Barber Friday Notebook

Photo: Fabian Lagunas/SRO

***SRO America returns to Barber Motorsports Park this weekend for the first time since 2016 when Pirelli World Challenge ran in conjunction with the NTT IndyCar Series at the Grand Prix of Birmingham. This time around, the event is a headliner for the sports car racing series.

***The Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R has received a double Balance of Performance hit this weekend, with the car running 5 kg heavier and with a 2 mm smaller air restrictor compared to its configuration last time out at Road America.

***Tommy Milner told Sportscar365: “The restrictor part, I think, is the hardest to understand considering we, not just in SRO, but it seems globally, that all of the different series have us pretty weak on power. That makes the racing side of things quite difficult for us, which is hard to accept in some ways. We’ll do whatever we can to make the best of it.”

***Most GT3 cars have received weight adjustments, with the Acura NSX GT3 Evo22 getting the biggest break in a 20 kg reduction, with the Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo, BMW M4 GT3 and Ferrari 296 GT3 all getting a 10 kg less, the Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo gaining 10 kg and the Type-992 Porsche 911 GT3 R having 5 kg of additional weight.

***Heart of Racing Team is giving the Aston Martin Vantage GT4 Evo its SRO America debut this weekend with the GT4 America-entered No. 24 car of Roman De Angelis and Gray Newell. The car is an all-new chassis. The team’s two other cars, split between GT4 America and GT America powered by AWS, are still the previous-gen models.

***Corey Lewis got a late call-up to rejoin Smooge Racing this weekend alongside Tyler Gonzalez after scheduled driver Brent Crews came down with an illness. Smooge Racing team principal Kevin Conway indicated that Lewis will finish out the season for the team next month at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

***Smooge is once again running the Am-class Krugspeed Toyota GR Supra GT4 EVO of Lance Bergstein and Anthony Geraci this weekend in the resumption of a partnership that began at Road America last month. It’s understood that this structure will remain in place at Indianapolis and into future seasons.

***DXDT Racing’s second Corvette has been re-numbered from No. 08 to 64 for the remainder of the season, in a “venerated” move to pay homage to Corvette Racing’s historic numbers typically used at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Bryson Morris is expected to now close out the season with the team alongside Bryan Sellers.

***Zach Veach is returning to the site of his IndyCar debut. Veach subbed for an injured JR Hildebrand at Barber in 2017 for Ed Carpenter Racing, finishing 19th. He scored a race win and two additional podium finishes in six Indy NXT starts at Barber prior to moving up to IndyCar competition.

***Veach joins Conor Daly (Fanatec GT) and Matheus Leist (Pirelli GT4 America) as drivers with IndyCar experience at Barber on the entry list this weekend, while GT4 America debutant Josh Green has competed in Indy NXT competition at the Alabama track.

***Daly is coming off his first IndyCar podium in eight years last weekend at the Milwaukee Mile in Race 2. He missed the Road America round due to his IndyCar commitments with Juncos Hollinger Racing.

***Green, meanwhile, was recommended to Random Vandals team owner Paul Sparta through a mutual connection at the Monticello Motor Club where Green works as an instructor. It led to a test over the summer that led to this opportunity alongside fellow series newcomer Sam Craven, who has driven for the team previously in WRL. This marks Craven’s professional racing debut.

***Mike Kanisczak is filling in for the injured Paul Sparta this weekend but is not new to the SRO America paddock or to the team. Kanisczak contested the Road America weekend for the team in TC America powered by Skip Barber in 2022 including scoring a pole in his debut race.

***The No. 28 RS1 Porsche Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport suffered an engine failure during Friday’s second practice session, which has required the team to swap powerplants ahead of tomorrow’s sessions.

***All of RS1’s cars are on-site this weekend despite one of its transporters having recently been stolen from its shop in Florida. Sportscar365 understands that three Porsche GT4 cars, used for Porsche Sprint Challenge North America by Yokohama competition, were inside the rig at the time of the theft.

***Birmingham native Tyler Stone has a personal connection to Barber. His Stone and Sons Electric business has done much of the electrical work around the circuit over the years, and Stone’s introduction to motorsports came at this track when he was invited to do a ride along at the track in the early 2000s.

***Stone is set to finish out the season alongside Matt Million who has had a rotating cast of co-drivers this year in the No. 53 Auto Technic BMW M4 GT4.

***ST Racing announced this week that it will be making its European endurance racing return in next weekend’s Hankook 24H Barcelona, with Pippa Mann, Fabian Duffieux, Samantha Tan, Neil Verhagen and Jon Miller all at the wheel of a GT4-spec BMW. The Canadian squad gave the BMW M4 GT3 its first win in global competition in a 24H Series race in 2022.

***Qualifying action at Barber begins with GT America on Saturday at 8:05 a.m. CDT followed by live coverage of Fanatec GT America qualifying at 9:05 a.m., GT America Race 1 at 1 p.m.., the first Fanatec GT America race of the weekend at 3:15 p.m. and GT4 America race action at 5 p.m., all on SRO’s GT World YouTube channel and on Twitch.

***Ryan Myrehn and Calvin Fish will again be in the booth, with Amanda Busick returning to pit lane duties.

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