- SKI Autosports Wins on Home Soil
- Lecko and Tomlinson Add Class Victories
- Bell Capitalizes on GT4 Opportunity
- Race 1 Provisional Results
GT America powered by AWS competitors returned to Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta on Saturday afternoon for Race 1, with championship leader Memo Gidley looking to convert pole position into another victory. As the season approached its halfway point, Gidley delivered a commanding performance, while intense battles throughout the SRO3 field kept the action alive until the final laps.
SRO3 Class
Gidley launched cleanly from the overall pole position in the No. 56 SKI AUTOSPORTS Audi R8 LMS GT3 EVO II, immediately establishing control of the race. Behind him, however, the fight for the remaining podium positions was underway as Tony Davis in the No. 04 HP-TECH Motorsport Ferrari 296 GT3 EVO, Marc Muzzo in the No. 013 R. Ferri Motorsport Ferrari 296 GT3, and Scott Blind in the No. 45 Ruckus Racing Porsche 911 GT3-R (992) EVO ran in close formation through the opening laps.
Further back, Joel Cortes in the No. 19 RS1 Porsche 911 GT3-R (992) and Kyle Washington in the No. 32 GMG Racing Porsche 911 GT3-R (992) EVO found themselves locked in an early battle as they looked to move forward.
At the front, Davis continued applying pressure to Gidley, trading fastest sectors with the championship leader. Davis managed to claim two of the three sector records before Gidley responded, setting the fastest lap of the race.
The battle for fourth remained just as intense. Blind repeatedly fended off attacks from Washington, who was eager to join the podium fight. Washington’s challenge briefly suffered a setback when he put all four wheels onto the grass while attempting a move on Blind, allowing Cortes to slip through and take position.
By the halfway mark, Gidley had completely separated himself from the field, building an advantage of more than eight seconds over Davis while maintaining a relentless pace at the front.
The fight behind continued to evolve as Cortes attempted a move on Blind but instead compromised his own exit, opening the door for Washington to reclaim the position.
Gidley crossed the line to claim another victory and further strengthen his championship lead. Davis secured second after a strong and consistent drive, while Muzzo completed the podium. Blind, Washington and Cortes rounded out the top six after their race-long battle.
The result extends Gidley’s championship lead to 68 points over Davis, who then holds a nine-point advantage over Washington in the battle for second.
"It's been a great weekend so far," exclaimed Memo Gidley. "We had strong pace in practice and qualifying, but in the race I was a little worried because the Audi started misfiring a little bit in the beginning, but we pulled it together and we ended up getting a nice victory. It's awesome. Let's do it again tomorrow!"
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GT2 and Cup Class
Making his first GT America appearance at Road Atlanta, Lawrence Tomlinson in the No. 62 Ginetta G56 GT2 completed a successful debut weekend in the GT2 category.
“It was great fun,” said Tomlinson after the race. “We over-pressured the tires a bit, which made things difficult, but I’ve never been here before so there was definitely a learning curve. I learned we need to manage the tires better and find a little more pace. We’ll try harder tomorrow.”
David Lecko in the No. 89 RacingSupport Ginetta GTP8 continued his impressive debut season by securing another Cup class victory at Road Atlanta. Lecko once again delivered a clean and controlled performance to maintain his unbeaten streak in class competition and add another trophy to an already successful campaign.
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GT4 Class
The GT4 battle was effectively decided early when Craig Lumsden in the No. 413 Colorado Motorsport with Flying Lizard BMW M4 GT4 (G82) EVO was forced to retire with an air-conditioning failure. With temperatures soaring around Road Atlanta, Lumsden was unable to continue, leaving Jason Bell in the No. 2 Racers Edge Motorsports Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT4 EVO as the lone remaining competitor in the class.
Bell completed the race without issue to secure another GT4 victory and continue his strong run of form in the championship since rejoining the field last time out at Sebring International Raceway.
Let’s Get Racing
The GT America powered by AWS will return to the track for Race 2 on Sunday afternoon, June 14th at 12:15 PM ET.
If you can’t make it to Road Atlanta, be sure to tune-in to SRO’s free live streams all weekend long on SRO RaceControl, YouTube (GTWorld) and Twitch (SROMotorsports) and follow all the action through our social media channels and the event hashtag #GTRoadAtlanta.