Gottsacker Wins Race 2; Welch, Sofronas Claim GTS SprintX Title

Photo: PWC

Harry Gottsacker has claimed victory in Sunday’s Pirelli World Challenge GTS SprintX season finale at Utah Motorsports Campus, while a 10th place finish for Alex Welch was enough to for he and James Sofronas to secure the Pro-Am championship.

The drama-filled 60-minute race came down to a one-lap shootout following a three-car pileup that indirectly eliminated Gottsacker’s chances of stealing the title away from the GMG Racing pairing.

Welch, who was running outside of the top-15 at the time and without enough points to claim the title, was elevated to 12th following the accident and gained two further positions on the final lap restart in his No. 14 Audi R8 LMS GT4.

Gottsacker, meanwhile, picked up his second win of the season in the No. 69 Racers Edge Motorsports SIN R1 GT4 that he drove solo.

The teenager took over the lead following the second-to-final restart with 17 minutes to go, getting around the Race 1-winning No. 50 Panoz Avezzano GT4 of Matt Keegan, which had led the early stages of the race in the hands of Ian James.

Keegan came home second in the race, with the No. 50 PF Racing Ford Mustang GT4 of Jade Buford and Scott Maxwell completing the overall and Pro-Am class podium.

The No. 34 Murillo Racing Mercedes-AMG GT4 was fourth.

Classic BMW Wins GTS Am, Staveley Takes Title

Toby Grahovec and Chris Ohmacht , meanwhile, claimed GTS Am race honors in the No. 92 Classic BMW M4 GT4, recording a fifth place finish overall.

Race 1 class winner Preston Calvert came home second on Sunday, while a fourth place class finish was enough for the No. 12 Ian Lacy Racing Ginetta G55 GT4 of Drew Staveley to take the class title.

It came despite Staveley being forced to serve a drive-through penalty for a pit lane infraction during his mandatory pit stop.

The incident-filled race saw three full-course cautions, including a multi-car accident at the start that damaged the No. 72 Robinson Racing Chevrolet Camaro GT4.R of Johnny O’Connell, who was sharing driving duties with son Canaan this weekend.

Andy Pilgrim, meanwhile, escaped injury after his Blackdog Speed Shop Camaro went flying into the air after contact with two other GTS cars, which triggered the final caution.

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