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PWC Weekend Roundup: Utah

Catch up with the post-weekend news, notes and results from Utah…

Photo: Brian Cleary/BCPix.com

Photo: Brian Cleary/BCPix.com

***Anthony Mantella (Mantella Autosport) and Scott Heckert (Racers Edge Motorsports) claimed GTS victories over the weekend, in their KTM X-Bow GT4 and SIN R1 GT4 cars, respectively. Both drivers earned their first career PWC wins.

***Top honors in TC went to Adam Poland and John Weisberg (Mazda MX-5), with TCA going to Jason Wolfe (Kia Forte Coupe) and TCB to Tom O’Gorman (Honda Fit), the latter two drivers having swept both races on Friday and Saturday.

***Patrick Long has taken over the GT championship lead, with a pair of third place finishes this weekend. Long heads into the final three rounds with a 21-point lead over Alvaro Parente, who had a DNF on Saturday after an accident and only a 11th place result on Sunday. Cadillac’s Michael Cooper remains in the hunt, in third, 65 points behind Long.

***Late-race misfortune handed top class honors in GTA to Martin Fuentes. The Scuderia Corsa driver, who scored his 9th win of the season, broke Peter Cunningham’s series record of eight wins in a single season, in a non-spec class.

***Michael Lewis, Brent Holden, Max Riddle, Scott Heckert, Parker Chase and Harry Gottsacker all pulled double duty on Sunday, racing in either the GT or GTS races in addition to the SprintX round. Their cars also took part in both races.

***Chase and Gottsacker were a late addition to the SprintX grid in Race 2, after both Performance Motorsports Group Ginetta G55 GT4 cars practiced earlier in the weekend. Gottsacker managed to fulfill his one-race probation from PWC, issued earlier in the day in GTS Sprint Race 2, in the SprintX round.

***It was a race to forget for RealTime Racing on Sunday, with both Ryan Eversley and Spencer Pumpelly retiring. Eversley sustained left-rear suspension failure on Lap 19, while Pumpelly didn’t even make it to the green after axle failure to his Acura TLX GT.

***An announcement has yet to be made on who will drive the team’s No. 34 Acura at the next round in Sonoma. Pumpelly has been ruled out due to his IMSA commitments that weekend, with RealTime team principal Peter Cunnginham unlikely available to due to he and Peter Kox’s testing duties with the new Acura NSX GT3.

***The No. 98 Calvert Dynamics Porsche 911 GT3 R, which burned up in practice on Friday, is not expected to take part in any more races this season due to the extensive damage. Preston Calvert told Sportscar365 that he is likely to return to his GT Cup class Porsche 911 GT3 Car for Sonoma and Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, but also plans to take part in the SprintX season finale with Michael Lewis.

***The two TBA dates on the provisional 2017 schedule are likely to be filled by Utah and Sonoma. PWC President/CEO Greg Gill told Sportscar365 that it’s their first intention to return to both venues, although agreements have yet to be finalized. The final schedule will be released at the next round in Sonoma.

***One of the conditions for a return to Utah is the finalization of the sale of the property to Mitime Investment and Development Group, which has been under a management contract with Tooele County since February. It’s understood the final agreement could be made within the next month.

***Mitime, a subsidiary of Geely, China’s largest auto manufacturer, has extensive plans for the facility, including construction of a 1/2-mile oval, drag strip and three-star hotel, along with other initiatives linking to China.

***The Larry H. Miller Performance Museum, which had been a mainstay at Miller Motorsports Park, is being relocated to a new location downtown.

***Longtime open-wheel and sports car racing driver Desiré Wilson, one of only five women to have driven in Formula One, competed in her final race in Sunday’s Pirelli GT3 Cup Trophy USA round at Utah. Wilson, the wife of world renowned track designer Alan, finished 5th overall and in class.

***Dino Crescentini won his second race of the weekend, in the second Pirelli GT3 Cup Trophy USA race of the weekend, closing the championship gap to points leader Robert Todd, who came home second. In the Silver class, Kevin Woods led much of the race only to suffer an issue late in the going, turning the lead over to Keith Jensen for his second win of the weekend in his Porsche Cayman GT4 Clubsport.

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John

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