Conquest’s Balzan, Franco Break Through For Race 1 Win

Photo: Fabian Lagunas/SRO

Alessandro Balzan and Manny Franco have broken through to claim the first Fanatec GT World Challenge America victory for the Ferrari 296 GT3 in Saturday’s opening race of the weekend at Road America.

The duo took a commanding win from pole in their Conquest Racing Ferrari, with Balzan finishing 2.629 seconds ahead of the No. 94 BimmerWorld BMW M4 GT3 of Bill Auberlen and Chandler Hull in the 90-minute contest.

Franco led the opening stanza of the race ahead of the No. 28 RS1 Porsche 911 GT3 R of Eric Filgueiras through two full course cautions, and into the pit stop sequence on Lap 16.

Co-driver Balzan emerged with a six-second lead over Stevan McAleer, who was passed by a hard-charging Bill Auberlen for second, who initially clawed some ground back on the Italian.

Balzan, however, held things into control for the duration of the race.

It marked the first win in North America for the 296 GT3 as well as Franco’s in top-level sports car racing competition.

Colin Braun and George Kurtz picked up Pro-Am class honors for the third consecutive race with a third place overall finish in the No. 04 CrowdStrike by Riley Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo.

Braun held off BMW factory driver Neil Verhagen, who closed the gap in his No. 38 ST Racing BMW during the American’s flying stint, having set the race’s fastest lap on his final lap.

Mario Farnbacher made an impressive late-race charge to put the No. 93 Racers Edge Motorsports Acura NSX GT3 Evo22 into a fifth place finish.

The German driver got around both Jan Heylen and McAleer for the final podium position in the Pro class in a car that was started by Ashton Harrison.

McAleer faded to sixth at the end, ahead of Heylen and new co-driver Madison Snow in the No. 45 Wright Motorsports Porsche.

The No. 007 TRG Aston Martin Vantage GT3 of Valentin Hasse-Clot and Derek DeBoer completed the Pro-Am class podium with a ninth place overall finish.

The first yellow came out on the second lap when Will Hardeman had an off-course moment at the Kink.

It was followed two laps later for an accident by Pro-Am class championship leader Adam Adelson, who went into the barriers in his No. 120 Wright Porsche.

Both cars retired from the race, as well as the No. 43 Bartone Bros Racing by RealTime Mercedes, which was wheeled into the garage late in the running with an issue.

Race 2 is set for Sunday at 2:15 p.m. CDT with live coverage 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