Mercedes-AMG GT3 Competitors Secure Four Victories and Top-Two Fanatec GT World Challenge Sunday Sweep to Highlight Competitive Weekend for Mercedes-AMG Motorsport Customer Racing Teams in SRO Motorsports America Competition at Watkins Glen International
George Kurtz and the No. 04 CrowdStrike Racing by Riley Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT3 team won three of the four races the team contested and led a top-two Mercedes-AMG GT3 sweep in Sunday's Fanatec GT World Challenge powered by AWS 90-minute race to cap a competitive SRO Motorsports America weekend for Mercedes-AMG Motorsport Customer Racing teams at Watkins Glen International. Kurtz and co- driver Colin Braun shared Sunday's overall GT World Challenge podium with second-place finishers Russell Ward and Philip Ellis who broke through for their first Pro-class victory of the season. Kurtz also solo drove a No. 04 Mercedes-AMG GT4 to victories in both 40-minute rounds of this weekend's GT America powered by AWS doubleheader at The Glen.
The trio of wins in both series provisionally extend the championship leads Kurtz, Braun and the No. 04 CrowdStrike Riley team have in both the GT World Challenge and GT America season-long championships.
Halfway through 2022's eight-event doubleheader schedule, Kurtz has a 53-point lead in the GT America driver standings, 166 – 113, and the No. 04 has a 51-point lead in the GT America team championship, 168 – 117. Kurtz, Braun and the No. 04 team also hold a 21-point advantage, 145 – 124, over their closest competitors in the GT World Challenge Pro-Am class with three of the year's seven doubleheader race weekends remaining.
The winning Watkins Glen weekend for Kurtz and the No. 04 team started with their second-straight Saturday and Sunday sweep of the season from the pole. Kurtz also did the double last month at VIRginia International Raceway (VIR). Along with a GT America win in the season-opening event in St. Petersburg, Kurtz has won five of the year's first eight GT America races.
While Saturday's GT America win was a flag-to-flag run from the pole, Sunday's victory was much tougher. Rubber build-up on the No. 04's tires saw Kurtz lose the lead at mid-race, but he rebounded to retake the top spot and the victory just three corners before the finish line on the final lap of the race.
Sunday's GT World Challenge victory also had some late-race excitement. With the Pro-Am-class lead and likely victory well in hand, Kurtz was closing out the race's final laps in second place behind Ward in the race- leading No. 57 Winward Mercedes-AMG GT3.
Less than two laps from the finish, however, Ward slowed with tire-wear issues on the No. 57 and Kurtz slipped by to take the overall victory in addition to the Pro-Am class win.
Ward held on for second overall and the team's first Pro win of the season, but he and the No. 57 squad joined the No. 6 US RaceTronics (USRT) Mercedes-AMG GT3 team, and its co-drivers Steven Aghakhani and Loris Spinelli, in encountering tire-wear issues for the second day in a row.
In Saturday's first GT World Challenge race, Spinelli and Ellis were running one-two at the front of the field but both drivers were knocked from winning contention late in the race when each had to pit to replace left-front tires.
Despite the disappointment, USRT and Winward held on to complete Saturday's GT World Challenge Pro podium in second and third place, respectively.
Other podium showings over the two days of racing were turned in by Kurtz and Braun who added to their outstanding weekend with a second place overall and Pro-Am finish in Saturday's GT World Challenge race.
The No. 34 Conquest Racing/JMF Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT4 secured repeat podium finishes in the weekend's pair of 60-minute Pirelli GT4 America races. Co-drivers Michai Stephens and Gavin Sanders finished third in the Silver-class Sunday after a solid second place overall and class finish in Saturday's first race.
Another strong Pirelli GT4 America performance this weekend came from co-drivers Chris Cagnazzi and Guy Cosmo who climbed from 15th on the starting grid to fifth in Pro-Am at the finish Saturday in the No. 39 Stephen Cameron Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3.
DXDT Racing also placed both of its entries in the top five in the GT World Challenge Pro-Am class on Saturday. David Askew and Dirk Muller finished fourth in the No. 63 DXDT Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 and Scott Smithson and Bryan Sellers crossed the finish line one spot behind their teammates in fifth in the No. 08 DXDT Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3.
Next up for Mercedes-AMG Motorsport Customer Racing teams in SRO Motorsports America competition is Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, August 19 – 21.
George Kurtz, Driver – No. 04 CrowdStrike Racing by Riley Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT3: "It's unbelievable. We kept our heads down, and the CrowdStrike Riley guys gave us a great car. We knew we had the pace and just had to put it together. We had the great stop Sunday, and it was a total team effort. I'm so excited. I battled some of the Pro guys and wasn't going to let up. We just kept our heads down and managed to get P1. The team did a great job. A big part of the success is having a consistent car, and the Riley guys have given us that. Colin is always fast and that allows me to focus on doing what I need to do and getting comfortable and more confident as the weeks go by. I couldn't be happier to get three out of four wins. It's just a fantastic weekend overall. Getting P1 overall today ahead of all the Pros is a testament to the team and everyone behind it. The last lap of Sunday's GT America race was incredible. I saw where I was stronger and got the last-minute pass in turn eight to set up for turn nine and got it done there. It was unbelievable."
Colin Braun, Driver – No. 04 CrowdStrike Racing by Riley Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT3: "This was a lot of fun. These GT3 cars are super-hard to pass in when you stick all the Pros in them. We're all on the ragged edge, so it was a lot of fun to be up there racing those guys. I was really happy to bring the car to George with a good gap over the next Pro-Am car. Then we just took it to those guys in the Pro class who had some worse pit stops and some things go on. I'm proud of the Riley guys on our pit stop. That was an awesome stop and they executed it perfectly. It's a testament to the hard work and commitment these guys put in preparation-wise coming to the track. They did a heck of a job! One of the great things about the Mercedes-AMG GT3 and the Pirelli tires is that it seems like as the fuel load burns off, we go faster and faster. I was running some of my fastest laps toward the end of my stint. It just got better and better."
Philip Ellis, Driver – No. 33 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3: "At the end of the day, it is a win in the Pro class. You have to take them as they come, especially with the kind of challenging year we are having, but it is a bit of a frustrating win. You have to take it with a grain of salt but still be happy about getting the victory. It's a win for us and we have been performing quite well all weekend. At the end of the day, it is a win, and we just have to take that kind of momentum to the next event."
Michai Stephens, Driver – No. 34 Conquest Racing/JMF Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT4: "Every weekend offers its own set of challenges, ones on which we need to build on and learn from. This one had a few small elements that amounted to some big impacts, but the Mercedes- AMG GT4 platform, as always, with the Pirelli tires onboard kept us in it. And with JMF Motorsports and Conquest Racing, we band together, and we look forward, and always see if we can get back up to that pointy end."
Gavin Sanders, Driver – No. 34 Conquest Racing/JMF Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT4: "It was the first race with this type of experience, that's for sure, where we came from a little more in the weeds and had to fight our way through. Michai didn't get much of a chance to move forward through all of the yellows in Sunday's race, so when I got back in, I had a little more work to do than I am used to, which is a credit to how well he has done this year. It was rough out there. I think we did our best with the Mercedes-AMG GT4. We made the most of it, had some knocks and taps, but we have a tough car that can take anything and proved it today. We will band together and head back at Road America and make this happen again."
Guy Cosmo, Driver – No. 39 Stephen Cameron Racing Mercedes-AMG GT4: "We are really pleased. We have had a lot of tough races this year, we have had some tough luck, some lack of performance, we have kind of experienced all of it. We did have two fourth place finishes, but in my opinion, we weren't really strong. The field has gotten so competitive here, the racing is extremely intense, and we are excited because we are in the mix. We have pace, we have enough raceability to be in the game and we are learning how to stay in the game. The biggest thing for us this weekend was that we started out on day one real strong, but then we lost our way and qualified terribly outside of the top 15 in both races, and that's bad for us. But we really turned it around, these guys fixed it all up, we got the Mercedes-AMG GT4 dialed back in, and come race time Saturday, we really had something to really work with and drove to the top five. Chris did a really great job and really rose to the occasion. His lap times Saturday were every bit as quick as the guys in the top five. We are on a good path and going to keep pushing."
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