Wright Juggling Multiple Series in “Packed” COTA Weekend

Photo: Wright Motorsports

Wright Motorsports is set to be one of the busiest teams at Circuit of The Americas this weekend, with five Porsche entries spread across three series and two sanctioning bodies, in what team principal John Wright has coined as a “packed” weekend of racing.

The Ohio-based squad enters the second round of Fanatec GT World Challenge America powered by AWS with the Pro-Am class championship lead with drivers Jan Heylen and Fred Poordad in a Porsche 911 GT3 R.

Another GT3-spec Porsche is entered in the new-for-2021 GT America powered by AWS series for Charlie Luck, who swept the season-opener at Sonoma with a pair of Masters class wins.

Wright’s COTA effort is rounded out by the late addition of Porsche Carrera Cup North America presented by the Cayman Islands to the weekend bill, which will see Max Root, Hutton McKenna and John Goetz all at the wheel of new 992-based Porsche 911 GT3 Cup cars for the pair of IMSA-sanctioned races.

COTA marks the first joint SRO America-Carrera Cup North America event that was originally set to take place at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park in May prior to both SRO and IMSA canceling their respective events at the Canadian circuit due to border closures.

“We’re excited to get such a packed weekend at Circuit of the Americas underway,” said Wright.

“Our drivers and entire team put in a really strong performance in our first SRO event at Sonoma Raceway.

“It’s great to be entering rounds three and four with the points lead, and we’re all focused on taking our strong momentum all the way to the podium.

“It’s also great to have our Carrera Cup effort join the weekend.

“We had some adversity in the opening arounds at Sebring, but we’re ready for what COTA has in store.

“With both races on Sunday, it’ll be important everyone has a clean race in the morning. Overall, I think we’ll have a strong run here.”

Heylen Looking to Keep Momentum in Bumper Pro-Am Class

After a class win and runner-up finish at Sonoma, Heylen and Poordad lead the GTWC America Pro-Am championship by six points over DXDT Racing’s Colin Braun and George Kurtz, in what is arguably the most competitive class in the series.

Eleven of this weekend’s 16-car entry will be vying for Pro-Am class honors.

“We scored good points at Sonoma Raceway, leaving the track leading the championship,” said Heylen.

“The goal is to extend our championship lead and hopefully do so with a couple more podium finishes.

“The car was really good here last year, on top of a very productive test here few weeks ago, where Fred showed great pace.

“We’re all excited to get the weekend started with Wright Motorsports in our Porsche 911 GT3 R.”

Root: “Strong Momentum” After Recent Carrera Cup Test

Carrera Cup North America Junior driver Root, meanwhile, is hopeful that its test at the 3.4-mile circuit earlier this week will help give them a leg up on the competition this weekend.

The 22-year-old showed strong pace in the opening Carrera Cup rounds that was marred by a spin in Race 1 and an issue in Race 2 that took him out of contention for a top-five finish.

“I’m very excited to be tackling rounds three and four with Moorespeed-Wright Motorsports in the No. 7 car,” he said.

“Looking forward to going to one of my favorite tracks, Circuit of The Americas, and feel that we’re going to run on some strong momentum from our test there.

“It is the home track for Moorespeed, whose shop is just down the street, and that adds a special meaning to it as well.”

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