Kurtz Takes Victory in Incident-Filled COTA Sunday Race

Photo: Brian Cleary/SRO

George Kurtz claimed victory in Sunday’s GT America powered by AWS round at Circuit of The Americas, closing the SRO3 points gap to Jason Daskalos, who had a race to forget.

Kurtz drove to a flag-to-flag win in the No. 04 CrowdStrike by Riley Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo, finishing ahead of the No. 32 GMG Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R of Kyle Washington, which ended under caution after a two-car accident in the closing ten minutes.

James Sofronas completed the overall and SRO3 podium in the No. 14 GMG Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II, ahead of the No. 29 Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT3 of Justin Rothberg in fourth.

Daskalos, who entered the weekend as the class points leader, was shuffled to the rear of the SRO3 field after running wide into Turn 1 at the start.

He then moved up to seventh by the end of the opening lap until the race’s first full-course caution for the No. 95 FASTMD Racing with Remstar Audi R8 LMS GT4 of Farhan Siddiqi, which stopped on track.

However, Daskalos was handed a drive-through penalty for a trackside blend line violation on the following restart, a penalty he didn’t serve through two subsequent cautions.

An accident for the lone GT2 entrant, Alan Grossberg, in the No. 127 TPC Racing Lamborghini Huracan Super Trofeo EVO2, resulted in a second yellow with 22 minutes to go.

The race ended under yellow after a heavy accident between the No. 30 Fast Track Racing BMW M4 GT3 of John Roberts and Tim Savage’s No. 7 ProSport Competition Aston Martin Vantage GT3 on the subsequent restart lap.

Savage, meanwhile, was handed incident responsibility.

Both Daskalos as well as the No. 3 SKI Autosports Audi of Johnny O’Connell and No. 2 Flying Lizard Motorsports Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo of Jason Bell, were given post-race time penalties for not serving drive-throughs while under green flag conditions.

O’Connell and Bell were assessed restart procedure violations, for being out of line before the green flag on the second restart.

With the time penalties added, Daskalos was classified sixth in class, with O’Connell eighth and Bell in ninth.

GT4 class honors went to Curt Swearingin, who broke Issac Sherman’s seven-race win streak en route to his first career GT America win in the No. 7 ACI Motorsports Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport.

Sherman, in his No. 098 Rotek Racing Porsche, came home second, with Gray Newell completing the GT4 podium in his No. 25 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage 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