Masters Endurance Legends – US Grand Prix Support Races – CoTA

A strong and varied grid of sportscar an GT racers formed part of the support package for Sunday’s US Grand Prix at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas.

Race 1

Jamie Constable claimed victory in the opening Masters Endurance Legends race of the weekend at the Circuit of the Americas, in support of Formula 1’s United States Grand Prix.

Constable held second during the opening stages as pole sitter Guy Cosmo blasted into an early lead behind the wheel of the Cadillac Dallara P217, fronting the field by 8.7 seconds.

But the race was neutralised following a couple of separate incidents, with Cal Meeker’s Spice GTP coming to a halt as Tim Day Jnr. spun through the stadium section.

The restart lasted only a couple of minutes as Razvan Sporea rotated at Turn 1 while a collision between Christopher Milner and Alexander Marmureanu into Turn 12 left debris on track.

Constable came into the pit lane to make his mandatory stop while Cosmo entered the pit lane one lap later to hand over to Wayne Jackson, incurring the one-minute time penalty for an elite driver in the process.

Those pit stops briefly handed the lead to Alexander Berg as the safety car came in and he used the free air to good effect, before he too stopped for his mandatory service.

Constable inherited the lead, some 18 seconds clear of Claude Malette, before the Canadian’s race was interrupted when he came to a stop at Turn 11.

Malette was able to get his Lola Toyota Rebellion back up and running though relinquished second spot to Mirco Schultis, before the safety car was called for a third time after an incident involving Charles DiPasquale and Tom Mueller at Turn 1.

As time expired the chequered flag was shown with Constable triumphant in the Pescarolo LMP1, ahead of Schultis and Malette, with James Sofronas the lead GT3 runner in fourth place overall.

Brad Hoyt and James Davison shared duties en route to fifth place while sixth spot was taken by Dante Tornello, in front of Travis Engen and Danny Baker.

Bob Mueller and George Kurtz rounded out the top 10, ahead of erstwhile leader Berg, while the safety car duration hobbled the potential of Jackson to bring the pole-sitting car back into contention, winding up 14th overall.

Race 2

Jamie Constable doubled up by cruising to victory in the second Masters Endurance Legends race of the weekend at the Circuit of the Americas.

Race 1 victor Constable opened a lead at the rolling start and responded to early pressure by blitzing the field with a spate of fastest laps.

A Safety Car period, caused by Charles DiPasquale spinning and stalling the Elan DP02 at Turn 11, threatened Constable’s position but he made his mandatory pit stop and retained a comfortable advantage.

Constable ticked off the laps after the Safety Car phase to chalk up his second win of the weekend by over half a minute.

While Constable controlled proceedings there was some fierce competition for the remaining leading positions.

Dante Tornello was one of the big movers early on, climbing from fourth to second in as many laps, though relinquished positions during the Safety Car period and occupied only seventh.

Tornello set about closing in on his rivals and made it up to fourth spot before a spin through the Turn 11 hairpin left him back down in seventh, where he remained.

One of the highlights of the race was a fierce scrap between George Kurtz, Alexander Berg and James Sofronas, in which the trio at one stage ran three abreast into the hairpin – and all emerged unscathed.

Berg eventually seized the initiative to finish runner-up to the dominant Constable, while Travis Engen made up two positions from the start to climb onto the podium in third place.

Mirco Schultis suffered two spins during the race but still reached the chequered flag in fourth, ahead of Kurtz and Sofronas, with Tornello seventh after his late setback.

Danny Baker had a wild moment through the Turn 19 but recovered to grab eighth place, with Cal Meeker and Tim Day Jnr recovering from near the back of the grid following Race 1 issues to round out the top 10.

Mattijs Diepraam

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