2019 Virginia International Raceway - World Challenge

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 three and four of the 2019 Blancpain GT World Challenge America season were contested at Virginia International Raceway. Seventeen teams competed in the two ninety-minute races around the seventeen-turn 3.270-mile road course.

The starting grid for round four of the 2019 Blancpain GT World Challenge America championship. On the pole is the No. 9 K-Pax Racing Bentley Continental GT3 qualified by Andy Soucek. Soucek and his co-driver, Alvaro Parente competed in the professional category. Also, in the professional division and on the outside of the front row was the No. 61 Remo Ferri Motorsport Ferrari 488 GT3 raced by Miguel Molina and Toni Vilander.

At Virginia International Raceway, the No. 9 K-Pax Bentley Continental GT3 shared by Alvaro Parente and Andy Soucek took the pole for both of the weekend’s events. They dominated the round three and won by a margin of 3.246-seconds. Round four did not go as well as Saturday’s race. At the start, Soucek lost the lead to Scott Hargrove and on lap-16, he had a puncture. A fire during refueling forced the team to retire.

The 2018 World Challenge – GTA Sprint and SprintX champion, Martin Fuentes and his driving partner, Caesar Bacarella swept the Amateur category – topping the time sheets each session. Bacarella qualified the Squadra Corsa Ferrari 488 GT3 thirteenth for round three and the duo finished eighth overall. On Sunday, they started fifteenth and were in eleventh place at the checkered flag. In both contests, the pair clinched the class victory.

The PRO/AM point’s leaders, Canadians, Martin Barkey and Kyle Marcelli had a weekend with mixed results. In qualifying for race one, Barkey was tenth fastest in the No. 80 Racers Edge Motorsports prepared Acura NSX GT3 – this was fourth quickest in their division. During the contest, they moved into the lead and grabbed their second victory of the season. On Sunday, they weren’t as fortunate and finished sixth in PRO/AM.

On lap-38 of the weekend’s first race, Maxime Soulet lost control of the K-Pax Bentley Continental GT3 at the tricky ‘Oak Tree’ turn. Damage to the left front of the Bentley necessitated the use of a tow truck to return the car to the paddock. On Sunday, Soulet and his driving partner, Rodrigo Baptista redeemed themselves. They were gridded sixth and moved into the top spot of the fifty-one-lap race on the twenty-eighth circuit.

An incident in round one at Circuit of the Americas forced Wolf Henzler and Marco Holzer to retire from the competition and prevented them from participating the following day. The No. 24 Alegra Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R was repaired for the season’s third race at Virginia International Raceway. The duo, competing in the professional category, clinched the runner-up position on Saturday and finished third in round four.

After missing the first two-rounds at Circuit of the Americas, RealTime Racing returned to the series. Piloting the No. 43 Acura NSX GT3 would be Acura Team Penske driver, Dane Cameron and amateur competitor, Bret Curtis. Thanks to the experienced RealTime team the Acura was immediately competitive. On Saturday, they missed finishing the PRO/AM podium by one position. In round four, the duo grabbed the class victory.

George Kurtz and Colin Braun just missed earning their first podium of the season at Circuit of the Americas. Kurtz handled the qualifying duties for round three and was sixth quickest in the PRO/AM category driving the No. 04 Mercedes-AMG GT3. In the race, they finished fifth in their class. Braun was seventh fastest in the second session but third in PRO/AM. At the conclusion of Sunday’s contest, the pair clinched second in their group.

It was a good weekend for Acura NSX GT3 teams. All three teams were competing for honours in the PRO/AM category. The Racers Edge Motorsports Acura won on Saturday while the RealTime prepared car earned a victory the following day. The third team, Gradient Racing fielded an NSX for Ryan Eversley, the 2018 Pirelli World Challenge TCR champion and Till Bechtolsheimer. In their division, they captured a second and fourth place finish.

FINISH	CLASS	DRIVER	ENTRANT / CAR	LAPS
1	SprintX - GT Pro/Pro	Parente / Sourek	K-PAX Racing / Bentley Continental GT3	46
2	SprintX - GT Pro/Pro	Henzler / Holzer	Alegra Motorsports / Porsche 911 GT3 R	46
3	SprintX - GT Pro/Pro	Molina / Vilander	R. Ferri Motorsport / Ferrari 488 GT3	46
4	SprintX - GT Pro/Am	Barkey / Marcelli	Racers Edge Motorsports / Acura NSX	46
5	SprintX - GT Pro/Am	Eversley / Bechtolsheimer	Gradient Racing / Acura NSX	46
6	SprintX - GT Pro/Am	Askew / Dalziel	DXDT Racing / Mercedes-AMG GT3	46
7	SprintX - GT Pro/Am	Cameron / Curtis	RealTime Racing / Acura NSX	46
8	SprintX - GT Am/Am	Fuentes / Bacarella	Squadra Corse Garage Italia / Ferrari 488 GT3	46
9	SprintX - GT Pro/Am	Braun / Kurtz	DXDT Racing / Mercedes-AMG GT3	46
10	SprintX - GT Pro/Am	Caiola / Plumb	One11 Competition / Ferrari 488 GT3	46
11	SprintX - GT Pro/Pro	Morad / De Quesada	Alegra Motorsports / Porsche 911 GT3 R	45
12	SprintX - GT Am/Am	Cagnazzi / Kaminskey	One11 Competition / Ferrari 488 GT3	43
13	SprintX - GT Pro/Pro	Hargrove / Long	Wright Motorsports / Porsche 911 GT3 R	39
NC	SprintX - GT Pro/Am	Schmitt / Liefooghe	Stephen Cameron Racing / BMW M6 GT3	31
NC	SprintX - GT Pro/Am	Millstein / Barron	K2R Motorsports / Porsche 911 GT3 R	25
NC	SprintX - GT Pro/Pro	Baptista / Soulet	K-PAX Racing / Bentley Continental GT3	12
NC	SprintX - GT Pro/Am	Imperato / Campbell	Wright Motorsports / Porsche 911 GT3 R	0

FINISH	CLASS	DRIVER	ENTRANT / CAR	LAPS
1	SprintX - GT Pro/Pro	Baptista / Soulet	K-PAX Racing / Bentley Continental GT3	51
2	SprintX - GT Pro/Pro	Hargrove / Long	Wright Motorsports / Porsche 911 GT3 R	51
3	SprintX - GT Pro/Pro	Henzler / Holzer	Alegra Motorsports / Porsche 911 GT3 R	51
4	SprintX - GT Pro/Pro	Morad / De Quesada	Alegra Motorsports / Porsche 911 GT3 R	51
5	SprintX - GT Pro/Pro	Molina / Vilander	R. Ferri Motorsport / Ferrari 488 GT3	51
6	SprintX - GT Pro/Am	Cameron / Curtis	RealTime Racing / Acura NSX	51
7	SprintX - GT Pro/Am	Braun / Kurtz	DXDT Racing / Mercedes-AMG GT3	51
8	SprintX - GT Pro/Am	Imperato / Campbell	Wright Motorsports / Porsche 911 GT3 R	51
9	SprintX - GT Pro/Am	Eversley / Bechtolsheimer	Gradient Racing / Acura NSX	51
10	SprintX - GT Pro/Am	Caiola / Plumb	One11 Competition / Ferrari 488 GT3	50
11	SprintX - GT Am/Am	Fuentes / Bacarella	Squadra Corse Garage Italia / Ferrari 488 GT3	50
12	SprintX - GT Pro/Am	Barkey / Marcelli	Racers Edge Motorsports / Acura NSX	50
13	SprintX - GT Pro/Am	Schmitt / Liefooghe	Stephen Cameron Racing / BMW M6 GT3	50
14	SprintX - GT Pro/Am	Millstein / Barron	K2R Motorsports / Porsche 911 GT3 R	49
15	SprintX - GT Am/Am	Cagnazzi / Kaminskey	One11 Competition / Ferrari 488 GT3	48
16	SprintX - GT Pro/Am	Askew / Dalziel	DXDT Racing / Mercedes-AMG GT3	47
NC	SprintX - GT Pro/Pro	Parente / Sourek	K-PAX Racing / Bentley Continental GT3	26

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