Kurtz, Braun Win Race 2 at NOLA

Photo: CrowdStrike Racing

CrowdStrike by Riley’s George Kurtz and Colin Braun have taken their second Fanatec GT World Challenge America powered by AWS victory of the season in Sunday’s round at NOLA Motorsports Park.

An overcut strategy for the No. 04 Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo put the Pro-Am class entry out front following the round of mid-race pit stops, thanks to a series of quick laps by Braun and an early stop for the pole-sitting No. 007 TRG Aston Martin Vantage GT3 of Valentin Hasse Clot.

Hasse Clot controlled the opening stages of the 90-minute contest but pitted with 49 minutes to go due to a fuel light coming on, which dropped co-driver Derek DeBoer to third.

Kurtz held a 12-second lead until contact between Eric Filgueiras and Ashton Harrison while battling for the Pro class lead put Harrison’s No. 93 Racers Edge Motorsports Acura NSX GT3 Evo22 into the gravel trap with 30 minutes to go.

The incident between Filgueiras and Harrison will be reviewed by race control post-race.

A spin, also into the gravel by the No. 21 Conquest Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 of Manny Franco with ten minutes to go resulted in a second caution, which set up a three-minute shootout to the finish.

Kurtz finished 2.669 seconds ahead of the Pro class-winning No. 94 BimmerWorld BMW M4 GT3 of Chandler Hull, who got around Filgueiras on the final restart and capitalized by issues for both Samantha Tan and Derek DeBoer in the closing laps.

Tan’s ST Racing BMW stopped on track on the final lap, while a bobble from DeBoer saw him drop from third overall to behind the Pro class leaders.

The TRG driver managed to finish fourth overall and second in Pro-Am, with the No. 45 Wright Motorsports Porsche of Charlie Luck completing the class podium in a come-from-behind run.

Luck’s co-driver Jan Heylen was forced to serve an early race drive-through penalty due to an improper start procedure.

The lone Am class entry, the No. 43 Bartone Bros Racing by RealTime Mercedes of Andy Pilgrim and Anthony Bartone, finished tenth overall.

RESULTS: Race 2

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