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GT World Challenge America

Vilander, Serra Sweep Weekend at Watkins Glen

R. Ferri duo win Blancpain GT World Challenge America Race 2 at The Glen…

Photo: Gavin Baker/SRO

Toni Vilander and Daniel Serra have claimed a sweep of the Blancpain GT World Challenge America weekend, with a controlling drive in Race 2 at Watkins Glen International.

Serra edged out the No. 9 K-PAX Racing Bentley Continental GT3 of Alvaro Parente to give back-to-back victories for R. Ferri Motorsport and Ferrari, with the team overcoming an early race incident and challenge from a Pro-Am class Acura NSX GT3 Evo.

Pole-sitter Vilander lost the lead at the start of the 90-minute race to the No. 3 K-PAX Bentley of Maxime Soulet, although contact between the two cars on the opening lap saw the Bentley factory driver get turned around.

No action was taken by race control for the incident, although Vilander later apologized to Soulet.

A slow pit stop for the Canadian squad, however, put Serra out behind the No. 43 RealTime Racing Acura of Mike Hedlund, with the Bronze-rated driver leading the race outright for nearly 15 minutes in impressive fashion.

Serra got around Hedlund with 29 minutes to go and managed to take a 3.993-second victory over the K-PAX driver in the caution-free race.

The No. 3 K-PAX Bentley rebounded to finish third, thanks to a storming stint by Rodrigo Baptista, with the No. 58 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R of Patrick Long and Scott Hargrove dropping to fourth.

Hedlund finished fifth overall, which was still enough to earn Pro-Am class honors for he and co-driver Dane Cameron for the second time this weekend.

He came under pressure from the Pro class No. 24 Alegra Motorsports Porsche of Marco Holzer, who pitted on the final lap for a tire change, handing sixth overall to teammate Daniel Morad.

The No. 80 Racers Edge Motorsports Acura of Kyle Marcelli and Martin Barkey finished second in Pro-Am and seventh overall after a slow pit stop, with Anthony Imperato bringing the No. 91 Wright Motorsports Porsche home third in class.

GT3 Am class honors again went to the No. 7 Squadra Corsa Garage Italia Ferrari of Martin Fuentes and Mark Issa, in another sweep of the weekend for the TR3 Racing-run operation.

RESULTS: Race 2

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

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