Koch to Sub for Ghandour at VIR; TR3 Moves to Pro Class

Photo: Kenton Koch Racing FB

TR3 Racing wil step up to the Pro class of Fanatec GT World Challenge America powered by AWS for this weekend’s round at Virginia International Raceway with Kenton Koch confirmed alongside Daniel Morad for the pair of 90-minute races.

Ziad Ghandour, the team’s regular driver in the Pro-Am class, is unable to compete due to a personal commitment.

“We are very excited for this opportunity to run in the top level of GT World Challenge America,” said team principal Gregory Romenelli. “I want to thank Ziad for allowing us to have this one-off opportunity.

“It’s unfortunate he’s not able to make the race, but family comes first. We’ve had a few opportunities to run at the highest level of racing with different manufactures in the previous years, so we look forward to showing our true colors behind a great manufacturer like Mercedes-AMG.”

Koch, who drives full-time in Pirelli GT4 America with Random Vandals Racing, has previous experience with the Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo in IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship competition with Team Korthoff Motorsports.

“I’m looking forward to racing with TR3, and co-driving with Daniel,” Koch said. “He and I have had some pretty good battles in the past and earlier in the year.

“Now it’s going to be fun to be in the same car with him, and we should have a good battle in the Pro category.

“This will be my first time racing a GT3 in the World Challenge series, so it’s going to be a good debut with a good team, a good car, and a good co-driver. I’m super-thankful for them to offer me the opportunity. It should be fun.”

TR3 Racing is currently sixth in the SRO Pro-Am standings, with the best finish for Ghandour and Morad second in the Sunday event at Sonoma Raceway.

“I’m looking forward to running in the Pro class with Kenton,” said Morad. “VIR is a track I really enjoy, and I’ve had prior success there. The TR3 Racing boys are working really hard, and I hope we can bring home some hardware.”

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