- Pro-Am Corvette Sets the Pace Overall
- Porsche Strong in Pro Class
- Ford Quickest in Am Class
- Practice 1 Results
The GT World Challenge America powered by AWS field took over Road America for their first session of the weekend in the Crown Coins Casino GT World event, and Practice 1 saw competitive pace across both the Pro and Pro-Am fields.
Matt Bell was the one to set the tone early. Driving in the Pro-Am class, the DXDT Racing competitor topped the overall leaderboard in the opening half of the 90-minute session with his No. 11 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R. In the Pro class, it was a tight contest between JMF Motorsports and RS1, with the latter ultimately getting the upper hand.
Pro Class
JMF Motorsports’ Mikael Grenier led the way in Pro for much of the early running in his No. 34 Mercedes-AMG GT3, sitting second overall and originally matching Bell as the only other driver to break into the 2:04s, until Jan Heylen moved the target.
With just under 20 minutes to go, Heylen jumped to first in the Pro class and second overall in his No. 18 RS1 Porsche 992 GT3 R, tightening the gap between the categories.
Connor De Phillippi and Kenton Koch slotted into third in the Pro class with their No. 99 Random Vandals Racing BMW M4 GT3, though their time left them seventh overall with some work to do in the upcoming afternoon session. The sister No. 51 entry of Bill Auberlen and Varun Choksey finished the session fourth in class.
Pro-Am Class
Bell held off the Pro class entries with a best overall lap time of 2:04.372, making him only one of three entries to break into the 2:04 range.
Philip Ellis put in a strong run early on in his No. 91 Regulator Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 to go second in class and fourth overall, with Ross Chouest and Aaron Povoledo close behind in third for the category and fifth overall in the No. 50 Chouest Povoledo Racing Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R.
Gray Newell and Darren Turner were just off their pace, sitting just a mere 0.065 seconds behind with the No. 24 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 EVO, adding to the closely matched Pro-Am battle.
Kyle Washington and Tom Sargent completed the top five in class for GMG Racing, rounding out a productive opening practice at Road America with their No. 32 Porsche 992 GT3 R.
Am Class
There was not much separating the No. 16 Dollahite Racing Ford Mustang GT3 of Scott Dollahite and Eric Powell and the No. 163 AF Corse USA Ferrari 296 GT3 of Jay Schreibman and Oswaldo Negri, with the two entries only 0.257 seconds apart once the checkered flag waved.
Let’s Get Racing
The GT World Challenge America powered by AWS will return to the track for Practice 2 on Friday afternoon, August 15th at 4:00 PM CT.
If you can’t make it to Road America, be sure to tune-in to SRO’s free live streams all weekend long on YouTube (GTWorld) and Twitch (SROMotorsports) and follow all the action through our social media channels and the event hashtag #GTRoadAmerica.