Vilander, Molina Win Race 2, GT SprintX Title

Photo: PWC

Toni Vilander and Miguel Molina won the Pirelli World Challenge GT SprintX championship with a decisive victory in Race 2 at Utah Motorsports Campus on Sunday afternoon.

The R. Ferri Motorsport drivers took their sixth win of the ten-race season to sweep the weekend and lock up the title with their No. 61 Ferrari 488 GT3.

Vilander exited the pits in the lead and extended his advantage over Scott Heckert over the course of his stint to end a largely uneventful race.

Heckert’s co-driver Mike Skeen led the first half of the race in the No. 80 Lone Star Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 after starting from de facto pole.

The car qualified second but the pole-setting K-PAX Racing Bentley Continental GT3 of Alvaro Parente and Andy Soucek was forced to start from the pit lane due to a technical infringement.

This allowed Skeen to lead the first half-hour ahead of Molina, while Scott Hargrove’s Pfaff Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R dropped back with a clutch issue.

Hargrove and co-driver Wolf Henzler finished third in the standings after losing a position to the Alegra Motorsports Porsche of Michael Christensen and Spencer Pumpelly.

Ryan Dalziel and Parker Chase wrapped up the Pro-Am championship win for TruSpeed Autosport with a second-in-class finish.

They picked up five class wins over the course of the season in their No. 19 Audi R8 LMS GT3, although lost out to TR3 Racing in the season finale.

Wei Lu and Jeff Segal came home sixth overall behind Christensen and K-PAX drivers Rodrigo Baptista and Parente.

Martin Fuentes and Caesar Bacarella were confirmed as Am class champions for Squadra Corse Garage Italia while also claiming the race win and putting a Ferrari on top in all three classes.

RESULTS: Race 2

Jake Kilshaw

Jake Kilshaw is a UK-based journalist. He is a graduate of Politics and International Relations.