Hargrove Wins; Parente Crash Ends Race 2 in St. Pete

Photo: Brian Cleary/BCPix.com

Scott Hargrove collected his second career Pirelli World Challenge victory in as many starts, in Sunday’s GT Sprint race on the streets of St. Pete.

The 50-minute race ended under a red flag following a massive accident by the No. 9 K-PAX Racing Bentley Continental GT3 of Alvaro Parente, who had brake failure and slammed heavily into the barriers in the Turn 10 run-off area.

Parente climbed from his Bentley, which landed on top of a stack of tire barriers, escaping serious injury.

The race did not resume following the red flag.

Hargrove led from the start in his No. 96 Pfaff Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R, although came under increasing pressure from the No. 26 Callaway Corvette C7 GT3-R of Daniel Keilwitz, who finished second.

The German driver, who started on the front row, slipped to fourth after the opening lap but managed to pick off both Toni Vilander and Daniel Morad for position.

Morad completed the podium in third in his No. 2 CRP Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3, ahead of the No. 24 Alegra Motorsports Porsche of Michael Christensen, who was fourth. 

Martin Fuentes made it a sweep of the weekend in GTA, finishing fifth overall in his No. 07 Squadra Corse Garage Italia Ferrari.

Vilander was another victim of the 1.8-mile street circuit on Sunday, with the Finn ending his day in the wall on Lap 13.

The accident triggered the race’s first of three full-course cautions, with the second yellow for Spencer Pumpelly, who also made contact with the wall in his No. 00 TRG Aston Martin V12 Vantage GT3.

Rodrigo Baptista finished sixth overall in his no. 3 K-PAX Bentley, with Parker Chase completing the GTA podium in seventh.

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