Weekly Racing Roundup (10.9.23)

Gidley Earns GT America Title at Indianapolis

Memo Gidley became the new SRO3 champion in GT America powered by AWS after winning the first of two races at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway season finale.

Gidley’s victory in the weekend’s opening 40-minute contest was enough to secure the title, while the TKO Motorsports driver iced the cake with another win in Race 2.

Eight years after a huge accident at the 2014 Rolex 24 at Daytona, the former American Le Mans Series and Champ Car driver made his racing return in LMP3 last year before switching to GT America with a Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo.

Gidley’s title-clinching weekend started with a pole position that was converted into a straightforward seventh win of the campaign.

His main championship rival Jason Daskalos immediately passed Johnny O’Connell for second at the start, but ended up returning to third after O’Connell shook off early pressure from Mirco Schultis before drafting past Daskalos into Turn 1.

Schultis then battled with Daskalos and the pair came together at the same corner.

Daskalos was deemed at fault and the CRP Racing driver received a 68-second post-race penalty that dropped him to sixth in the SRO3 class and dashed his title hopes.

The second race started with George Kurtz on pole but Gidley made the better getaway and stole the lead through the first turn.

Behind them, several drivers including Daskalos and Schultis were involved in a multi-car incident that broke up the SRO3 field.

Gidley held off Kurtz over the duration to win by 3.5 seconds, while Adam Adelson overtook O’Connell for third.

The GT4 title went to Jason Bell by a single point, while the Indianapolis event also saw three GT2 cars from KTM, Mercedes-AMG and Audi join the GT America field.

RESULTS: Race 1 / Race 2

Mies, Stippler Take Audi’s First NLS Win of Year

Christopher Mies and Frank Stippler claimed Audi’s first SP9 victory at the Nürburgring Nordschleife this year in the ninth and final round of the NLS season.

The Scherer Sport PHX duo finished 46 seconds ahead of Mercedes-AMG Team GetSpeed’s Lucas Auer and Fabian Schiller, while Julien Andlauer and Audi factory driver Patric Niederhauser were third in a Rutronik Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R.

Stippler led away from pole position despite a first-lap challenge from Ben Doerr and opened an early advantage in the four-hour race.

As the strategies played out, the Scherer PHX Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II traded the lead with the Walkenhorst Motorsport BMW M4 GT3 of Jakub Giermaziak and Christian Krognes, who were searching for their fourth straight NLS win.

In the final hour, Krognes got to within half a minute of Mies but his BMW needed a late fuel splash to reach the end, dropping the Norwegian driver to fourth.

A final-hour overtake from Schiller on Niederhauser through the Mercedes Arena decided the podium positions behind Scherer PHX, which won the final race for Phoenix Racing founder Ernst Moser in his long-held role of team principal.

“It was a very emotional win for us,” said Stippler. “We have had a very tough year.

“And with the departure of Phoenix founder Ernst, an era comes to an end. That’s why it was important for us to give him this victory.”

RESULTS: DMV Munsterland Cup

Hassid, Beltoise Win GT2 Title as Maserati Debuts

The third Fanatec GT2 European Series season also wrapped up last weekend with the LP Racing duo of Henry Hassid and Anthony Beltoise taking the Pro-Am title.

A fourth-place finish in the final race at Paul Ricard was enough to secure the championship by a single point over KTM driver Reinhard Kofler who claimed victory alongside his MZR co-driver Martin Koch.

But Kofler might have been champion had his KTM not received a 10-second penalty that dropped it from first to third immediately after the end of Race 1.

The opening race saw the new Maserati GT2, making its global competition debut, lead away from pole position in the hands of Leonardo Gorini, who drew clear as Akkodis ASP driver Jean-Luc Beaubelique advanced ahead of Koch and Hassid into second.

After the pit stops, Kofler was up to second and putting the pressure on Gorini’s co-driver Luca Pirri. A wide moment for the Maserati driver invited Kofler and Akkodis ASP’s Ludovic Badey to pounce, putting the KTM in a winning position.

Kofler crossed the line one second ahead of Badey, with Pirri in third, but his earlier role in contact that caused another KTM X-Bow GT2 to lose ground drew a penalty that handed victory to the ASP Mercedes-AMG GT2.

Kofler made a lightning start to the second race, which he needed to have any chance of the title, and his cause was aided by an early spin for Beltoise who slipped to seventh.

Another title contender, the PK Carsport Audi R8 LMS GT2 of Stienes Longin and Peter Guelinckx, was poised to take the crown as it ran second after the pit stops, however it picked up a costly 10-second penalty for falling short of the minimum pit stop time.

Longin and Guelinckx ended up fifth after the penalty, with Hassid and Beltoise assuming fourth which was enough to confirm them as champions.

RESULTS: Race 1 / Race 2

Other Racing Action & News

***R&B Racing won the Shanghai 8 Hours with a Porsche 911 GT3 R driven by Yan Bo, Wei Lu and Leo Ye who controlled the midweek race from pole. They finished ahead of Uno Racing’s Audi crew and a Harmony Racing Ferrari lineup. The event attracted 10 GT3 entries in a 15-car grid. Results

***Enzo Joulie and Etienne Cheli swept the final round of the FFSA French GT season at Paul Ricard in their ASP-run Matmut Evolution Toyota GR Supra GT4 EVO. A maximum points score, including two pole positions, ensured that Joulie and Cheli were crowned Silver Cup champions. Race 1 / Race 2

***Porsche factory Hypercar driver Kevin Estre finished 11th on his Bathurst 1000 debut sharing a Penrite Racing Ford Mustang GT with Matthew Payne. Estre caused a safety car when he locked up into the gravel at Hell Corner but he and Payne recovered the setback and almost reached the top 10.

***Cadillac LMDh driver Jack Aitken made his NLS debut in a Walkenhorst Motorsport Hyundai i30N, sharing the wheel with LMP2 driver Manuel Maldonado and 2021 GT4 European Series champion Bailey Voisin. The trio won the 10-car VT2-FWD class and Aitken, who is working on his Nordschleife racing permit, said the experience left him with “wide eyes.”

News & Notes

***Reigning British Touring Car champion Tom Ingram will make his Intelligent Money British GT Championship debut at the Donington Park season finale. Ingram will share an MKH Motorsport Aston Martin Vantage GT4 with Ron Johnson.

***British GT points leader Jonny Adam will miss the Donington title decider due to a date clash with the European Le Mans Series double-header at Portimao. 2 Seas Motorsport has drafted in Phil Keen to partner Adam’s regular co-driver James Cottingham.

***Adam can still win the championship if Cottingham fails to score and if their nearest rivals Dan Harper and Darren Leung fail to overturn a 13-point deficit.

***In other British GT news, Fox Motorsport will make its first appearance of the season at Donington with a Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 for Abbie Eaton and John Seale. Fox won last year’s Spa round with a McLaren 720S GT3.

***Schnitzelalm Racing will make its second appearance of the ADAC GT Masters season in this month’s Hockenheim season finale. The German squad will field a pair of Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evos: one for Marcel Marchewicz and Moritz Wiskirchen, and the other for Christer Joens and Luca Arnold.

On this weekend: IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship (Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta), Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Sprint Cup (Zandvoort), Super GT (Autopolis)