K-PAX Wins Again at Sebring; Wright Clinches Pro-Am Title

Photo: K-PAX Racing

Andrea Caldarelli and Jordan Pepper completed a sweep of the Fanatec GT World Challenge America powered by AWS weekend at Sebring International Raceway, while Wright Motorsports’ Jan Heylen and Fred Poordad clinched the Pro-Am class title with a fourth place class finish.

Caldarelli took the No. 3 Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo to a 18.908-second overall win ahead of the No. 33 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo of Russell Ward and Mikael Grenier in second.

It came just one day after the Lamborghini factory driver and his South African co-driver locked up the Pro class championship.

Caldarelli took over the lead on the race’s restart with 28 minutes to go, getting around Poordad, who emerged as the overall leader following Heylen’s controlling opening stint in the No. 20 Porsche 911 GT3 R.

Poordad dropped down the running order on the restart but held his ground to earn enough points to lock up the championship ahead of the season-ending Indianapolis 8 Hour later this month.

It came despite late-race contact triggered by the No. 88 Zelus Motorsport Lamborghini of Jason Harward, which resulted in a spin for the Porsche driver. Harward would serve a drive-through penalty for incident responsibility.

The No. 6 K-PAX Lamborghini of Giovanni Venturini and Corey Lewis completed the overall and Pro class podium in third, ahead of the Giacomo Altoe and Dennis Lind-driven No. 9 TR3 Racing Lamborghini in fourth.

Altoe lost third after a fierce fight with Ward in the closing laps, which led to the TR3 Lamborghini running wide into the entrance of Turn 16.

Pro-Am class honors in the race went to the No. 93 Racers Edge Motorsports Acura NSX GT3 Evo, highlighted by a come-from-behind drive by Dakota Dickerson.

Dickerson was one of at least four cars involved in an opening lap skirmish that saw the Acura drop to 15th and led to an impressive charge by the HPD GT3 Academy graduate to get the car up to fifth overall prior to the pit stop and driver change to Taylor Hagler.

The No. 19 DXDT Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo of Michael Cooper and Erin Vogel finished second in class, with the No. 77 Compass Racing Acura driven by Matt McMurry and Rodrigo Sales completing the class podium.

A heavy crash for the No. 23 Triarsi Competizione Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo 2020 of Charlie Scardina on his out lap saw the Am class win easily handed to the No. 61 AF Corse Ferrari of Jean-Claude Saada and Conrad Grunewald.

It was the only full-course caution of the 90-minute race, which also saw a retirement from the No. 96 Turner Motorsport BMW M6 GT3 due to a throttle-related issue.

The No. 91 Rearden Racing Lamborghini also failed to finish.

RESULTS: Race 2

John Dagys

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