Racers Edge Acura Sweeps COTA Weekend

Photo: Gavin Baker/SRO

Trent Hindman and Shelby Blackstock have scored a sweep of the GT World Challenge America powered by AWS weekend, in another dominant run for Racers Edge Motorsports in Sunday’s Race 2 at Circuit of The Americas.

Blackstock took his No. 93 Acura NSX GT3 Evo to a 7.705-second victory over the GT3 Pro-Am class-winning No. 1 Squadra Corse Ferrari 488 GT3 of Martin Fuentes and Rodrigo Baptista following a wild battle for positions two on back.

Fuentes survived a late-race incident between the No. 04 DXDT Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo of George Kurtz, who dive-bombed into Turn 11 and briefly took over second overall before contact was made between he, Fuentes and the No. 80 Racers Edge Acura of Martin Barkey while battling for the class win.

Barkey then slowed with apparent damage and was collected by the No. 20 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R of Fred Poordad in the Esses.

The No. 14 GMG Racing Porsche of James Sofronas was also caught up in the aftermath in the drama-filled closing moments.

Kurtz managed to finish third overall and second in GT3 Pro-Am in his CrowdStrike-sponsored Mercedes Evo he shared with Colin Braun.

An Acura 1-2 overall sweep appeared to be in the cards until the series of incidents that resulted in Barkey having to pit due to left-front damage.

Barkey crossed the line in sixth overall but had a loss of three positions in a post-race decision for an “incident”.

It came after an impressive start by co-driver Kyle Marcelli, who rocketed from fourth to second in the first corner and held the position throughout the opening stint in the 90-minute race.

The No. 24 TR3 Racing Ferrari of Ziad Ghondour and Matteo Cressoni finished fourth overall, with David Askew and Ryan Dalziel completing the top-five overall, benefitting from the late-race chaos.

Poordad still managed to pick up the GT3 Am class win alongside co-driver Max Root, who made an unscheduled stop on Lap 12 when his seatbelt came loose.

The race saw two full course cautions, the first for the No. 73 Park Place Motorsports Porsche of David Ducote, who spun off into the gravel trap in the Esses.

Contact between the No. 8 K-PAX Racing Bentley Continental GT3 of Patrick Byrne and Trevor Baek’s No. 7 Vital Speed Ferrari on the restart with 26 minutes to go was the cause for the second yellow.

It resulted in race-ending damage to both cars, with Byrne handed a drive-through penalty for incident responsibility. It was translated to a one-position penalty post-race.

Only eight of the 13 starters took the checkered flag, with the No. 33 Winward Racing Mercedes not taking the green due to an issue underneath the car from Race 1.

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