K-PAX Racing, Caldarelli and Pepper Seal Supreme Sweep in Sonoma
Andrea Caldarelli and Jordan Pepper had a little more of their work cut out for them than expected, but Race 2 of the Fanatec GT World Challenge America powered by AWS at Sonoma Raceway ended with the expected result of the duo driving their black #1 K-PAX Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3 to a victory and sealing a sweep of the weekend’s doubleheader.
It was a bright, beautiful Easter Sunday afternoon at Sonoma Raceway. The fans in attendance were treated to cool temperatures of ~14°C, with the sun beaming down on the tarmac, track temperatures were ~37°C. This time out, the 13 Pro-Am teams started the race with their professional drivers.
The green flag waved at 1:45 PM local time. Loris Spinelli in the #6 US Racetronics AMG GT3 led from Caldarelli in second. Mario Farnbacher in the Pro-Am #93 Racers Edge Motorsports Acura NSX GT3 moved past the #3 K-PAX Lamborghini of Giacomo Altoe heading up into turn two, taking third position with it, and Philip Ellis in the #33 Winward Racing AMG GT3 passed Jan Heylen’s #45 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3-R for fifth.
The big mover on the opening lap, was Colin Braun in the #04 CrowdStrike Racing by Riley Motorsports AMG GT3, who gained seven places on the first lap and went from 16th to ninth!
The current Lamborghini factory ace Caldarelli fired off a sequence of consecutive fastest laps in the 1’37.2 range, trying to catch and pass the former Lambo young driver Spinelli ahead of him. They were running tail-to-nose for several laps, all the while breaking away from the third placed Farnbacher, who had his mirrors full of Altoe, Ellis and Heylen behind.
On lap 10, Altoe tried to line up a pass around Farnbacher at the tight turn nine chicane, both cars pushed each other off – and Ellis pounced, taking third position from Altoe around the hairpin turn eleven. Heylen, meanwhile, grabbed the Pro-Am Cup lead by swooping past Farnbacher for fifth overall.
Further back, Conrad Grunewald in the Am Cup #61 AF Corse Ferrari 488 GT3, was in front of his two-car battle, and picking off the likes of Bill Auberlen (#94 BimmerWorld M4 GT3) for overall position in the process.
The #191 Zelus Motorsports Lamborghini of Corey Lewis, which was running in the top ten, suffered a right rear puncture and forced an unscheduled stop on lap 19. He rejoined the race, two laps down.
Dirk Mueller in the #63 DXDT Racing AMG GT3 got past Michael Cooper in the #43 RealTime Racing NSX on lap 22, for seventh position.
After 40 minutes of racing, the slugfest between Spinelli and Caldarelli took a turn as both Ellis and Altoe had caught the leading duo, whose tyres and pace were falling off. The pit window opened up, and the 25-lap duel came to a close as first and second place made their pit stops.
Steven Aghakhani got aboard the #6 US Racetronics AMG GT3 for the last stint, while Jordan Pepper got aboard the #1 K-PAX Lamborghini. The quick pit work of the K-PAX Racing mechanics put Pepper ahead of Aghakhani.
US Racetronics’ miracle run at the front would come to an unceremonious, gut-wrenching halt when Aghakhani limped around the turn six carousel. The culprit was a cracked right front wheel, which caused the tyre to go down. He brought the car back to the pits with minimal damage, but their challenge for a podium, let alone the victory, was done.
The #1 K-PAX Lamborghini of Pepper now had a decisive lead of the race after the pit window – he was seven seconds ahead of the #33 Winward AMG GT3 of Russell Ward, who himself had eight seconds between himself and Misha Goikhberg in the #3 K-PAX Lamborghini.
The #45 Wright Motorsports Porsche of Charlie Luck was leading Pro-Am Cup by over 14 seconds to Ashton Harrison in the #93 Racers Edge NSX, with David Askew third in the #63 DXDT AMG GT3 – they were fourth, fifth, and sixth overall.
A Full Course Yellow, then a Safety Car, was brought out on lap 32 when Scott Smithson spun off at turn four in the #08 DXDT AMG GT3. This erased Pepper’s overall lead over Ward and Goikhberg, as well as Luck’s lead in Pro-Am.
Green flag racing resumed from lap 36, with less than 27 minutes on the clock. Pepper got the drop on Ward and Goikhberg, while Luck had lapped traffic to serve as a buffer between himself, Harrison, and the #96 Turner Motorsports M4 of Michael Dinan, who jumped from ninth to sixth on the restart, ahead of Askew. By lap 38, Dinan had overtaken Harrison for fifth, and he would eventually pass Luck for fourth overall.
Askew soon found himself having to fight to keep third place on the Pro-Am podium from former DXDT Racing driver George Kurtz, bearing down in the #04 CrowdStrike/Riley AMG GT3 – with Samantha Tan in the #38 ST Racing M4 on the charge behind them!
On lap 46, with Kurtz still chasing Askew, the black and teal #63 DXDT AMG GT3 of Askew spun out through turn eight. He dropped down the order to 11th overall, putting Kurtz on the final step of the Pro-Am podium, just ahead of Tan. Luck’s Pro-Am class lead had been whittled down to less than a second as Harrison began to close in in her red Acura.
Up at the front, Pepper had checked out to a lead of over 24 seconds. He took the chequered flag after 52 laps of racing, with a final margin of victory of 21.753 seconds. It was K-PAX’s second consecutive sweep of their home race at Sonoma with Caldarelli and Pepper at the wheel.
“I wanted some fun and got it,” Caldarelli said of his opening stint pursuit of Spinelli. “It was 45 minutes of chasing, but I was a little disappointed that I couldn’t find enough space to overtake. I tried to save the tires at the end. I had more pace, but it was very tough to overtake. I really wanted to take some big risks. But it was all in good fun. We knew we wanted to make the pass during the pit-stop with our strategy, and that’s what happened – all according to plan.”
“Even if the other car didn’t have problems, I still think we would have beat them because we did a mega pit-stop,” remarked Pepper. “It was just about conserving the tires in the beginning, then we got the safety car and after, I pushed. I had fun, and it was an incredible car. The guys did a great job. I can’t thank the team enough.”
The #33 Winward AMG of Ward and Ellis, who lost a second place finish yesterday after a post-race penalty for an inoperable data logger, got it back today with another strong drive as the “best of the rest.”
And the #3 K-PAX Lamborghini of Goikhberg and Altoe rounded out the overall and Pro Cup podium in third, giving K-PAX a brace of first and third place trophies for the weekend!
The #96 Turner M4 of Dinan and Robby Foley completed their charge through the field from 14th to finish fourth overall.
Luck held off Harrison at the end, to finish fifth overall – giving Wright Motorsports their second Pro-Am Cup victory of the weekend.
It was, all in all, a successful weekend for one of motor racing’s only – if not the only – driver combination of a father and son-in-law!
“We ended on a good note last year and are going to try and do it all over this season,” Heylen said of his plans this year, as well as how the race went for him. “We didn’t have the ultimate pace, so it’s a testament to the team and Charlie for doing such a great job.”
Harrison and Farnbacher ended the day sixth overall and second in class, while Kurtz and Braun rounded out the Pro-Am podium, seventh overall.
The overall top ten was completed by the #38 ST Racing M4 of Tan and Nick Wittmer, the #9 TR3 Racing Lamborghini (Ziad Ghandour/Michele Beretta), and the #43 RealTime NSX of Cooper and Erin Vogel.
The #94 BimmerWorld M4 of Auberlen and Chandler Hull was 11th after a drive-through penalty, and the #63 DXDT AMG GT3 of Askew and Mueller was 12th after their spin.
The #13 Triarsi Competizione Ferrari (Justin Wetherill/Ryan Dalziel) bounced back from suffering a fuel pressure issue early in Race 1 to finish 13th overall, ahead of the #12 Ian Lacy Racing Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 (Frank Gannett/Drew Staveley) in 14th.
The #61 AF Corse Ferrari of Grunewald and Jean-Claude Saada finished 15th to win Am Cup, meaning that all three classes were won by the same team in each race. They finished ahead of the #88 Zelus Lamborghini of GT America Race 2 winner Jason Harward and Madison Snow, in 16th.
The #6 US Racetronics AMG GT3 of Aghakhani and Spinelli was 17th, the #23 Triarsi Ferrari (Onofrio Triarsi/Charlie Scardina) was 18th, the #191 Zelus Lamborghini of Lewis and Jeff Burton 19th, and the #08 DXDT AMG GT3 of Smithson and Bryan Sellers was 20th, six laps down.
The SRO Motorsports America series head to the new Ozarks International Raceway in Missouri on the weekend of 21-22 May.
GTWCA RACE 2 PROVISIONAL RESULTS >>
Images © Brian Cleary, Fabian Lagunas / SRO
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