2019 was the thirtieth consecutive year for the World Challenge series. In the offseason, the Grand Touring category was renamed the Blancpain GT World Challenge America. With the new title came some additional changes:

The SprintX Championship has three classes:

  • The sixty-minute races in 2018 would be replaced by ninety-minute contests – two each weekend. There would be a mandatory pit-stop scheduled to take place between the 45 and 55-minutes. At this time, the driver change would be completed. It will also provide teams with an opportunity to refuel and change tires.
  • Race weekends would offer six-hours of total track time to competitors.
  • Drivers compete in Professional (Pro), Professional and Amateur (Pro/Am), Silver or Amateur (Am) categories.

There are a total of seven rounds with the championship kicking off in March at Circuit of the Americas. This event is followed by races at Virginia International Raceway and Canadian Tire Motorsport Park. Then the teams travel to the west coast to compete at Sonoma Raceway. On the Labour Day weekend, competitors participate at Watkins Glen International. The penultimate rounds are at Road America with the season concluding at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway in October.

The Blancpain GT World Challenge America category is the series quickest class with cars prepared to FIA GT3 rules. These are two-wheel drive vehicles that may use normally aspirated or turbocharged engines which produce approximately 500 horsepower. Examples of cars competing in this category include: Porsche 911 GT3 R, Lamborghini Huracan GT3, Mercedes AMG GT3, McLaren 650S GT3, Callaway Corvette C7 GT3-R, Bentley Continental GT3, Audi R8 LMS and Ferrari 488 GT3.

Rounds eleven and twelve of the 2019 Blancpain GT World Challenge America championship were held at Road America. Teams would score points in two ninety-minute races around the fourteen-turn 4.048-mile road course.

The first lap into corner-three for the Blancpain GT World Challenge America competitors. Leading the field of fourteen starters is the pole-sitter, Daniel Serra in the Remo Ferri Motorsport Ferrari 488 GT3. Behind Serra is the other front row starter, Scott Hargrove driving the No. 58 Porsche 911 GT3 R prepared by Wright Motorsports. Hargrove is followed by the K-PAX Racing Bentleys of Maxime Soulet and Alvaro Parente.
Remo Ferri Motorsport drivers, Daniel Serra and Toni Vilander, dominated the weekend’s first contest. Despite a late-race caution, the No. 61 Ferrari 488 GT3 won by a margin of 1.482-seconds. On Sunday, the Ferrari was gridded in the fifth starting position. They dropped to the sixth spot but moved up the race order with Serra making a pass for second place on lap-36 of 41. The pair finished second overall and first in the Pro category.
It was an excellent weekend for the local team, RealTime Racing. Sharing the Acura NSX GT3 was professional driver, Dane Cameron and Mike Hedlund who joined the series in round seven at Sonoma Raceway. Since then the pair have dominated the Pro/Am category – (four victories and one-second place) and are second in the standings. It would be business as usual for the duo as they won their class both days.
The Canadian pair of Kyle Marcelli and Martin Barkey led the Blancpain GT World Challenge America Pro/Am category. Their commanding lead of twenty-one-points in the championship was beginning to diminish as the RealTime drivers were dominating events of late. At Road America, Marcelli and Barkey scored third and second-place finishes while Dane Cameron and Mike Hedlund won both rounds. The gap is now four points.
Saturday’s Blancpain GT World Challenge America podium at Road America for the Pro category. On the right side of the rostrum are the third-place finishers from K-PAX Racing, Rodrigo Baptista and Maxime Soulet. And, on the opposite side are the runner-ups, sharing the Wright Motorsports’ Porsche 911 GT3 R, Patrick Long and Scott Hargrove. In the center are the victors, Daniel Serra and the class points leader, Toni Vilander.
Thirteen competitors prepare to enter Road America’s front straight in anticipation of the Starter’s flag. Sharing the front row is the Racers Edge Motorsports Acura NSX GT3 driven by the pole-sitter, Kyle Marcelli and the RealTime Racing Acura of Dane Cameron. Occupying the second row is the DXDT Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 piloted by Ryan Dalziel and Matt Campbell in the Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R.
Sharing the No. 9 K-PAX Racing Bentley Continental GT3 was Alvaro Parente and Andy Soucek. They started race one in the fourth position. Soucek was in third place with two laps remaining when he made contact with Matt Campbell in the Wright Motorsports Porsche. Soucek spun and finished ninth. On Sunday, the duo faired much better finishing second in the Pro category. But in the title chase, they lost points to Toni Vilander.
Wright Motorsports teammates, Patrick Long and Scott Hargrove are fourth in the driver standings. Their season has included five podium finishes with one of those being a victory in race two at Sonoma. In the weekend’s first race at Road America, they started on the outside of the front row and captured the runner-up spot in the Pro category. The following day, the pair was gridded ninth and managed to finish fifth overall.
Piloting the second K-PAX Racing Bentley Continental GT3 were Rodrigo Baptista and Maxime Soulet. The pair entered the Road America round of the Blancpain GT World Challenge America championship third in the standings – thirty-points behind their teammates. Baptista and Soulet weren’t a threat to win this weekend, but they earned a pair of third-place finishes in the professional division and closed the gap in the standings.
The No. 91 Wright Motorsports entry competed in the Pro/Am category with drivers, Anthony Imperato and Matt Campbell. Sharing the Porsche with Imperato this season are the Australian, Campbell and Dennis Olsen. At Road America, Imperato started the first race in the seventh position and contact between Campbell and Soucek allowed them to finish second in class. On Sunday, they grabbed the final spot on the Pro/Am podium.

FINISHCLASSDRIVERSENTRANT / CARLAPS
1SprintX - GT Pro/ProSerra / VilanderR. Ferri Motorsport / Ferrari 488 GT341
2SprintX - GT Pro/AmCameron / HedlundRealTime Racing / Acura NSX41
3SprintX - GT Pro/ProHargrove / LongWright Motorsports / Porsche 911 GT3 R41
4SprintX - GT Pro/AmImperato / CampbellWright Motorsports / Porsche 911 GT3 R41
5SprintX - GT Pro/ProBaptista / SouletK-PAX Racing / Bentley Continental GT341
6SprintX - GT Pro/AmBarkey / MarcelliRacers Edge Motorsports / Acura NSX41
7SprintX - GT Pro/AmBraun / KurtzDXDT Racing / Mercedes-AMG GT341
8SprintX - GT Pro/AmHindman / BechtolsheimerGradient Racing / Acura NSX41
9SprintX - GT Pro/ProParente / SourekK-PAX Racing / Bentley Continental GT341
10SprintX - GT Pro/AmSchmitt / LiefoogheStephen Cameron Racing / BMW M6 GT340
11SprintX - GT Am/AmFuentes / IssaSquadra Corse Garage Italia / Ferrari 488 GT340
12SprintX - GT Pro/AmAskew / DalzielDXDT Racing / Mercedes-AMG GT340
13SprintX - GT Pro/AmTakeda / ShirasakaTurner Motorsport / BMW M6 GT340
14SprintX - GT Pro/AmMillstein / BarronK2R Motorsports / Porsche 911 GT3 R31

FINISHCLASSDRIVERENTRANT / CARLAPS
1SprintX - GT Pro/AmCameron / HedlundRealTime Racing / Acura NSX41
2SprintX - GT Pro/ProSerra / VilanderR. Ferri Motorsport / Ferrari 488 GT341
3SprintX - GT Pro/ProParente / SourekK-PAX Racing / Bentley Continental GT341
4SprintX - GT Pro/ProBaptista / SouletK-PAX Racing / Bentley Continental GT341
5SprintX - GT Pro/ProHargrove / LongWright Motorsports / Porsche 911 GT3 R41
6SprintX - GT Pro/AmBarkey / MarcelliRacers Edge Motorsports / Acura NSX41
7SprintX - GT Pro/AmImperato / CampbellWright Motorsports / Porsche 911 GT3 R41
8SprintX - GT Pro/AmHindman / BechtolsheimerGradient Racing / Acura NSX41
9SprintX - GT Pro/AmBraun / KurtzDXDT Racing / Mercedes-AMG GT341
10SprintX - GT Am/AmFuentes / IssaSquadra Corse Garage Italia / Ferrari 488 GT341
11SprintX - GT Pro/AmTakeda / ShirasakaTurner Motorsport / BMW M6 GT340
12SprintX - GT Pro/AmAskew / DalzielDXDT Racing / Mercedes-AMG GT335
NCSprintX - GT Pro/AmSchmitt / LiefoogheStephen Cameron Racing / BMW M6 GT312

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