After securing their first trophy of the season in Sonoma, California, Brazilian duo Marcelo Hahn and Allam Khodair are now headed to Austin, Texas, for the second round of the GT World Challenge America. Following a debut that impressed the American crowd—with Hahn outdueling pro-class drivers and Khodair charging through the field with a series of bold overtakes—the pair now aim for their first victory at the iconic Circuit of The Americas and have their sights set on taking the championship lead.
“The strong results we achieved in the opening round gave us a lot of confidence for what’s still a very young championship,” said Hahn, currently sitting fourth in the standings alongside his teammate, the 'Flying Japanese'. “We’re here to fight for the win and collect as many points as possible in both races. That’s why we’ve been preparing hard. Since neither Allam nor I had raced at COTA before, we spent a good part of the week training on the simulator. Plus, the fact that we already know the Ferrari well will be a key asset, just like it was in Sonoma.”
Khodair, who delivered a remarkable drive in Sonoma to bring the car from the back of the field into the top 5, is also eyeing the top of the championship but remains slightly more cautious regarding the Ferrari 296 GT3’s performance at COTA.
“We’re currently 15 points behind the leaders and want to close that gap. Our goal is to win, and we’re fully focused on that,” said Khodair. “But I believe we’re going to face some challenges due to the current Balance of Performance regulations. We’re lacking straight-line speed compared to some of our rivals, like the BMWs, for instance. The series organizers really need to revisit the penalties applied to our car. Until that happens, we just need to keep pushing and extract the maximum out of what we have.”