Gidley Scores Tenth Win of Season in Race 2 at Barber

Photo: Andrew Miterko/SRO

Memo Gidley scored his tenth GT America powered by AWS victory of the season in Sunday’s final race of the weekend at Barber Motorsports Park after starting from the rear of the SRO3 field.

The SKI Autosports driver, who locked up the class title on Saturday despite not starting Race 1 due to a driveshaft issue while on the pace lap, was forced to start eighth on the grid due to not setting a lap time.

Gidley charged through the field and was up to third by the opening lap and then passed the No. 50 Chouest Povoledo Racing Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R of Ross Chouest for second.

Pole-sitter Tony Davis, in the No. 04 HP-TECH Motorsport Ferrari 296 GT3, then came under attack by Gidley, who ran nose-to-tail for the better part of ten minutes.

However, Gidley finally got around Davis for the led, with a move through traffic, with 18 minutes to go, and then cruised to a 1.471-second win over the No. 45 Ruckus Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R Evo of Scott Blind.

Blind made a last-lap move on Davis to score his best finish of the season in the Mike Johnson-led squad.

Gidley has now tied George Kurtz for most wins in a GT America season, a feat achieved by Kurtz in 2022, and has a chance to break the record in the final two races of the year next month at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Late-race contact between Joel Cortes and the No. 216 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R of Jon Manship, while battling for fifth, resulted in no further action from race control, despite Manship getting turned around.

Cortes, who won Race 1 on Saturday, had charged through the field after spinning on his own at the start of the race, pressured Chouest late in the running but came home fourth and fifth, respectively, despite minor contact on the final lap.

The No. 72 Wright Porsche of Dave Musial Sr., who spun in avoidance of the Cortes/Manship incident, finished sixth, ahead of seventh-placed Manship, who was significantly delayed by the spin.

Longtime GTA racer Kyle Washington elected not to start Sunday’s race to instead place his full focus on this afternoon’s GT World Challenge America powered by AWS race.

David Lecko ended up as the best non-GT3 car in the 40-minute contest, following a battle with the No. 11 McCumbee McAleer Racing Ford Mustang GT4 of Zachary Lee, despite the cars being in their own classes.

Lee, however, still claimed GT4 class honors in his series debut, after sitting out Saturday’s race due to the team utilizing the same car for Pirelli GT4 America competition.

The Mustang GT4 finished four laps ahead of Craig Lumsden in the No. 610 Colorado Motorsport with Flying Lizard BMW M4 GT4.

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