Weekly Racing Roundup (5.22.23)

Kurtz, Dasaklos Snap Gidley’s Winning Form

George Kurtz and Jason Daskalos shared out the victories at Circuit of The Americas to curb Memo Gidley’s winning start to the GT America powered by AWS season.

Daskalos reduced Gidley’s lead in the SR03 standings to just two points with a second place and a victory in his CRP Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo.

The opening 40-minute race saw Kurtz, driver of the CrowdStrike with Riley Mercedes-AMG, trade the early lead with Johnny O’Connell’s SKI Autosports Ferrari F458 Italia GT3.

However, that duel only lasted for a handful of minutes as Daskalos spun O’Connell around at the penultimate corner, giving Kurtz the clean air required to take a dominant 16-second victory.

The second spot on the podium went to Daskalos, who finished narrowly ahead of James Sofronas, Todd Treffert and Anthony Bartone in a sprint to the line.

Kurtz started the second race, which was held in slippery conditions due to morning rain, from pole but dropped back in the early stages behind Wright Motorsports Porsche driver Adam Adelson and James Sofronas in the GMG Racing Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II.

With 17 minutes to go, Kurtz and Sofronas made contact, enabling Anthony Bartone to sneak through and take the lead with his RealTime Racing Mercedes-AMG.

After a safety car period, Bartone and Adelson collided at the restart which promoted O’Connell to the lead, however the SKI driver lost his win post-race due to a 10-second penalty for his Ferrari not having tires fitted after the five-minute pre-race warning.

Gidley, who has taken four GT America victories already this season, also received a penalty in Race 2 that left his TKO Motorsports Mercedes-AMG finishing fifth.

GT4 class honors went to Ross Chouest and Elias Sabo respectively.

RESULTS: Race 1 / Race 2

Other Racing Action & News

***Giancarlo Fisichella and Tommaso Mosca won a rain-affected opening round of the Italian GT Endurance Championship at Enna for the Scuderia Baldini Ferrari squad. The two-hour race was halted after just seven minutes due to wet weather, causing a one-hour delay. When racing resumed, Mosca overtook pole-sitter Stuart Middleton before drawing out a half-minute lead alongside Fisichella, who took the middle stint. Results

***Akkodis ASP will field a Mercedes-AMG GT2 in the rest of the Fanatec GT2 European Series season, marking the second customer entry for the German manufacturer’s new car. Mauro and Benjamin Ricci will team up in the Am class for a five-round program.

***Some new entries have joined the International GT Open grid for this weekend’s single-race fixture at Spa-Francorchamps. Additional Porsche 911 GT3 Rs come from Huber Motorsport, which is running Matteo Cairoli and Antares Au, and the father-son Australian duo of Stephen and Brenton Grove. AKM Motorsport has also committed with a Mercedes-AMG GT3 for Andrzej and Adrian Lewandowski.

***British Touring Car Championship race winner Jake Hill has joined Century Motorsport for this weekend’s Intelligent Money British GT Championship round at Donington Park. Hill, who is fifth in the BTCC standings, will share a BMW M4 GT3 with Simon Watts.

***Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa, who visited the International Space Station in 2021, has launched a new racing team called Maezawa Racing that will enter the Japan Cup portion of Fanatec GT World Challenge Asia powered by AWS. Naoki Yokomizo, who finished third in last season’s GTWC Asia standings, and Piti Bhirombhakdi will share the team’s Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo 2020.

***Toyota Gazoo Racing last week completed a shakedown of its two Toyota GR010 Hybrids that will race in the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Jose Maria Lopez and Brendon Hartley were on-hand for the Cologne-based team’s traditional trip to Spa-Francorchamps.

On this weekend: DTM (Oschersleben), International GT Open (Spa-Francorchamps), Intelligent Money British GT Championship (Donington Park), Fanatec GT2 European Series (Red Bull Ring)