DXDT Racing’s Tommy Milner ran down and took the overall lead away from AF Corse’s Custodio Toledo with 34 minutes to go. From there, Milner held to win Fanatec GT World Challenge America powered by AWS Race No. 1 at Circuit of the Americas Saturday (May 18) with teammate Alec Udell. It is the first-ever victory for the new Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R and Milner’s first victory on debut with DXDT Racing.
“It’s a lot of emotions, obviously. First win for the new Corvette Z06 GT3.R, which is very special,” Milner told SRO America’s Amanda Busick after the race. “I had a lot of [development] driving in this car last year and not much racing, so I’m excited to get the first win.”
Milner and Udell’s margin of victory was 3.706 seconds over ST Racing’s Samantha Tan and Neil Verhagen. Rennsport One’s Trent Hindman and Jake Pedersen were third in their Porsche, then Wright Motorsports’ Adam Adelson and Elliott Skeer. CrowdStrike Racing with Riley’s Colin Braun and George Kurtz were fifth.
In the Pro class, Milner and Udell took the victory by 25.490 seconds over Adelson and Skeer. ST Racing’s Bill Auberlen and Varun Choksey were third.
AF Corse’s Riccardo Agostini led the field to green, but heck broke loose in turn 1. Agostini went wide as Racers Edge Motorsports’ Luca Mars went into the turn too hot. He clipped Regulator Racing’s Philip Ellis and spun out the Mercedes. Wright Motorsports’ Adelson spun to avoid.
Everyone was able to continue after the incident, but Mars’ Acura ended up with a damaged toe link. That ultimately ended his day. Ellis, despite getting spun out, was given a penalty for incident responsibility. The officials felt that he cut across Mars in turn 1, breaking the Acura in the process.
Despite going wide, Agostini was able to avoid the chaos and maintain the lead. Auberlen moved up to second.
AF Corse chose to use the same strategy that Regulator Racing has used in the first two race weekends. Start their Pro driver (Agostini) in Race No. 1 and try to drive away from the field as much as possible. In the first 15 minutes of the race, Agostini drove out to a 10-second on Auberlen.
DXDT Racing debuted their second Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R. Saturday in Austin. Udell started towards the front of the field and hassled Auberlen for the Pro lead behind Agostini. Just over 15 minutes into the race, Udell was able to make the move entering turn 1 to take the lead away.
Once in front of Auberlen, Udell began to pull away. Auberlen ended up losing third overall to Tan prior to the mid-race stops.
Agostini led the race overall until the mid-race pit stop. That stop ended up being a disaster. A lead of nearly 20 seconds prior to the stops was nearly wiped out.
As a result, Toledo, who was nowhere near the pace of the faster drivers, was effectively mincemeat. Milner was able to run him down and take the overall lead with 34 minutes remaining in turn 11.
In Pro-Am, Toledo still had the Pro-Am lead, but was dropping back in a hurry. It only took another lap before Verhagen was able to get by for the lead.
From there, Verhagen took off to try to get to Milner for the overall lead. He could not get there, but was easily able to hold on for the Pro-Am class win in second overall.
Verhagen and Tan’s margin of victory was 3.129 seconds over Hindman and Pedersen. Braun and Kurtz were third, then Turner Motorsport’s Robby Foley and Justin Rothberg. DXDT Racing’s Bryan Sellers and Scott Smithson were fifth in the second Corvette.
Fanatec GT World Challenge America powered by AWS: COTA Race No. 1 Results
Race No. 2 for Fanatec GT World Challenge America powered by AWS is scheduled to go green at 3:15 p.m. ET Sunday afternoon. Verhagen will start from the pole. The race will be streamed live on the GT World YouTube channel.
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.
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