RACE 2 - ROAD AMERICA - GT AMERICA 2021

[Music] [Music] the rolling hills and green forests of central wisconsin are about to come alive as the inaugural season of gt america powered by aws rolls into america's national park of speed road america hello everyone my name is ryan marine amanda busick is down in the pit lane i'm pleased to have calvin fish alongside in the booth as we roll into the next round of the championship heavy rains overnight calvin have given way to mostly sunny skies and these teams and drivers they're going to have to contend with a very green race track here this morning in conditions much different than we saw for race one of the weekend yesterday yeah these guys ran relatively late yesterday afternoon so it's a quick turnaround for all of the teams but i think everyone's pumped up ready to go i'm sure there's been some adjustments to the chassis in terms of what they felt yesterday to try and get a bit more dialed in but it's a very competitive race and i think we could see some real fireworks here today in both the gt3 categories and gt4 looking at some of the beautiful deliveries here on the grid just a perfect day great to be here on site at road america as a classic circa over four miles in length really challenges these cars and drivers to the max we'll take a look at that circuit in just a moment but first let's welcome in the third member of the broadcast team good morning amanda well good morning guys and i think it's going to be a battle here today as well take it the look at the front of the grid behind me you have the race winner yesterday of james safronas and you also have the tko motorsports bentley entry of memo gidley well i talked to james safronis this morning and i said what adjustments did you guys make to the car obviously being the race winner i'm sure they weren't looking at two months but james said there were just adjustments made to the driver i made sure that i got some extra rest in preparation for this battle but pay attention to these two cars i imagine they're going to give us quite a show here as we kick things off for sro america that was the case indeed yesterday those two had a nice duel at the front of the field before james safron is ultimately pulled away to take the win more on yesterday's racing in a moment but first let's take a high-speed tour around road america courtesy of john halen and our porsche track preview hi this is jan helen with the porsche track preview here at road america coming onto 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 laid 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 curb at the apex and then ready to enter the carousel long sweeper right fourth gear really fast really fun here in this porsche gt3r with all that downforce and then exiting the carousel setting up to uh to enter the kink kink is 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 gonna 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 late 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 what a challenging course this is here in road america the challenge though is part of the appeal right cal it is lots of elevation change 20 stories in fact that low point over in canada corner it's a great ride there with jan halen but long straight aways big break zones as jan alluded to good opportunities for overtaking here and i think looking at the conditions here this morning much cooler i think we're around 90 degree ambience about 73 74 degrees right now so relatively cool conditions we saw a few of those drivers huffing and buffing at the end of the day yesterday so uh as james frowner said he needed to get a good night's rest and be ready to go again this morning gt america powered by aws it's a 40 minute sprint race format no pit stops no driver changes and mixed class racing with gt3 cars intermixing with gt4 and we saw that certainly have an impact on the race yesterday yeah it's amazing that these gt3 cars with the downforce and the extra speed they have can actually get around and start lapping these gt4 cars within this 40 minute window so that can certainly uh throw the cat amongst the pigeons let's talk about the racing that we saw was james saffronis that led away from pole holding on for the win over memo gidley but the big gainer as far as gt3 and points are concerned was charlie luck he finished on the overall podium had some nice pace especially late in that porsche and finished ahead of all of his full season competitors and therefore was able to extend that points lead yeah he's now had six wins on the year in the masters class and as you said he's now got the overall lead as well and george kurtz not being here this weekend with an incident that happened uh back on friday so uh that's really giving him a bigger buffer in the points but it was a great race i mean safrona's took the lead early gilly kept the pressure on and gradually james just kept stretching that margin a little bit so if they've been able to tweak on that tko motorsports uh bentley a little bit we could see a real battle here at the front today and gt4 was no less of a battle that's for sure it was a great start from the outside of the front row jason bell took the lead away from sean quinlan but sean was able to fight back he ultimately got the win that was crucial for him in the points hunt but then it was a great battle on the final lap for second place that ultimately saw jason bell lose that spot to chris kagnazzi yeah just missed his breaking point a little bit down into this corner turn five very unfortunately he drove such a great race healthily lead early and uh sean got around him and then he just sat there but chris had a great charge at the end there and took over that second position on the final lap and hopefully we'll see that kind of action once again these cool temperatures calvin what will that do to the race cars here today compared to what we saw yesterday well some of these cars are prone to uh getting into like a security net with the electronics if they get too hot so there shouldn't be any issues with that here today with these cooler conditions the engine should be working well there should be good downforce but we counted that in terms of the amount of grip you're gonna get by the track being washed green last night with that rain so it's very much a bit of a guesstimate in terms of the setup you'd have to think that the uh tire pressures and everything have to be adjusted accordingly but you know it's basically get out there and figure out what you've got there's a reset with an early yellow or something give you a chance to uh reset your brain a little bit in terms of what the balance is on the race car but not too much that you guys can do flat out and try and get it to the front starting grid coming across your screen there the class structure in gt america powered by aws within gt3 there is the overall category and then the masters class that's for drivers age 55 and over all of them though using sro gt3 machinery then you get to gt4 and it's just one gt4 class across the board the gt4 cars make less powered in their gt3 compatriots a little bit less downforce less advanced driver aids with the abs and traction control but certainly a purebred race car and the two play nicely together it's been a fun mix a bit of a throwback to the old days of pirelli world challenge where we did see from time to time some of this multi-class racing yeah we did gt and gts uh it was certainly fun and uh it does give a bit of a curveball in terms of on the longer races uh you know as you get that overlapping traffic we saw it certainly yesterday and if we go green for 40 minutes we'll get it again today because these gt3 cars with the extra horsepower and the downforce that they deliver really is a potent machine around road america for four miles here comes the field getting into the two by two alignment as the lamborghini euros safety car accelerates away this is turn 13 billy mitchell bend and then the run down to turn 14 which leads to the lengthy front straightaway 4 400 feet one of three full throttle sections can't really call them straightaways in many cases they aren't straight but that are at least 3 800 feet in length puts a lot of emphasis on horsepower and low drag configurations here comes the field up the hill james lafron is yesterday's winner to the left of the screen in the gmg audi tko motorsports that's memo gidley and the bentley on the outside we are green and charlie luck with the great jump at the start here comes jason dascalos in the white audi moving to the right of the screen he's going to make a bid for third on gidley around the outside yeah brave move there from jason vascolos on relatively cold probably p zero as we see the gt4 field quick spin at the back of the pack adam adelson goes around but able to recover and rejoin he was in early out yesterday after contact and some suspension damage looking for a cleaner run here today safron is with a great start able to pull away but look at the car in second that's jason daskalos who's come from fourth but he's under pressure from charlie luck yes charlie luck looking very racy there on the initial start but a great run around the outside of dazzle as he holds the inside line here down into turn five giggly being dropped from the front row back to fourth he's got a run to the inside this is the run up the hill into turn six oh this is where it gets tight blind corner to the left here a little bit of a hip check from giddling and he shuffles charlie luck back to fourth memo gidley dropped two spots at the start but now back charging through the field in the tko motorsports bentley he's chasing down jason dascalo said peek into the inside through hurry down well i think he's got to make quick work of jason here otherwise sophomores are going to be down the road and hard to catch right now so he's got to get that bentley up to speed typically the bentley is very easy on the tires but that works against you on these opening laps trying to get some temperature into them and getting the grip you're looking for x indy car driver memo gidley long time sports car racer as well he's been out of full-time racing for quite a while as he's had a grueling recovery from a heavy-headed trash in the 24 hours of daytona about a half a decade ago but he's back in his element here in the bentley working his way to the outside of dascalos and he's got the move made even before canada corner yeah that was pretty got back into his rhythm after a not a great start there obviously up into turn one so he's now back into that runner-up position got to try and chase down safron is here keep the heat on him he's done exactly that here's charlie luck the points leader not just in his master's class which he has dominated so far this season but he scored enough points in the overall finishing order to lead the overall championship back to the gt4 fight this is sean quinlan points leader there race winner yesterday out in front of the bmw for stephen cameron racing and then that battle we saw yesterday per second it's reprising itself with jason bell ahead of chris cognazzy that one came down to the wire in yesterday's race with that position swapping in the final couple of corners yeah quillin did a nice job yesterday didn't get the initial launch jason bell got around him up into turn one but then just settled in very poised he's really shown a lot of confidence big move here deep in the pack that's john mcgrew i believe yes that's right starting at the back that car had issues yesterday that's a gt3 spent car for tr3 racing and did not set a time as far as i can tell that's a big hit for kugnazi not sure if he uh got tapped there i don't think the car behind him was close enough to do that but under braking he just turned left on him another car involved as well there must be something on the track because that's an identical accident for another car coming through looks like there is some moisture coming out under the racetrack and of course we go full course yellow here with two heavy impacts into the barriers in turn number three that car just turned left right as he was getting on the brake pedal there what on earth could have caused that moisture to appear so suddenly look we've got more problems that's gidly in the barriers jason harward as well that's at the bottom of the hill in turn five i think someone must be dropping oil out there i saw like a line of fluid down the middle of the racetrack into turn three gidley into the tire barrier that is the better option of the two you can see the safety team is already there it doesn't look too bad unless there's damage on that right rear corner we can't see obviously very strange set of circumstances here in the first four minutes let's see if we have a replay of what happened but the speculation is that there might be some fluid on the track that's what it looks like these cars are spinning long before the braking zone look at that everyone's scattering everywhere well i just wonder if someone at the back of the field was dropping oil on the opening lap and then when the leaders came back around they're suddenly getting on top of that fluid you can see the striped yellow and orange flag look safronis is off also and stuck in the wet grass as i mentioned at the start it rained heavily overnight and trying to get traction off track in the grass when it is still wet it's very difficult to do so total chaos here at the start of our race you never quite know what you're going to get and and this is total proof of that that's turned three isn't it yes yes so that's right beyond where the initial accident that we saw that involved the gt4 cars sofronus has gone spinning and ends off track and is stuck that's your leader prior to this problem another look at this there is that oil there in the in that line and yeah kagnazi just put a wheel into it and that shot him immediately over to the left and into the barrier really heavy impact yeah well if you got the the right side on the oil and you hit the brakes the left side is slowing down and the right side isn't so it kind of rips it to the left there into the brake zone but it must have been fluid through the corner so up ahead of that incident the leader the overall leader sephoranas spun out on the exit of the corner well they wouldn't see as we were focused on that and then the other incident down in turn five which were the leaders effectively because sophomores had already disappeared and really unfortunate to see that the 89 was also involved that's rosh west with heavy damage to the back of that car and calvin you might recall the last round in nashville that car was heavily heavily damaged they had to re-tub that car got set up some updates from the team and sasha kempter rick maxwell and the rest of that crew worked really hard to get the car set to go they had to skip a planned test here at road america because of that damage tons of work to get that thing prepared for this race and they're gonna have to do some more heavy repairs to that mercedes amg gt4 as a consequence of this i should reset the order because there were some that did make it through and andy wilson now finds himself in the overall lead of this race jeff burton for reardon racing also came through and kyle washington a late addition to the lineup finds himself in third i think this should answer the question of where the oil came from cal well i'm not sure because this uh well it could be so is this the opening lap that we're getting this replay from i assume and if that is the case then maybe that was all laid down everywhere that was gray newell in the heart of racing aston martin and we are getting word that that was the first lap of the race that we were taking a look at there so so could have been some an incident on the opening lap and then those cars continue dropping fluids so when the leaders and everyone else came around to start their second lap is when the chaos ensued okay uh sums it up nicely what a strange sequence of events wilson leads from burton then kyle washington under yellow jason daskalos runs fourth we saw him involved in a spin there in turn five but he was able to continue on without any trouble and that's about it from the gt3 field i think we're down to about those four cars that went relatively unscathed through the start of the race sean quinlan survived all of that carnage he continues to lead in gt4 a couple of the gt4 front runners were taken out in that incident but jason bell made it through he runs second so scott doe will make it through with an old car rob holland it looks like in the mustang for road tech racing also able to come through but unfortunately it is a much diminished field that we are left with to contest the final 31 minutes of this race yeah it's a real shame i mean there's not a lot of time on the board anyway with these uh short 40-minute sprint races to lose so many cars and so much time with this incident and just uh i think everyone who didn't get involved is just lucky quite honestly because that fluid was literally right on the racing line do see some damage here to the nose of charlie luxe porsche right motorsports very experienced crew they'll take a close look at everything looking at the internals right there the bodywork that's not a huge problem but checking to make sure the brake ducting is unaffected the suspension is unaffected that's what's crucial here i think he was involved in the second wave of the incident right going into turn five yes and to score points you have to do 75 percent so he's got to get 30 minutes on the board here and when you're in pilt lane it's not going to count so uh they'll do their best trying to get a damaged limitation with the race car and the points as well tough hit though for the championship leader not just in the masters class as we've mentioned but also overall but what this does do calvin is it provides some opportunities for others that made it through and wilson certainly is a prime example of that moving into the lead jeff burton who's been on a great run of form as of late with some solid solid results at nashville and then dascalos who did have the off but made it through without any damage as far as i can tell that car is fast it was featuring towards the front of the field yesterday before running out of fuel evidently was the problem in race one yesterday we saw it come to a halt this is good to see james safron has been able to rejoin the winner yesterday but i'm afraid he may have lost a lap in all of this yeah he has so uh [Music] well he's got any damage this was just a quick off got stuck on that beautiful wet grass there and just i think with how low these race cars are something got bottom out whether it was the underside of the body or the diffuser or something back to the initial start of the race daskalos is the car to keep an eye on that's the right audi towards the back of the screen he makes this move around the outside coming from fourth to second in just a matter of corners this is adelson going for a spin and here we go more battles for position that's dascalo's getting up to second and then this great duel here between gidley and luck yeah goodly gets up to the inside and uh nice clean move i mean it's obviously going to get tight here on the opening lap close quarters up through turn turn six and there you see it just getting those uh right side tires on that fluid streak that comes right down kind of the middle of the road just left of the center and turns it hard in but that that fluid line was going all the way through turn three at caught out james sopranos then down into turn five it was there as well as all of these leaders then suddenly got on the brake pedal charlie luck involved in it we saw his car in the pit lane amanda music is in the pitch with charlie's driver coach the man who gave us our tour of the track earlier john haylen yeah you guys can still see charlie luck's car over my right hand shoulder they're still looking over the damage but yeah what feedback did you get from charlie on what he experienced as well as the assessment of what the damage might be yeah it sounds like there might be some oil or something yeah i think we're just just very unfortunate to be there you know wrong place wrong time we were hoping it was just going to be a tie rod but uh it looks like it might be a little more so i'm not sure what the chances are for us here to get the car back out not a lot of time to get it done as you mentioned short format sprint race is just 40 minutes to work with in the best of cases and uh the clock continues to take of course here under the yellow charlie luck still in the car but the crew not working with a great deal of urgency which has a sinister feel about it doesn't it it really does and i just got a text from george kurtz who came into this uh weekend second in the points and had the incident on friday just let everyone know that he's watching and wishes he was here but feeling okay just his arm is a little banged up so we hope to see him at the next round at watkins glen but um georgia we miss you maybe she won't be part of that opening couple of laps there because i seem to catch out the majority of the field george has been a big part of this championship from its inception this is the first year of gt america powered by aws and going back to the season opener his drive in the first race of the year where he got a penalty at the very start that dropped him from the lead all the way to the back and he came back through the field passing everyone left and right at sonoma of all places a track that's not known as a circuit that's easy to make a lot of passes on and you wouldn't know that watching him carve through the field picking up a memorable win and ended up sweeping the weekend there and was very much in the thick of the title hunts coming into this weekend before his mishap on friday and i echo your thoughts calvin certainly miss having georgia at the racetrack hope to see him at the next one nemo gidley has been able to rejoin but working around the track rather slowly yeah don't see a ton of damage [Music] assume he was the first to hit turn five uh literally um with safronis off in turn three he should have assumed the lead there going down into that brake zone i believe he may have gone off by himself unless someone locked up right behind i fear this is going to be a lengthy cleanup because not only are those cars beached in the gravel they also have heavy damage that makes it difficult sometimes to get them up on the tow vehicle but also there's the fluid to attend to we saw a track vehicle in the background coming through dropping some oil dry and the track crew i'm sure is going to take a very close look at this circuit we know it affected the first half of it just how far the stricken car went around the track is a bit of a mystery to us unfortunately but they'll need to give a close look to each of the corners to make sure we don't have a repeat of what happened on the second lap i assume they have some calculations in terms of uh how much of that sand they need to get around a full four mile length if someone did cruise around for the whole laptop and fluid but here we see this tko motorsports great to see these guys on the grid this weekend one of the ex capex bentleys and um name of goodly great to see him back uh had a stellar career single-seater ran champ car for a number of years actually had a big incident here under the milli uh billy mitchell ben what was the bridge back then uh when he was running for chip ganassi racing had a wild ride that day and uh essentially his uh career was uh curtailed for a while back in 2014 with a massive incident uh when he was blinded on the opening laps of the daytona 24-hour race and uh mimo was just really a dedicated guy he loves his racing and took him three years to really rehab from that incident but um he basically hopes to inspire people he said in life to keep chasing their dreams and certainly he's doing it here this weekend i don't think it's hyperbolic to say we all feared the worst when we saw that incident at daytona all those years ago and we were relieved that it wasn't more serious than it was but that's not to downplay just what kind of a grueling recovery all the surgeries all the rehab that he went through with a lot of damage to his legs in that crash and i remember i got to speak to him when he made his pro racing return in a what was then pirelli world challenge race out in sonoma it was with this same tko motorsports team they ran a porsche there and he was all smiles he was so happy to be back at a racetrack and behind the wheel again and he had great support from his family in pursuing that and it just it seems like a natural fit to have him back at the racetrack and hopefully we'll see a lot more of him from talking to derrick law who's overseeing that program don't think they'll be at watkins glen but i think the plan is to be at the rest of the races this season that'd be awesome great to see a bentley back on the grid as well that's right we haven't seen them since opening round of the season last year for more on the mavo gidly story let's go down to the pit lane well unfortunately memo is out of the car that car is not going to return uh to the track today darren what did you guys see that you knew that it wasn't ready for competition well unfortunately i mean i didn't see the incident i only saw the ending so it looks like there was oil or something and we lost a lot of cars there and unfortunately for us the the bentley backed into the tire barriers and we think we have a transmission problem now thank you tough break for tko motorsports mamo gidley you can see the disappointment on his face but there's still a a hint of a smile there cal yeah he'll be pumped uh pumped to be back racing again he had a really solid run yesterday and uh we assumed he had the lead they go down into two and five so that's a nice feeling to have admittedly it didn't last very long because of the fluid and the incident there but he'll be back and uh this will just wet his appetite even more i feel that it will but tough sight to see the bentley being pushed back behind the pit wall we continue under the safety car if you're just joining us heavy accident on the second lap of this race that was about 15 minutes ago at this point and it appeared that the heart of racing has to mark a great newell was dropping some fluid on the track with the mechanical issue and as the leaders came around on the subsequent lap they encountered some of that fluid and we saw several cars go for a spin let's take a look at the replay once again this is the initial start of the race here cal yeah look a little bit chaotic there in the middle of the pack with a lot of jostling around but uh somewhere between there and uh turn three uh probably into the turn three brake zone there was a an incident and here we see the aston martin i think there's great newer they're coming down yeah you can see the fluid on the extreme left side as we look right side for the drivers now obviously it was right through the brake zone and the line for turn three as well so somewhere between the apex of one and getting down to the brake zone three on the opening lab there was contact between a couple of cars and uh something got ruptured the result was a lot of flew it down on the racing surface and several cars went spinning into turn three including the overall leader at the time james defronis a couple other cars spun as well several made contact with the barriers this is jason harward who was caught up in the second wave of this chaos that was down into turn five so after safrona's spun that moved goodly to the lead he went spinning in this corner so did harward so did charlie luck jason dascalos went off track but was able to continue on how albeit down the order a little bit and that leaves us with andy wilson right now leading the way over jeff burton kyle washington and dasgloss that's the top four then the gt4 leader of sean quinlan and somehow john mcgrew was able to make his way through all of that he had to start at the back of the field here today and uh has been able to avoid all the spinning cars all of the fluid on the track and finds himself in a position now with just one gt4 car between himself and the top four gt3 cars and should be in with a shout to fight for an overall podium yeah so um a bit of irony for darren law we spoke to him who's kind of spearheading with flying lizard that tka motorsports effort with memo giddily but now he finds his other driver in this field and he will suck leading this race and he had a pretty uh start run yesterday great battle with he and jason dascalos got into each other a couple of times but reverse positions and uh it's a great battle unfortunately as as you mentioned earlier ryan dascalo's had a retirement we believe he's out of fuel they're late in the going i'm just gonna have to wait and see if there's gonna be any time on the board by the time they get this clean up done as mentioned it is a lengthy cleanup just because of the number of cars involved and it's a long trail of fluid that was left on the racing surface affecting at least the first half of the lap we know it continued to affect things up until this corner turn number five beyond that we didn't see anyone spinning off so hopefully the stricken car made it through the cutout you can go basically through this turn here through a sequence of tire bundles and get back into the paddock and hopefully that's where the aston wins and didn't continue to track any of the fluid through the rest of the circuit looks pretty clean down the hill there so i think just spot on with that it's one of the reasons that that cutout is there but again i think as we look to the second half of the race and hopefully getting a restart here we need to talk about who is providing an opportunity by this and and i think jeff burton running second just wanted to keep an eye on he is very aggressive runs with a great deal of confidence coming off of such a strong weekend at nashville and back on a natural terrain road course coming off of the street circuit there in nashville i think he's one to keep an eye on i think looking at his lap times yesterday he had a best lap of the 212.6 wilson had a 212.2 so they're pretty evenly matched here if we do get some green flag running should be a good battle and uh jeff coming off a really nice weekend at nashville we had a couple of masters class wins so confidence as high as watching him from the side of the track on friday and he was uh definitely honored and uh i don't think he's intimidated he's going to be going for the win for sure it's one to keep an eye on i think in in gt4 jason bell kind of falls into that category to some degree rob holland running inside the top five is just off of the podium he's the one really fighting with quinlan in the championship it's fairly tight in in gt4 talking to his crew he felt like the mustang was going to be at a deficit to the bmw and we've seen that not just in this series but pirelli gt4 america also that bmw m4 so strong so their goal is just to get on the podium this week and do some damage control and as the season goes along they'll start hitting some tracks that might favor that mustang a bit more and that'll give them a chance to make up some ground in the title hunt yes and as we say before horses for courses so this is definitely a bmw happy hunting ground uh they're very strong here with quinlan leading the gt4 pack right now and uh strong results yesterday in spring x competition as well for bmw so but um rob's very experienced great team behind him been working together for a long long time now so uh they're looking at the uh the big prize at the end of the championship season and seeing how high they climb up and maybe uh go chase down quinlan for that points lead scott noble who runs in the final podium spot in gt4 that's the cave and you see right there in the middle of the screen i think this is a remarkable debut for him he had a nice run yesterday very much in the mix and he's backing that up with a solid effort thus far admittedly we haven't had a lot of green flag running here in race two but it looks like he belongs in what i believe is his debut weekend in the championship and possibly in pro racing i know he's done some pca club racing uh with that powerful nola sport team it's a good team to get hooked up with they've really shepherded along a number of teams and drivers here or a number of drivers i should say in recent uh in recent years going back to last year they were in the thick of the pirelli gt4 america sprint x pro am championship they won the am championship going away it's a good program to be hooked up with if you're running a cayman certainly he uh did have a really uh solid run here yesterday and uh you know just leaning on the experience of the team the crew the engineers and the other drivers on that squad so guys like matt travis jason hart they're gonna be there giving him the the uh tuition for one of a better description as to how to get around this race circuit how to deal with these 40-minute sprint races when to go how to protect the tires a little bit so you still got something left in the last 10 minutes here's gray newell's car back under the awning there in the paddock and we do believe it was an oil cooler that split on this aston martin that created the fluid that ran around the circuit unfortunate to see gray newell young driver without hardly any racing experience did a lot of testing in the build up to this program but uh you know this is a driver that ian james who looks after this program co-drives with gray and probably gt4 america they they feel like this is something that can build and you know we've seen in the past it can be a big learning curve initially i go back to what michael dinan's first year in gt4 cars looked like calvin and it was a bit of a struggle at times the pace wasn't always there but he went into the offseason knew what he needed to work on and really jumped onto the scene then the following year which was last year and blew everyone away with a great season winning 17 races across two different gt4 championships here in sro america and and i look at gray newell as one who might be able to follow that blueprint and get all the learning done this year and make a big jump in year two yeah and ian james who runs the operation uh mega career titles here at world challenge an sro competition himself uh he runs alongside gray and the sprint x brands as well but uh he said gray is really impressive young man did a great job in testing over the winter so they've been working hard with him he said what he needs to do needs to do now is to learn how to race so uh that's a different aspect of uh driving a race cars one thing on the racetrack by yourself and fine-tuning and dialing in your lap time but then when you get in race conditions how you deal with it how you deal with the pressure if you're just uh stay in that zone of driving the race car on the limit and not be distracted didn't get confirmation that it was indeed that car that was dropping the fluid and a little bit of further detail to that situation there was contact with this car evidently at the start we saw adam adelson go for the spin there and turn one at the initial start and evidently there was a coming together between those two cars adelson spunning continued but it looks like newell got the worst end of it because it ruptured something and ultimately that is what has put us behind the safety car here for a considerable amount of time the cleanup continues hopefully we'll be able to get some racing in before it's all said and done there is james safrone is back at the back of the field the pole sitter race one winner and erstwhile race winner a race leader rather here today but has dropped a lap after getting stranded in the grass outside of turn three yeah if there was more time on the clock we could uh hypothesize about what sophronis could do try and run his way to the front get another yellow get way back around to the tail end of the pack but it's just going to be a question of enjoying road america if we do get back to green flag racing for him getting a bit racy cutting his way through the pack here he should have some fun with that but there's no way he's going to be in position with being a lap down to be a factor in the overall results today one additional reason for the delay i'm going to speculate based on seeing that gale forklift in the background is it looks like maybe the barriers needed to get moved around it was a big hit it was and those barriers can weigh somewhere around 9 000 pounds so to uh to have to move those shows you just how big of an impact that was meanwhile let's go back to the pits and check in with amanda well we know it's not the punctuation memo gidley was looking for the weekend but still smiles on the faces return to racing what do you sum up the weekend of how this experience has been for you getting back into bentley well for me it's awesome i mean i was trying to think when the last time i was out at this track it's been a while uh last race and so to be to get the opportunity with tko motorsports and flying lizard to come out here and run is great i mean we finished second yesterday and uh you know it's kind of just getting our feet wet and uh you know today the start of the race i thought we were looking pretty good and i was thinking we were going to move up there and i thought we were going to get into the lead i mean it only just started but i could just feel that the car felt really good at that point well the series heads to watkins glen next what's next for you yeah i wish we could do watkins but the next race for us is sebring and then we do the indie road course there as well so sebring i've been in india i haven't been not at least on the oval are at the road course so looking forward to get the tko guys out there and the flying lizard guys and get back up on the podium for me it's like you know i want to win i want to get to the top step so i've got about a month to make that happen and i'm going to do everything i can to make that make sure that comes true thank you very much thank you yeah guys thanks just awesome what a great story such motivation uh to to all who watch and hear about his story to get back in the race car after the the heroin crash at daytona that we've chronicled earlier uh just remarkable to see human to get up to speed this quickly with the bentley we touched on it yesterday it's a unique car not just because of the sheer size of the thing but it's right hand drive and i don't know that might not seem like a big deal and it isn't for a driver of his caliber after a time but there is some initial shock to sitting on the other side of a race car initially yeah there's definitely a nuance to that when you're used to being hugging certain corners around a circuit like road america and suddenly you're way off on the outside when you're going down into uh turn eight for example this one the safety car is now entering so different feel but you know these guys are just so quickly uh and uh mamo's a pro uh even though he's now at the uh tender age of 50 years old he can reflect on many of his experiences and come to grips with that very quickly but i think he's excited i think it's a great opportunity it's a first-class operation that he's running with and the car has really uh got a lot of potential so it'd be great to see him back on a full-time basis and who knows maybe they'll move up to uh gt will challenge america at some point in the future be great to see that be back in our field certainly would i got a funny text just now from amanda she said she found the right right-hand drive thing to be a bit shocking too she went to the wrong window to do an interview yesterday and yeah i can i can see where that would come into play but uh they're awesome cars they were so successful and you know you look at the bentley and you don't necessarily think high performance vehicle but go back in the bentley history calvin and the early years that levon were dominated by the bentley boys and then in more recent years they had some success in prototype racing and this gt3 program which unfortunately from the factory perspective has concluded but it's been a remarkable success what they've been able to build up uh in a short amount of time quickly i'll let you chew on that in a second but we did just get confirmation that we expect the checkered flag to come out this lap so the repairs won't be done in time and uh it's going to be a short shortened affair unfortunately here in race two of the weekend yeah such a shame because all of these drive there's so much effort that goes into the team when you think about the the cobweb of all of the teams around the country getting these cars ready and then uh traveling to this circuit to suddenly get here and have sort of perfect race conditions here this morning and then have a cut short as a real shame so uh but that's racing that can happen sometimes and uh we believe everyone is okay pretty scary moment there with the incident down in two and three pretty big hit with the two mercedes there but um we just gotta dust ourselves off and get ready for watkins gland in three weeks time exactly right you heard memo talking about sebring on the calendar and that is uh a makeup event which we'll talk about in a second but first let's congratulate andy wilson who gets the overall victory as well as the master's class win kyle washington wins out of the overall category and your gt4 winner once again sean quinlan gets it done albeit behind the safety car but looking at the remaining schedule the sebring round was not on the initial schedule going back to the start of the season the the plan was for sro america to go north of the border to canadian tire motorsport park that was not possible due to the covet 19 pandemic and all of the border crossing complications however this series gt america was not scheduled to go to ctmp that was going to be the nashville round so uh sebring got added to the schedule as we look at james staffronis who did set the crowd strike fastest lap of the race in our short amount of time that we did have under green it's the opening lap yeah it was but sebring was was the makeup for ctmp it was not going to be on the schedule for gt america because it's making up for a round that was not going to be on the gt america's schedule but so many drivers wanted to take part in it it's been added as a non-points invitational so we will see these many of these teams and drivers taking part in that race later on this year here are the final results though andy wilson gets it done jeff burton in second kyle washington who decided at the very last minute that he was going to make this trip to road america i'd say that decision paid off with a podium run overall great job by him and jason daskalos came home in fourth sean quinlan a great weekend for him from a championship perspective with a couple more wins yeah swept the weekend there's now six wins on the season plus a couple of podiums so he's going to be tough to beat but uh everyone will have to keep digging and try and chase him down and the rest of the field a lot of these names unfortunately involved in that incident that put us under full course yellow from which we did not emerge this race will end behind the safety car has come to its conclusion as a matter of fact and we'll see the cars make their way around the track one last time and then to the pit lane or amanda will chat with the race winners a bit of a strange one here calvin but a win is a win i don't think anyone will look askance at it uh it's gonna show up as a win in the win column and the points pay just the same yeah and it's such a packed schedule there's no way you can really uh throw a red and stop the clock and allow these uh drivers to get back out there so uh uh if it was at the end of the day maybe we could do something but with the being the first race and a busy uh jam-packed schedule ahead of us so uh great job by will zuck he also had a win at circuit the americas earlier in the season and uh he's up on the wheel there it's it's gonna be fun to watch him compete for the rest of the season i hope to see more of him made the start uh at circuit of the americas and had some success within the masters class but this time at overall win hopefully that entices him to come back for more i know he's been enjoying the experience racing in the pro paddock once again nothing like a little bit of a win here right to when the appetite to come back absolutely delivery on that car is superb the traditional flying lizard uh snake there on the side but uh in those gray and black colors it really looks superb not the day that james defronis was hoping for but at least the sister car from the gmg racing stable finishes third overall in the top runner in the overall category within gt3 that's the kyle washington porsche the white porsche right there and there's a chance we might see that car running as part of the indianapolis eight hour later this year i'm told which is the season finale for banner tech gt world challenge america powered by aws but also is the second leg of the intercontinental gt challenge powered by pirelli that got started back about a month ago at the total energy's 24 hours of spa many of those same teams and drivers will be making the trek to indianapolis for an eight-hour race there and then the igtc season will conclude in south africa in november at kylami there is andy wilson not exactly the way he expected to get the win i am sure but getting unbuckled from the car we'll be chatting with andy here very very soon he's always got a big smile on his face when i talk to him enjoying his racing very much in a return to a pro paddock put in a great drive yesterday and credit where credit is due when so many others had their issues he was able to navigate them without too much trouble kept that car in one piece and he's going to be rewarded for it yeah definitely a race of survival and shame we didn't get back to green flag running but they got get the track in order for the rest of the racing activities here today so it'll love the wind but i'm sure he'd prefer to add a nice strong 40-minute race and had some dicing like he did yesterday exactly so we'll look forward to what's to come here this season in gt america powered by aws let's hear from andy now with amanda well ryan he did get uh out of the car with a smile on his face as you did uh say but andy i'm sure not the way that you expect you to pick up the first win of the season for yourself is there any of this experience that we can use for for watkins glen no no it's just a weird race so you i mean it's nice to end up in this position but it's it's confusing there was seven seven cars off the track between three and five so it was this kind of weird race but it doesn't really translate to watkins glen from your viewpoint uh what was your reaction as you saw the cars in front of you i was surprised that i didn't have the same problems they did because if they were in fluid i should have been in the same fluid because i was in their wheel tracks and they went off and i didn't so it worked out congrats thank you i think that sums it up very well weird and it worked out certainly did for andy yeah and just uh it's just the margins right just a few inches either way uh he may have felt he was directly on on the same line but if he was just even half a car or a half a tire width away from that that could make the world the difference as we saw the initial hits with those gt4 mercedes down into turn three i think they just had the right side on the fluid got the grip from the left when they hit the brake pedal and just turned them violently into the wall second masters class win of the season for wilson but first overall win a man who has is no stranger to victory lane in this championship this season and the gt4 class is sean quinlan sean was able to survive what was happening going on in front of him as you saw everything unfolding what was going through your mind well you know it's not the way you really want to race to go with the oil and you know i turned in on three and it was pretty sketchy and uh you saw all the cars crashed on the outside so sort of knew something was going on but uh obviously not the way we want the race to go but i'm lucky i survived so i'll take it but uh yeah congratulations sean very similar sentiments there and i think it sums it up right just uh trying to to survive when the chaos is happening around you have you ever been in a situation like that where cars are just scattering in front of you calvin and you got to pick your way through yeah i have and uh sometimes you're lucky sometimes you're brave sometimes you're good but i think today is a bit anticlimactic in terms of everyone just wants to race at road america so to have this event really just with one green flag uh of racing under their belt is disappointing even though for sean quinlan it increases his points lead another one in the win column but i think he'd give that out for 40 minutes of racing here today well that brings to a close what was a surreal race two of the weekend for gt america powered by aws the championship heads next to watkins glenn hope to see you there so long from road america [Music] [Music] [Music] you

Channel: GTWorld

Views: 19,882

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 2, ROAD AMERICA, GT AMERICA 2021

Id: yTcOuv_pQME

Length: 51min 55sec (3115 seconds)

Published: Sun Aug 29 2021