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GT World Challenge America

Barber Weekend Notebook

Sportscar365’s PWC weekend notebook from Barber…

Photo: Brian Cleary/BCPix.com

Photo: Brian Cleary/BCPix.com

***While Alvaro Parente took K-PAX Racing to victory in Race 1 of the PWC weekend in Alabama, his teammate Colin Thompson wound up at the bottom of the running order following a heavy crash early in Saturday’s race. The car has been retired from the weekend due to extensive damage.

***Multimatic is expected to debut a GT4-spec version of its Shelby GT350R-C for the GTS class within the next few races. When asked to confirm the presence of the car, believed to be fitted with the Boss 302R powerplant, Ford Performance director Dave Pericak told Sportscar365 to “stay tuned.” “Rumors can be good, and rumors can be bad!” he added.

***NGT Motorsport will not take part in the new Sprint-X Championship as originally planned. It’s understood the Florida-based team was preparing at least one Ferrari GT3 entry for the three-round championship, which will kick off next month at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park.

***While the Lamborghini Huracan GT3 will not likely make its PWC debut until next year, as reported by Sportscar365, at least one of the Italian manufacturer’s Lamborghini Huracan LP 620-2 Super Trofeo cars is expected to participate in Sprint-X.

***Dion von Moltke is filling in for M1 GT Racing driver coach Guy Cosmo this weekend, as Cosmo’s wife gave birth their son, Grayson Alexander Cosmo, earlier this week. Von Moltke was recently appointed as an Audi of America motorsports ambassador.

***GT Cup winner Alec Udell was sporting a new livery on his GMG Racing Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car. The all-blue scheme is designed to echo that of his GT-class teammate James Safronas.

***PWC debutante Jade Buford swept the weekend with a pair of wins in GTS. Buford, an instructor at the Porsche Sport Driving School, was also involved with some of the early testing of the SIN R1 GT4 chassis that he took to a pair of wins and two pole positions in this weekend. The wins were the first for the British-built chassis in PWC competition.

***It wasn’t all smooth sailing for Buford. After dominating Race 1, he stalled at the start of Race 2 and fell all the way back to last before the first turn. The Nashville native raced his way from the back of the pack to second, and inherited the lead when his teammate Scott Heckert spun while leading with 7 minutes to go.

***The first GTS Race on Friday was bookended by rain. The race started in wet conditions, quickly dried out, only to get soaked when a thunderstorm rolled into the Leeds, Ala. area. Lightning associated with the storm caused the race to be called with just over 10 minutes left on the clock.

***The second and final GT/GTA/GT Cup race of the weekend gets underway Sunday at 9:15 a.m. CT, with live coverage on Motor Trend on Demand, as well as World-Challenge.com. CBS Sports Network will air both GT races Sunday May 1 at 4 p.m. ET.

John Dagys contributed to this report

Ryan Myrehn is an Indianapolis-based broadcaster and reporter. In addition to his work covering primarily domestic sports car racing for Sportscar365, he is the lead announcer for SRO America's TV coverage as well as a pit reporter for IndyCar Radio. Myrehn, a graduate of DePauw University, is also the host of Sportscar365's “Double Stint” Podcast.

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