Weekend Recap: Historic N24 Win for Frikadelli Ferrari & SRO America Action
Catch up on last weekend's sports car racing coverage from around the world...
Frikadelli Ferrari Ends German Dominance at N24
Frikadelli Racing Team ended two decades of German manufacturer dominance at the Nürburgring 24 by claiming a breakthrough victory with its Ferrari 296 GT3.
The No. 30 car driven by David Pittard, Nicky Catsburg, Earl Bamber and Felipe Fernandez Laser finished 26.9 seconds clear of the No. 98 ROWE Racing BMW M4 GT3 of Maxime Martin, Sheldon van der Linde, Marco Wittmann and Dries Vanthoor.
It marked the first win for a non-German car in the Eifel endurance classic since Zakspeed’s 2002 victory with the Chrysler Viper GTS-R.
It was also the first 24-hour race victory for the Ferrari 296 GT3.
The Klaus Abbelen-led squad, which switched from Porsche to Ferrari this year, started the race from fourth position, but Pittard climbed up to second place in the opening hour.
The British driver gained third position at the start before moving past the No. 4 Mercedes-AMG Team Bilstein Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo of Raffaele Marciello with a run off the Dottinger Höhe to take second.
The No. 30 Ferrari was then among the group of cars to pit first after five laps, which allowed Pittard to leap to the head of the field with a shorter pitstop.
It remained there until the end of the fifth hour, when Catsburg pitted off-sequence due to a left-rear puncture.
The Ferrari’s strong pace allowed Frikadelli to gradually regain the upper hand and move back to the lead, opening up a gap of nearly two minutes at halfway.
Frikadelli then managed the gap through the second half of the race on Sunday and finished comfortably clear of the chasing BMW, even though Martin and Vanthoor brought the margin to under a minute in the final hour.
With 161 laps completed, the winning Ferrari crew also achieved a new distance record in a race that took place in dry conditions throughout.
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Racers Edge Acura Claims Sunday Victory at COTA
Ashton Harrison helped take Racers Edge Motorsports to its first overall win of the Fanatec GT World Challenge America powered by AWS season, overcoming mixed conditions in the closing stages of Sunday’s race at Circuit of The Americas.
Harrison, who shared driving duties with Mario Farnbacher, drove the No. 93 Acura NSX GT3 Evo22 to a 2.417-second victory over the No. 28 RS1 Porsche 911 GT3 R of Eric Filgueiras and Stevan McAleer, with an impressive late-race charge by Filgueiras.
The No. 120 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R of Elliott Skeer and Adam Adelson, meanwhile, claimed a sweep of the weekend in the Pro-Am class with a third place overall finish.
While Skeer held command for the majority of the opening stint, a slow pit stop saw Adelson emerge in third, behind the No. 9 TR3 Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo of Ziad Ghandour and Harrison.
Ghandour quickly dropped down the running order as he struggled for grip on a damp track, which opened the door for the No. 007 TRG Aston Martin Vantage GT3 of Derek DeBoer, who had been running in third until the final stanza.
DeBoer and Valentin Hasse-Clot finished fourth overall and second in Pro-Am, with Seth Lucas completing the top-five in the No. 53 MDK Motorsports Porsche.
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Flying Lizard’s Bell, Cooper Win Race 2 at COTA
Jason Bell and Michael Cooper have come out on top in the second Pirelli GT4 America race of the weekend at Circuit of The Americas, which ended under yellow after a multi-car accident.
An overcut strategy got Bell’s No. 2 Flying Lizard Motorsports Aston Martin Vantage GT4 out front ahead of the No. 999 Hanley Motorsports Toyota GR Supra GT4 of Daniel Hanley just moments prior to the race’s first full course caution with 26 minutes to go.
A subsequent yellow on the restart, triggered by the No. 88 STR38 Motorsports BMW M4 GT4 of Jon Miller slamming into both Tim Pappas and Kevin Boehm in Turn 1, resulted in the 60-minute race ending under caution due to track cleanup.
The Pro-Am entry of Bell and Cooper, in their first weekend of the year, shared top overall honors, with Hanley and co-driver Parker Thompson taking Silver class honors with a second place overall result.
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