonis over gidley by 7.6 seconds now charlie luck is close to within four and a half seconds of gidley but not close enough to do anything about it just yet then you get to the dashboard battle in gt4 it's still sean quinlan two and a half seconds over jason bell chris cognozzi another 2.2 seconds back in third then scott noble rob holland currently running in fifth in gt4 yeah sopranos has just been super consistent here today just really uh great performance car seems to be working well don't see it twitching any at that big bold move down to the inside of some traffic and turn five there that looked a little bit desperate but he still managed to scramble through the corner without running wide maybe we've probably learned a lot here today about what this bentley performs like on a long run certainly we had some inclement weather over the course of the test day here yesterday in the practice session so good for him i know they tested here recently so uh i'm sure he's got in the group somewhat but there's nothing like race conditions to truly tell you what the car is going to do when you're putting the hammer down and as many different things as memo has driven from indy cars to prototypes to some other gt cars i'm not sure there's much that can prepare you for driving the big old bentley which in addition to its big frame it's also right hand drive so it's a very different perspective inside the cockpit it is and um i know when you get in something's so different as that is very different to look through a corner and not be able to feel that apex um but you know you get used to it pretty quickly drivers are pretty adaptable and i'm sure for someone of memo's experience everything is a new sensation with this big gt car but i'm sure by this stage he's gotten used to that aspect of it but i think he'll just be fine-tuning that car tonight working with his engineers working with the flying lizard team looking at their notebook in terms of what the car has done before here and looking at the clock here looks like james james is gonna have to do one more lap to bring home his win tonight charlie luck will love that news he has been flying over the last several laps he's been the fastest car on the track he just took out about another second on memo gidley on that previous lap i'm not sure he's close enough time is his enemy at this stage but that is a fast porsche running third overall and leads the masters class and it's been a masterful drive for james saffronis who has led this thing from the drop of the green flag yeah i mean we'll kept him honest there kept within a couple of seconds for half the race and then start to uh fall back a little bit charlie luck once he cleared has just taken off and uh just put in another tremendous performance i mean he is really performing at a tremendous level right now and it's fun to watch someone at his stage of his career and agent life to be running this well sean quinlan has been in control for much of this race got to remember though at the start jason bell did get the jump but he led in gt4 early on at the good duel with quinlan sean came out on top of that going back towards the beginning of the event but these two have been super consistent all race long and although it's not that win that jason bell is looking for a nice solid consistent run if he can bring it home in this final lap that is going to make andrew davis his driver coach and co-driver in pirelli gt4 america very very happy yeah nancy that was uh really closed in on jason bell so these are the moments that jason bell needs to be able to handle not crack under this pressure just bring it home one more lap hit your marks you've been doing it all day long just execute this final lap chris cognizzi started that car in third that's where he runs at the moment dropped back some at the start of the race but has been doing a nice job of recovery is that desk alone oh on the last lap jason dascalo something has gone wrong in that audi he is off the pace had been running fourth overall and also in the uh the overall category that he races in that now brings this battle to the four with wilson trying to hold off jason harwood yes so uh great battle but different players right now let's see what uh howard can do here on this final lap really got one legit opportunity it's probably in that run into 14 and then drag race up the straightaway here that's where we find james safron is headed for his third win of the season james defronis across the line gmg back in victory lane at road america crosses the line in second charlie luck made some inroads but ultimately comes home in third now we go back to this battle jason harward gets the run out of turn 14 it's drag race time here at road america wilson in the porsche harward in the lamborghini up the hill they come and give the spot to andy wilson who holds on for second in class fourth overall jason harwood brings it home with a nice solid run to fifth and look behind sean quinlan the pass has been made chris cognazzy has gotten around jason bell for second he has so i'm not sure where jason gave out that position final lap he'll be kicking himself with that one but still a great drive but up front sean quinlan great patience at the beginning of the race they haven't lost the lead on the initial start sean quinlan the points leader will extend the championship lead with victory in race one of the weekend at road america chris kagnancy last lap pass moves him up to second in gt4 and another strong podium run for jason bell for gmg comes home in third [Music] good day for gmg with james taking the overall win and uh jason on the gt4 podium let's take a look at how that pass took place see dascalo's there wounded on the side of the road down into turn five just got in there a little bit too deep looks like the car went numb on him probably into the abs and uh those are those moments uh he just uh made a little mistake there unfortunately and gave up that position but it's all about the learning curve and uh not a big mistake but just enough to like chris through heartbreaking for jason dascalos he was putting together a fine performance today and if james defrontis had just crossed the line a little bit earlier they wouldn't have needed that extra lap of course then maybe this problem manifests itself at the start of the race tomorrow but in any event not the result that jason was looking for and you hate to see that after a really well judged race it was and it was a fun battle i'm sure andy wilson will be chuffed to get that that position and he had a great fun with the two jasons and the good news is the weather held off at least for now but you can see the next race and the final race on the schedule here for saturday at road america tc america up next i have to dodge some rainstorms we shall see but for now the focus is on gt america powered by aws and james safron is a couple of years ago he told me i think i'm gonna hang up the hell but i'm gonna concentrate on running this this race team this prep shop that they've got out in california and however many race wins it's been in a championship later he's still at it and just as fast as he's ever been yep he hasn't lost his touch that's for sure solid run pole position led early felt the heat from mamo didn't crack and uh just uh really really super consistent lap times he'll be happy 27 years of racing in this paddock for james stefonas also sets the crowdstrike fastest lap of the race at 210.994 he can pick and choose where he wants to run at this stage in his career and this is a favorite for him you see joe foster who really helps to manage that team in a lot of respects james right-hand man he was there leaning in to chat with him putting the water bottle up on the roof as we take a look at the results safronus from giblin from luck the top three luck the winner in the masters class yeah great performances throughout this field here today some great little battles going on even if it wasn't always for the same class but um that's what's cool about this championship 40 minute race run flat out probably p0s are up to that don't really have to factor in entire degradation too much under this sport sprint race format and um there's a battle somewhere you're gonna have some fun that's for sure we saw that throughout the course of the broadcast hopefully you folks enjoyed that at home now we get towards the bottom of the finishing order some of those that did not have the kind of days they were hoping to have today but on the other end of the spectrum is james safronis and he's with amanda and he came out of his car with thumbs up saying that feels good well james you get the win here today you started from the number from the pole position pick up the win drivers keep talking about how much fun it is here what did you enjoy about that ride well my first pro race here was in 1994. i rented a car for like 1500 bucks with chuck hemmingsen and touring car it was like all the savings i had because i knew i wanted to try this and obviously road america is the best track in north america so it holds a special place for me for sure you know green flag race that's awesome i kept saying james you're on the treadmill earlier this week don't you better make that pay off and finish so you know hi to my family nargis chloe and jensen who's racing right now it's the first time he's racing without me so hopefully i inspired you buddy and the whole gmg crew and then racing with jason bell and kyle is an absolute blast so the camaraderie the competition the cars sprint racing i pushed the whole way i didn't care if memo was three seconds five seconds back i pushed to see what the car could do and as well what i could do so the audi was great joe's always been my right-hand man helping me with all the non-racing activities so makes my job a little easier so i'm gonna definitely enjoy this one so congratulations i hope someone from the series hit record on that because that is the perfect advertisement for what gt america is all about yeah it really is he's loving life uh great family man um and just runs a superb operation uh just uh broke ground i believe on a new workshop over at thermal and um just continuing to build build his brand and do a great job he really makes his customers his number one priority but when he gets behind the wheel as maymo congratulates him on a good little battle today um he always gives it 100 a lot of mutual respect right there more happy winners are down with amanda with the races in nashville gt america is now in the back half of their season and when you look at where you are currently is there improvements that you're looking for as you head to the back half of this season yeah yeah absolutely you know you're constantly working on yourself your concentration your driving craft and the car and we test it here and so it's just it's a constant refinement and that's what makes it fun i mean this sport is so daggone fun it's crazy congratulations charlie thank you not a bad advertisement there either from charlie luck who's been a revelation this season has been doing some single make porsche racing over the last few years had an earlier career this is really a second racing career because he raced in the nascar bush series back in the day in the 80s as a matter of fact so long ago he was racing in oldsmobile to give you some idea speaking of which that car that james saffronis rented back in 1994 also an oldsmobile go figure something called an oldsmobile achieva as it turned out anyway back down to pit lane let's hear from our gt4 winner and amanda well there are parts of that race where you and jason bell were making it really exciting for us to talk to your team during that race they said they were working with you on break points what do you feel won this race yeah i think the break points were a big part of the the success here and uh the brakes were slowly going away as the tires went and everything got a bit hot but uh i was focused and uh kept a little bit of a distance so it was a lot of fun it started to give me a little bit of a nervousness at the end but uh it was okay congratulations thank you tell everyone's a little out of breath i mean we didn't really talk too much about us pretty toasty day um a little bit cloud cover coming in there towards the end but it's 90 degree ambient and uh cockpit temperatures will swell and um big test for these drivers plenty of highlights from today's race james safron has led the field to green mammogly started on his outside but quickly tucked back in line and this is how the field of gt3 and gt4 cars made their way through turn one bit of a moment here late move down at the inside there in contact between two of the cars not sure how it developed but certainly a late move and this one in traffic here i think james sopranos was initially thinking i'll just break behind this car and realize he's gonna run right over the top of him so got away with that one this was an interesting moment andy wilson working on jason dascollos there that contact was reviewed by race control they ultimately had and to give that spot back up they continued to fight and it brought jason harward into the mix until that moment just a few seconds ago yeah he had a big moment there to regroup and uh settle back in here and then unfortunately for dascalo something went a ride there on that final lap and allowed the other two to uh charge out for that final podium a change of position in gt4 for second in that class james cipronis wins overall [Music] [Music] you

Channel: GTWorld

Views: 20,512

Rating: 4.9764705 out of 5

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, RACE 1, ROAD AMERICA, GT AMERICA 2021, GT racing

Id: BD8P3jMXNLQ

Length: 62min 30sec (3750 seconds)

Published: Sat Aug 28 2021