2016 Utah Motorsports Campus - World Challenge

The 2016 World Challenge season was the twenty-seventh consecutive year for the series. There were eleven race weekends – the series kicked-off in March at Circuit of the Americas (COTA) and ended at Laguna Seca in early October.

The vehicle classes were the same as the previous year:

Grand Touring (GT) – This is the series quickest class and is predominantly cars competing in the FIA GT3 category. Examples of vehicles racing in this class include: Porsche 911 GT3 R, Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3, Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3, McLaren 650S GT3, Cadillac ATS-V.R GT3 and Ferrari 488 GT3.

Grand Touring Sportsman (GTA) – This class includes the same vehicles as GT, however, the drivers are not considered professionals. Competitors in this category are evaluated after each event and based on their performance may be elevated to the GT class.

GT Cup – This is a spec class for 2015-2016 Porsche 991 GT Cup cars.

Grand Touring Sport (GTS) – The cars in this class are similar to the GT vehicles but have more preparation restrictions. In previous years, this class was mainly comprised of Ford, Chevrolet and Porsche products. In 2016, the GTS category witnessed the appearance of a number of new vehicles which proved to be very competitive - KTM X-Box GT4, Ginetta G55 GT4 and SIN R1 GT4.

Touring Car (TC) – This class is for smaller sedans and sports cars which are allowed some performance modifications. Examples of vehicles competing in this category include: Honda Accord, Kia Forte, Mazda MX-5 and Porsche Boxster.

Touring Car A (TCA) – Many of the cars competing in this class are the same as those found in Touring Car. What sets them apart are the minimum amount of modifications that can be made – most changes are to improve the safety of the vehicles.

Touring Car B (TCB) - The slowest of all the World Challenge categories is based on the Sports Car Club of America’s B-Spec class. Examples of vehicles competing in this class include: Chevrolet Sonic, Honda Fit, Kia Rio, Mazda 2 and Mini Cooper.

Utah Motorsports Campus hosted rounds fourteen and fifteen for the GTS cars in early August. Teams competed on the fifteen-turn 3.048-mile ‘Outer Course’.

Sixteen GTS cars took the green flag for Saturday’s round fourteen of the 2016 Pirelli GTS Championship. As the cars pan out four wide into the first corner pole-sitter Scott Heckert racing the No. 54 SIN on ‘driver’s right’ leads the field. To his left is the Ginetta GT4 of fourth place qualifier Harry Gottsacker and third fastest qualifier Scott Dollahite in a Lotus.

Anthony Mantella won his first Pirelli World Challenge event in round fourteen. The Canadian importer for the KTM XBow GT4 qualified sixth but by lap-4 was in lead. Mantella lost first place to Harry Gottsacker but moved back out front to win by 2.285-seconds. In Sunday’s race, Mantella stalled on the starting line but recovered and finished eighth.

GTS points leader, Brett Sandberg, started from the fifth position in the weekend’s first event. Sandberg’s crew made some adjustments to the No. 13 ANSA Motorsports KTM XBow GT4 after qualifying. The changes improved the car’s handling and he finished second. In round fifteen, he started second and finished third – more important – Sandberg increased his points lead over Lawson Aschenbach.

Fifteen-year-old Parker Chase qualified the Performance Motorsports Group Ginetta GT4 second in the weekend’s first event. Chase was challenged by Brett Sandberg and Scott Heckert during the race - he would finish third at the checkered flag. His fastest lap in Saturday’s event placed Chase fourth on the grid for round fifteen - he held this position for the duration of the race.

The No. 54 SIN R1 GT4 was entered by Racers Edge Motorsports for Scott Heckert. In Saturday’s race, Heckert started on the pole just 0.004-seconds quicker than Parker Chase. During the event, he dropped down the order and finished fourth. On Sunday Heckert fared much better. Starting from the fourth position he moved into the lead on lap-3 and won his first GTS race by 1.014-seconds.

With the influx of GT4 prepared cars, it has been difficult for the traditional American marques (Ford and Chevrolet) to be competitive. Upholding their honour this weekend was Nate Stacy driving the Roush Performance Ford Mustang Boss 302. Stacy qualified ninth in round fourteen and finished twelfth after having issues with the differential. On Sunday, with repairs made, he rewarded the crew by earning the runner-up spot.

It was a difficult weekend for multiple World Challenge class champion Lawson Aschenbach. In practice, Aschenbach driving the No. 10 Chevrolet Camaro was fifth quickest but in qualifying, he could only manage a tenth. During the first race, Aschenbach was rear-ended suffering some damage but finished seventh. In the final event of the weekend, he started eleventh and was seventh at the checkered flag.

Local competitor, Vesko Kozarov, has proven to be a quick driver, especially at Utah Motorsports Campus. Kozarov was entered in the CA Sport Nissan 370Z but could only manage to go fast enough for the thirteenth grid position. He retired after seven laps and did not start the weekend’s final event.

FINISH	START	DRIVER	SPONSOR / CAR	LAPS	RETIREMENTS
1	6	Anthony Mantella	Mantella Autosport Inc. / KTM XBow GT4	25	-
2	5	Brett Sandberg	ANSA Motorsports / KTM XBow GT4	25	-
3	2	Parker Chase	Performance Motorsports Group / Ginetta GT4	25	-
4	1	Scott Heckert	Racers Edge Motorsports / SIN R1 GT4	25	-
5	8	Jeff Courtney	JCR Motorsports / MASERATI GranTurismo MC T	25	-
6	3	Scott Dollahite	SDR Motorsports / Lotus Evora	25	-
7	10	Lawson Aschenbach	Blackdog Speed Shop / Chevrolet Camaro	25	-
8	14	Mark Klenin	Klenin Performance Racing / MASERATI GranTurismo	25	-
9	12	Dore Chaponick Jr.	ANSA Motorsports / KTM XBow GT4	25	-
10	7	Martin Barkey	Mantella Autosport Inc. / KTM XBow GT	24	-
11	4	Harry Gottsacker	Performance Motorsports Group / Ginetta GT4	23	-
12	9	Nate Stacy	Roush Performance Road Racing / Ford Boss 302	17	-
13	16	Tony Gaples	Blackdog Speed Shop / Chevrolet Camaro	17	-
14	11	Max Riddle	TRG-AMR / Aston Martin Vantage GT4	11	-
15	13	Vesko Kozarov	CA Sport / Nissan 370Z	7	-
16	15	Bill Ziegler	ANSA Motorsports / KTM XBow GT4	4	Flat Tire

FINISH	START	DRIVER	SPONSOR / CAR	LAPS	RETIREMENTS
1	4	Scott Heckert	Racers Edge Motorsports / SIN R1 GT4	24	-
2	7	Nate Stacy	Roush Performance Road Racing / Ford Boss 302	24	-
3	2	Brett Sandberg	ANSA Motorsports / KTM XBow GT4	24	-
4	6	Park Chase	Performance Motorsports Group / Ginetta GT4	24	-
5	12	Max Riddle	TRG-AMR / Aston Martin Vantage GT4	24	-
6	3	Martin Barkey	Mantella Autosport Inc. / KTM XBow GT4	24	-
7	11	Lawson Aschenbach	Blackdog Speed Shop / Chevrolet Camaro	24	-
8	1	Anthony Mantella	Mantella Autosport Inc. / KTM XBow GT4	24	-
9	14	Tony Gaples	Blackdog Speed Shop / Chevrolet Camaro	24	-
10	8	Dore Chaponick Jr.	ANSA Motorsports / KTM XBow GT4	24	-
11	15	Bill Ziegler	ANSA Motorsports / KTM XBow GT4	24	-
12	13	Mark Klenin	Klenin Performance Racing / MASERATI GranTurismo	24	-
13	5	Harry Gottsacker	Performance Motorsports Group / Ginetta GT4	20	-
14	9	Scott Dollahite	SDR Motorsports / Lotus Evora	19	-
15	10	Jeff Courtney	JCR Motorsports / MASERATI GranTurismo MC	10	-

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