CRP Racing’s Jason Daskalos was able to get the jump on Wright Motorsports’ Adam Adelson on the initial start of the race Sunday morning (Sept. 24). From there, Daskalos led every lap, but had to hold off a charging Memo Gidley to win GT America powered by AWS Race No. 2 at Sebring International Raceway for his fourth win of the year.
“I knew that [Gidley] had a strong car based on [Saturday], so I had to build a gap,” Daskalos told SRO America’s Amanda Busick after the race. “I built a pretty good gap, but I caught traffic in some of the wrong areas and lost time, which allowed [Gidley] to catch up. It feels good to get this win for the team. It really does.”
Daskalos won by .287 seconds over Gidley. SKI Autosports’ Johnny O’Connell was third in his Audi, then Crowdstrike Racing by Riley Motorsports’ George Kurtz. Adelson was fifth.
Daskalos started from the pole and easily got the edge on Adelson on the initial start to take the lead. Gidley ended up getting boxed out and dropped back to fourth.
At first, Daskalos and Kurtz tried to run away and settle things amongst themselves. Then, Gidley was able to get past Adelson for third. Kurtz began to fall off of Daskalos and fell back into Gidley’s clutches.
As Kurtz and Gidley fought for second, Daskalos pulled out to a three-second lead. Adelson was right behind Gidley with O’Connell entering the mix.
Gidley was able to take second from Kurtz in Sunset Bend when Kurtz ran wide just before the halfway point of the race. Once he was past, Gidley immediately pulled away and started to go after Daskalos.
Gidley was as much as a full second a lap faster than Daskalos in clean air. The air was not completely clean as the leaders ran up on the GT4 field. Getting through the lapped traffic cost Gidley some time.
However, once clear, Gidley was on the charge once again. In the final lap, Gidley got within striking distance of Daskalos and attempted to make a move to the inside in Sunset Bend. Daskalos was able to resist this move and take the win.
In GT4, Flying Lizard Motorsports’ Jason Bell started from the pole with his immediate rival in the points, Rotek Racing’s Robb Holland, right with him. Bell’s teammate Elias Sabo, chose not to compete in the event after a nasty crash on the opening lap of Pirelli GT4 America SprintX Race No. 2 Saturday resulted in the team having to use his GT America car for SprintX Race No. 3.
Bell was eventually able to pull away by a couple of seconds. Meanwhile, Blackdog Speed Shop’s Tony Gaples was able to get past in his Chevrolet Camaro GT4.R for second. Holland wasn’t taking that sitting down, so the battle continued. That only allowed Bell to get further away.
Eventually, Gaples was able to get away from Holland and started to reel in Bell. A series of quicker laps put the Camaro on the rear bumper of Bell’s Aston Martin in the final 10 minutes.
Coming to the white flag, Bell got loose exiting turn 13. That allowed Gaples to zoom past on the outside to take the lead. From there, Gaples was able to hold on to take his first win of the year.
Gaples won by 1.011 seconds over Bell. Holland was third, then The Racer’s Group’s Tim Savage. The Heart of Racing’s Gray Newell was fifth.
GT America powered by AWS: Sebring Race No. 2 Results
The GT America powered by AWS championships will be settled at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Race No. 1 will be Friday, Oct. 6 at 1:15 p.m. ET. The race will be streamed live on the GT World YouTube channel and SpeedSport1. Motorsport.tv subscribers will also get access to a stream.
Phil Allaway has three primary roles at Frontstretch. He's the manager of the site's FREE e-mail newsletter that publishes Monday-Friday and occasionally on weekends. He keeps TV broadcasters honest with weekly editions of Couch Potato Tuesday and serves as the site's Sports Car racing editor.
Outside of Frontstretch, Phil is the press officer for Lebanon Valley Speedway in West Lebanon, N.Y. He covers all the action on the high-banked dirt track from regular DIRTcar Modified racing to occasional visits from touring series such as the Super DIRTcar Series.