Caldarelli, Pepper Clinch Title With Eighth Win of Season

Photo: Brian Cleary/SRO

Andrea Caldarelli and Jordan Pepper have clinched the Fanatec GT World Challenge America powered by AWS Pro class championship after scoring their eighth victory of the season Saturday at Sebring International Raceway.

Pepper drove the No. 3 Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo to a 33.813-second win over the Giacomo Altoe and Dennis Lind-driven No. 9 TR3 Racing Lamborghini in what turned into a race of attrition in the Pro class.

While Caldarelli started from pole and stretched into a commanding early lead, teammate Giovanni Venturini was locked into a tight battle with Altoe for second until the TR3 driver got around the green and black Lamborghini on Lap 13 for second.

Moments later, Venturini was forced into the pits for a puncture, prior to the opening of the pit window, dropping the No. 6 Lamborghini out of contention and en route to a fifth place overall finish.

The No. 33 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo of Russell Ward lost significant ground early with power steering failure while the No. 96 Turner Motorsport BMW M6 GT3 didn’t start the race due to an accident in qualifying by Michael Dinan.

It gave the Lamborghini duo of Caldarelli and Pepper with a 76-point gap over the sister car to lock up the title two races early.

Both the teams’ championship and manufacturers’ titles were also clinched in the process.

Wright Motorsports’ Jan Heylen and Fred Poordad picked up Pro-Am class honors in the race with a third place overall finish in their No. 20 Porsche 911 GT3 R.

Heylen held off a strong challenge from Dakota Dickerson in the No. 93 Racers Edge Motorsports, who finished second in class alongside co-driver Taylor Hagler, who keeps her Pro-Am title hopes alive.

Dickerson got alongside Heylen, who was being held up by Lind, on the entrance into Turn 7 with two laps to go but drove into the run-off. 

Lind, Heylen and Dickerson ran nose-to-tail for a number of laps in a closely fought battle for second, third and fourth overall.

The No. 88 Zelus Motorsports Lamborghini of Madison Snow and Jason Harward completed the Pro-Am class podium in third.

Am class honors went to the debuting Triarsi Competizione Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo 2020 of Charlie Scardina and Onofrio Triarsi, which finished eighth overall in the 14-car starting field.

The second and final 90-minute race of the season is scheduled for Sunday at 1:15 p.m. ET with live coverage on CBSSN and on SRO’s GT World YouTube page.

RESULTS: Race 1

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