Yahoo Autos Wright doubles up with Pro and Pro-Am GTWC wins at Sebring
In Fanatec GT World Challenge America powered by AWS, Jan Heylen and Madison Snow took home the win in the PRO Class, with teammates Elliot Skeer and Adam Adelson winning the PRO-AM Class at Sebring International Raceway. The field had the additional challenge of high temperatures alongside the bumps and technicality of the 3.741-mile, 17-turn circuit.
The grid lineup for race one saw a couple of changes before the green flag flew. After the field made its way through tech, the No. 38 ST Racing BMW M4 GT3 had its qualifying laps removed due to an infraction. With those laps removed, Madison Snow came into race one as the GT3 lap record holder for SRO Motorsports America at Sebring.
PRO Class
The PRO Class was consistent throughout the duration of the opening stints. Snow led Chandler Hull, Ashton Harrison, Seth Lucas and Manny Franco in qualifying order. Heylen in the No. 45 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R made no use of his rear-view mirror leading through to the checkered flag. Bill Auberlen in the No. 94 BimmerWorld BMW M4 GT3 never got the look at Heylen he was hoping for, keeping the BMW firmly in second place. The action in the PRO Class all happened from the third place back in the closing laps.
The third-place finish came together for the No. 53 MDK Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R of Lucas and Trenton Estep in the final minutes of the race. Estep steered clear of an incident between the No. 93 Racers Edge Motorsport Acura NSX GT3 and No. 28 RS1 Porsche 911 GT3 R. Fourth place was up in the air at the checkered flag due to a post-race penalty served to Stevan McAleer in the No. 28 RS1 Porsche 911 GT3 R after an over-correction on track put him in the side of Mario Farnbacher in the No. 93 Racers Edge Motorsport Acura NSX GT3. Fourth place would go to Farnbacher as the post-race time penalty was added to McAleer’s finishing time. McAleer inherited fifth place.
Franco and Alessandro Balzan in the No. 21 Conquest Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 had a heartbreaking early end to the race. Balzan pulled the car off course and came to a stop on the final lap of the race, settling the entry with a sixth-place finish.
SRO America
PRO-AM Class
Pole sitter George Kurtz in the No. 04 CrowdStrike Mercedes-AMG GT3 had an issue with a tire change during the pit stop, giving the lead over to Adam Adelson and Elliot Skeer in the No. 120 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R. Colin Braun put his head down once out of pit lane and began recovery. However, Neil Verhagen was a man on fire and elbowed his way past Braun to take over second place in the No. 38 ST Racing BMW M4 GT3. Braun would finish the race in third. Verhagen’s pass for second made for a wonderful recovery of its own. Samantha Tan had a seemingly stellar start after beginning from the rear of the field due to a drive-through penalty for an infraction during race start procedures.
The No. 007 TRG Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 of Derek DeBoer and Ross Gunn finished fourth. They were gifted the opportunity to advance after an incident at the start. DeBoer protected the fourth-place position before handing it over to Gunn, who kept the car clean while fighting for the podium.
The fifth-place position was captured by Bryan Sellers and Scott Smithson in the No. 08 DXDT Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3. The entry began the race in seventh, but they too capitalized on the incident on the opening lap, which included the DXDT Racing sister car.
On the opening lap of the race, Anthony Bartone in the No. 43 RealTime Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 and Jeff Burton in the No. 91 DXDT Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 spun together. Justin Wetherill in the No. 33 Triarsi Competizione Ferrari 296 GT3 was forced to come to a full stop before collecting Burton as his Mercedes was still perpendicular on the track when Wetherill was rounding Turn 1.
The No. 33 Triarsi Competizione Ferrari 296 GT3 of Wetherill and Ryan Dalziel finished sixth after carrying on from the hectic start. Bartone and co-driver Adam Christodoulou in the No. 43 RealTime Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 finished eighth. Burton, with teammate Corey Lewis, fought through to finish eighth after serving a drive-through penalty for a pit lane speed violation in the No. 91 DXDT Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3.
The final race of the weekend takes place Sunday, Sept. 24 at 2 p.m., streamed on the GT World YouTube channel.
