What's up motorsports fans?
I've been in the process of writing this blog since the race happened almost a month ago, and I still have to watch and review Rounds 4-6! But I plan on doing that this week so I can write my report and update my blog!
Anyways, with that being said, let's get into my review of the GT World Challenge America Round 3 race at Circuit of the Americas!
Am Class Recap
The first thing that caught my eye in this race was that Dollahite Racing had changed classes! Instead of continuing on in Pro-Am where they had started just a few weeks prior, now they would be attempting to dethrone AF Corse USA for the Amateur Championship.
Personally, I'm a little upset with the move, and would have really liked to see the Mustang battle it out with the Corvette’s in the Pro-Am midfield for the rest of the season. But apparently Dollahite thought they would stand a better chance head-to-head against the No. 163 Ferrari, driven by returning Amateur champions Jay Shriebman and Oswaldo Negri.
Unfortunately, the Mustang would be starting towards the back of the pack in P14, before being forced to retire after an incident on the very first turn of the race, so they wouldn't get the chance to race against their new in-class competitors.
This first lap incident was rough to see, and it was really unfortunate that Dollahite Racing was forced to retire as a result. What's even worse for the Ford, was that it wasn't even their fault, they just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.
While the performance of Dollahite Racing hasn't been the best so far to start the season, I do believe they can give AF Corse a run for their money in the Am Class Championship this year, as long as they don't crash out every race.
Pro-Am Class Recap
I've been a diehard Corvette fan for years, thanks to my grandpa, so I will say I’m a little biased when it comes to the two Vette's on the field, but I was really impressed with DXDT Racing's performance in this race after they failed to meet my expectations during Round 1 and 2.
After starting 3rd in class and P6 overall, Blake McDonald put together a solid stint behind the wheel of the multicolor No. 11 Corvette, making his way up to P5 (2nd in class) which is partially thanks to a penalty given to the No. 16 AF Corse team for being out of position at the start. Matt Bell took over after the mandatory pitstop, who managed to set the fastest lap of the race on his way to their first victory of the season.
In my opinion, Blake McDonald would have caught up to and passed Allam Khodair naturally, but that Drive Through penalty sped things along. After that, he ran very well behind the Pro class during the first stint, only being passed by the Pro Class No. 99 Random Vandals BMW, which I’ll be talking about more in just a few! What impressed me the most from DXDT was their ability to hold off the defending Pro-Am champions Turner Motorsport BMW for the entire race.
For me personally, I just hope that DXDT has learned from their mistakes at Sonoma and can continue with this style of performance throughout the rest of the season! If both Blake McDonald and Matt Bell can continue this way, then Turner Motorsport may have some serious competition this year.
Pro Class Recap
We also got to see a pretty decent race from the Pro class of cars, but unfortunately, it would be one that would be decided by a penalty. I'm actually kind of upset by this because nobody wants to see a race won due to penalties. But, all of the drivers did a good job and raced hard without any incidents occurring between the more experienced group.
The JMF Motorsports No. 34 Mercedes ran an amazing race, and looked like they would be the team to take it, but unfortunately received a penalty for being too fast during their pit stop. This actually resulted in Kenton Koch and Connor De Phillippi winning the Pro class for Random Vandals in the No. 99 BMW after starting last on the grid.
Going from P18 to P2 is an outstanding performance, no matter how you look at it, and it just goes to show the difference in skill between the Pro and the Am class drivers! But to me, winning the race on a technicality definitely takes away from the amazing job that both drivers did to get there in the first place! I can't say that I was expecting this, but with two cars in the class, I'm not really surprised that Random Vandals got the win.
Other than the incident at the start of the race and all of the penalties that were handed out, this turned out to be a wild and unpredictable race that was pretty exciting to watch, but I hope that every race doesn't go like this!
Rounds 5 and 6 have actually already taken place this past weekend at Sebring Motor Speedway, so I have quite a bit to catch up on before I'll be making my next post! As far as my motorsport blog as a whole, a Formula 1 triple header just finished up and I'm two races behind the curve, so I'll definitely have my hands full this week.
Either way, thank you for checking out my blog, and I hope you enjoyed this update! If you want to watch the race for yourself, you can do so on YouTube via the GT World Channel here.
See you on the next one!
- Pictures sourced from GT World Challenge America Round 3 Gallery