CrowdStrike with Riley Motorsports Snatches Outright Race 2 Win at Watkins Glen

And then, there were two outright winners from the Pro-Am category in GT World Challenge America.

The #04 CrowdStrike with Riley Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT3 of George Kurtz and Colin Braun took a shocking victory in Race 2 at Watkins Glen International, seizing the lead with two laps to go after an issue befell the #33 Winward Racing AMG GT3 (Russell Ward/Philip Ellis) late in the race.

Ward led during the final stint by as much as 15 seconds, but in the final five minutes of the race, his car began to haemorrhage several seconds per lap, and Kurtz was able to overtake him on track.

After the #45 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3-R took the outright win in Race 1 by just two-tenths over the CrowdStrike/Riley crew, this time the Pro-Am championship leaders were able to get the victory that eluded them by a carlength – and extend their lead in the championship after eight races.

Ward consolidated a second overall finish with Winward Racing finishing first in Pro Cup for the first time in 2022, after the team were forced to miss the last two meetings due to setbacks with their IMSA programme.

In a spirited fight for third overall and second in Pro-Am, the #93 Racers Edge Motorsports Acura NSX GT3 (Ashton Harrison/Mario Farnbacher) held off the #94 BimmerWorld BMW M4 GT3 (Chandler Hull/Bill Auberlen) over the line. The two Triarsi Competizione Ferrari 488 GT3 Evos followed, with the #13 (Justin Wetherill/Ryan Dalziel) ahead of the Am Cup #23 (Onofrio Triarsi/Charlie Scardina).

The #1 K-PAX Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo (Michele Beretta/Andrea Caldarelli) was left to finish seventh overall after another difficult race for the K-PAX Racing team – with the #3 (Misha Goikhberg/Jordan Pepper) retiring after a chronic issue with the diffuser.

After leading the opening stint, the #6 US Racetronics AMG GT3 (Steven Aghakhani/Loris Spinelli) lost several seconds before the pit window, had a slow exit after the pit stop – and adding a mountain of salt to the wounds of another lost chance at victory, suffered a suspension failure with less than ten minutes left.

Results to follow

Images © SRO Motorsports Group America