Kurtz, Braun Win VIR Race 2

George Kurtz and Colin Braun took their fourth victory of the Fanatec GT World Challenge America powered by AWS season by narrowly beating ST Racing in the Sunday race at Virginia International Raceway.

Kurtz, driving the No. 04 CrowdStrike by Riley Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo, won with a lead of 0.8 seconds over Samantha Tan’s No. 38 BMW M4 GT3, which she shared with Neil Verhagen.

Tan challenged Kurtz for the majority of the second half of the race after they moved up to the lead following a slow stop for the No. 96 Turner Motorsports BMW.

This allowed Kurtz and Tan to vault up to first and second place, while newly installed Vin Barletta dropped to fourth behind the No. 45 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R of Charlie Luck.

Barletta ultimately faded to tenth place, while the No. 9 TR3 Racing Mercedes-AMG of Kenton Koch completed a charging drive to round out the overall top three and secure back-to-back Pro class victories.

Koch’s co-driver Daniel Morad started the race in 13th place but entered the top ten before pitting.

After Koch emerged on the track in seventh place, he continued the charge through the grid aided by a drive through penalty for the rival No. 94 Bimmerworld squad for speeding in the pitlane.

The No. 9 Mercedes eventually caught and overtook the No. 93 Racers Edge Motorsports Acura NSX GT3 Evo22 of Ashton Harrison for fourth place, capturing the lead in the Pro category in the process.

Harrison came home in fifth behind the No. 45 Wright machine, ahead of the No. 120 Porsche of Adam Adelson and Elliott Skeer.

RS1 Racing’s Eric Filgueiras and Conquest Racing’s Manny Franco both recorded top ten finishes after starting towards the back of the grid, while Bimmerworld driver Chandler Hull took the flag in ninth overall following his earlier penalty.

Barletta completed the top ten aboard the No. 096 BMW he shared with Robby Foley, ahead of Justin Wetherill and Anthony Bartone.