GT World Challenge America’s Pro-Am Championship Chase Takes Centre Stage
In the ultra-competitive North American sports car racing landscape, what does GT World Challenge America offer to capture the attention of discerning fans with no shortage of options to invest their time and energy into?
Well, can we interest you in a terrific showdown for the Pro-Am class championships? Where the top three teams in the category are covered by just four points in the Drivers’ Championship – and just two points in the Teams’ Championship?
That’s the state of play heading into this weekend’s pair of 90-minute races at Sebring International Raceway, the final “regular” race meeting for SRO Motorsports Group America’s flagship GT3 series.
They were the same three teams that stood on the Pro-Am podium in race two at Sonoma Raceway, all the way back in April – all in the same order which they now lie in the championship.
And every one of these teams, and their drivers, has a unique story to tell – perhaps, compelling enough to cause a vested interest or two to develop.
Consider, for instance, the outstanding breakthrough of Ashton Harrison, co-driver of the #93 Racers Edge Motorsports Acura NSX GT3 – who could become the first woman in GT World Challenge America history to win a season championship in any class, in her first full season of GT3 racing.
“I think that it will go down to the wire,” says Harrison. “I think that the top three right now and – well, even top four, with BimmerWorld – are all podium contenders, and I think it’ll go down to Indy. I think there will be a good fight this weekend.”
Harrison and her two-time IMSA GTD class champion team mate, Mario Farnbacher, have driven Florida’s Racers Edge Motorsports team to the top of the Teams’ Championship on countback after ten races, and within two points of the Drivers’ Championship lead. They’re only a month removed from two Pro-Am wins in two races at Road America, which has rocketed them towards the top of the tables.
It would be a chance for Harrison to continue the sort of trailblazing history she made one year ago in her GT3 racing debut: The HPD Racing Academy alumnus became the first overall winner in GT World Challenge History when she, alongside Farnbacher and Matt McMurry, drove Compass Racing’s NSX to the win in last year’s three-hour race within an eight-hour race at Indy.
This year, GT World Challenge America and the Indianapolis 8 Hour Race are scrapping the nesting doll of endurance races and reverting to a traditional format, which means that all teams will aim to run the full eight hours.
“But I’m hoping that everybody plays smart, so that we can all have the chance to fight it out at Indy,” says Harrison, who – like anyone that’s followed this championship pursuit – is hoping that it’s not spoiled before it has a chance to reach its proper climax.
“But at the end of the day, we’re all drivers and racers and we all have one goal. And we plan to push forward as far as possible.”
Good fortune and health willing, Harrison and Farnbacher will have another experienced NSX GT3 driver alongside them for Indy, who knows a little bit about being a trailblazing champion: Two-time IMSA GTD title winner Christina Nielsen, the first woman to win a major North American sports car racing championship, will join Harrison and Farnbacher for Indy as the third driver.
And you can’t ask for a better Bronze-rated “helper” in a GT3 endurance race than a driver like Nielsen, who boasts class victories at big endurance races in Sebring, Suzuka, and the Nürburgring.
Harrison also plans to get Farnbacher in a blonde wig on the podium to ensure quorum among all three Racers Edge drivers, something she’s been trying to make happen all season.
But it’s the defending Pro-Am champions Wright Motorsports – and specifically, their drivers Charlie Luck and Jan Heylen – who currently lead the Pro-Am Drivers’ Championship by the slim margin of two points over Harrison and Farnbacher.
When someone is as busy as the well-traveled Heylen, it can be taxing: He’s been driving with Luck in GT World Challenge America, he’s been continuing on with Ryan Hardwick in IMSA, and he’s been continuing his work with his previous World Challenge co-driver Fred Poordad in the FIA World Endurance Championship GTE Am class.
But for Heylen, racking up the miles and racing across continents is what brings him joy. “I mean, it’s everything you want, right?” asks the 42-year-old Belgian racer. “I mean, I still enjoy driving as much as I did 30 years ago, so it’s a fun place to be in – and definitely a busy season – but certainly no complaints from me.”
“Excited to come to the last couple of races on the hunt for the championship, so it can’t be any better.”
Last season, Heylen came away with two championships – the GT World Challenge America Pro-Am title, and the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge Grand Sport (GT4) title. When Heylen and his new co-driver Luck rolled up in Sonoma at the beginning of the year, they were seemingly on their way to a championship repeat with relative ease.
A month later, their season hit a snag, and the odds of a repeat triumph appeared to fade at stages throughout the season.
“Every year is different, but I think everybody has their own story. And then, you know, so do we,” says Heylen. “We’re fortunate to be where we are. But at the same time, we’ve also had some races that didn’t come our way, and had some bad luck, and some mistakes. But you know, everybody’s had that.”
“We’ve definitely not had the speed that we had last year. That mainly comes down to just BoP, and it hasn’t been as kind to us this year. So that’s made some of the races a little bit tougher than the races last year.”
“But nevertheless, we’re on top, and we’ve got Sebring here this weekend. So at the end of the day, here we are,” Heylen smiles.
This season got back on track in a big way in Watkins Glen International, during the first GT World Challenge America race of the weekend.
When every Pro car in the field suffered either a tyre issue, a mechanical gremlin, or even a harsh penalty for avoidable contact, it gave Wright Motorsports’ Porsche the chance to not only win their class, but to win overall against a field with Pro class cars – something that hadn’t happened in this series since 2019. Heylen held off the #04 CrowdStrike/Riley Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT3 of Colin Braun by less than a car length to clinch a remarkable victory for himself and Luck.
It was the latest in a growing resume of sports car racing accolades for Heylen, but for his co-driver – and father-in-law – Luck, it was the culmination of his unlikely journey from journeyman driver in the NASCAR Grand National Series in the mid-1980s, stepping away from racing for over three decades, then resurfacing in sports car racing and now, at age 62, looking to follow up his 2021 GT America top class title with a Pro-Am championship in his first year in GT World Challenge America.
“There’s two races to go, and we’re right at the top of it – so it’s ours to lose now,” Heylen said. “We just have to execute and not make mistakes, and hopefully it all comes to us. I think If we can come out of here and kind of maintain what we have, or stay in that top three in very close proximity – then it’s everybody’s race in two weeks from now at Indy.”
“And I’m crossing my fingers that we just have a good normal weekend here, and then I’m really excited to go to Indianapolis.”
Shortly after Wright Motorsports won race one at The Glen, CrowdStrike Racing and Riley Motorsports rallied back in the final minutes of race two to take another, equally improbable overall victory for a Pro-Am team.
With that victory and a 21 point advantage after eight races, it seemed as if Braun and George Kurtz were eventually going to break away from the pack and move towards clinching the titles with time to spare. But their fortunes at Road America took a drastic downward turn when Kurtz was collected in a multi-car pileup just three corners into the first race, and then some more first-lap contact in the second race forced them into the pits to keep the bonnet latched shut.
“Road America was a weird event for us,” recalls Braun. “And you’ll have that in racing. There’s things outside of our control that impact the weekend a lot of times. And so I think you have to look at those and go, ‘Hey, can I do anything different? Nope,’ move on – and kind of go back to what we were doing.”
After coming away from one of the Mercedes’ strongest circuits with just four points to show for their toils, the first-year alliance of CrowdStrike Racing and the powerhouse Riley Motorsports group no longer hold the Pro-Am points lead. But their four-point deficit in the Drivers’ Championship, and two-point gap in the Teams’ Championship, can be overturned with just one win.
“I think for us, we’re gonna bounce back by just doing what we’ve been doing all season,” Braun remarked, confidently. “Really, it’s no change. We just keep carrying on like we had been.”
The 34-year-old from Texas – once a teenage prodigy of the sport – has cemented his place as one of the best drivers in American sports car racing after a tough run through the world of NASCAR, not too dissimilar to his title rival Luck.
As he’s matured and developed, Braun is now becoming a mentor – in this case, to Kurtz, who has invested not only his wealth as the co-founder of CrowdStrike cybersecurities, but also, has developed into a well-rounded gentleman racer with 15 years of racing experience.
“George is really, really passionate about racing and, you know, seeing his growth over the years has been, you know, a straight up line. He’s just been really working hard and [getting] better and better and better. He’s become one of the best bronzes, I think, in the country. It’s really impressive to watch him do his thing.”
Already a Bronze Cup class winner earlier this year at the 24 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps – days after it was announced that CrowdStrike would become the event’s new title sponsor from 2023 onward – Kurtz could end the year as champion in both GT World Challenge America Pro-Am, and also GT America’s SRO3 category – where he could clinch the title as early as Saturday after race one.
Regardless of the outcome when the chequered flag drops in Indy, Braun is happy with the way this season has gone for everyone at the CrowdStrike/Riley team, and optimistic that the best is still to come for the future.
“I think whether we win a championship or we don’t – we had a successful year, we had really good results and and you know, all we can do is keep putting our best foot forward, working on getting better every time we go out,” Braun reflected. “And what happens, happens.”
There’s intrigue from all three of these main title protagonists, who enter the Sebring weekend tied with three wins each. But there’s a fourth contender worth examining.
The #94 BimmerWorld BMW M4 GT3 of Chandler Hull and Bill Auberlen hasn’t won their class this season, but they’ve been consistent enough with seven podium finishes to hang within 24 points of Luck and Heylen, 22 points back of Racers Edge and Wright Motorsports.
It would be a great story as well for Hull, whose 2022 campaign began with a heavy testing crash at VIR which forced the team to completely re-organise their plans for the season, including their GT4 America efforts. It would also come as Hull surpasses 100 races at the wheel of a BMW race car, many of them in SRO competition.
Before the race weekend, Auberlen said: “Chandler and I have had an outstanding year so far and are hopeful that Sebring will see our first victory – perhaps in his 100th BMW start. I have won here, and I would love to see Chandler reach that achievement at this famed track as well. We are excited to get out there for this end of season push.”
And even as he approaches his 54th birthday, the ageless, peerless Auberlen is still one of the best wheelmen in the business – certainly at the wheel of a BMW, with a resume littered with accolades including a championship in SPEED World Challenge’s Touring Car series, all the way back in 2003.
Nothing would be more ideal than these four teams entering the Indy 8 Hour race level on points for a winner-take-all showdown, as unlikely as it would be. But barring a catastrophe in Sebring, this is a championship fight that will be worth watching, worth investing in, all the way to the very last lap.
Images © Brian Cleary, Regis Lefebure / SRO Motorsports Group America
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