GEBHARDT Intralogistics Motorsports’ Valentino Catalano led flag-to-flag Saturday afternoon (March 1) to win IMSA VP Racing SportsCar Challenge Race No. 2 at Circuit of the Americas. It is his third overall victory in four races so far this season.
Catalano’s margin of victory was 38.813 seconds over teammate Oscar Tunjo. Turner Motorsport’s Jake Walker was third, followed by Race No. 1 winner Jonathan Woolridge and AF Corse’s AJ Muss.
In LMP3, it was Catalano, Tunjo, Woolridge, then Forte Racing’s Brian Thienes. Matthew Dicken was fifth.
Catalano started from the pole in his Duqueine M30-D08-Nissan with Tunjo giving chase. The early portions of the race were more or less the reverse of Race No. 1 in the morning. Catalano was able to open up a lead of a second and change over Tunjo, then maintained that advantage.
However, as the GEBHARDT teammates got into lapped traffic, Catalano was truly able to drive away. Ultimately, the race was the complete opposite of Saturday morning’s race as things stayed relatively calm.
Catalano was never seriously threatened en route to the victory. He was also able to further consolidate his points lead.
In GTDX, Walker started from the pole in his BMW with Adelson giving chase. Walker got a good start and put the Ligier JS P320-Nissan of Matthew Dicken between himself and Adelson. AJ Muss was also able to get past Adelson in the first couple of laps.
Adelson’s chances for a good finish ended in the first five minutes when he had contact with Thienes and cut his right front tire. Adelson had to pit to replace the tire and resumed more than a minute behind. He would finish a lap down in sixth.
Walker was able to slowly expand his lead over Muss as the race went on. In the closing laps, he was able to get past Woolridge, who he couldn’t get past in Race No. 1, for third overall as he took the class win.
Walker’s margin of victory was 10.759 seconds over Muss. Matias Perez Companc in the AF Corse/Pecom Racing Ferrari was third, then Samantha Tan in the ST Racing BMW. GMG Racing’s Kyle Washington, despite a 10-second penalty for track limit violations, finished fifth.
In GSX, RAFA Racing Team’s Kiko Porto set a lap more than a full second faster than anyone else in Race No. 1 to claim the pole. The race ended up being a lot more of what the first three races of the season have been like.
No one can hang with the former Indy NXT racer. In the first half of the race, Porto pulled out an 11-second lead over BSI Racing’s Steven Clemons.
The second half of the race saw Porto back off a little and manage his gap. Meanwhile, Clemons lost second to Porto’s teammate Ian Porter.
Porto had had a perfect season entering the race, but with six minutes to go, his Toyota GR Supra GT4 Evo suddenly slowed. He eventually stopped his car on-course with four minutes to go, unable to continue. He would be credited with a 22nd-place finish overall, ninth in GSX.
That allowed Porter to take the class lead with Clemons giving chase. From there, Porter was able to hold on to take his first career GSX win.
Porter’s initial margin of victory was .827 seconds over Clemons. However, Clemons copped a 10-second post-race penalty for multiple violations of track limits.
As a result, the BMW of Carrus Callus Raceteam’s Chris Walsh was elevated to second. Clemons had to settle for third, followed by Swish Motorsports’ Patrick Wilmot. AutoTechnic Racing’s Roland Krainz was fifth.
IMSA VP Racing SportsCar Challenge: COTA Race No. 2 Results
VP Racing SportsCar Challenge teams will take a significant amount of time off. The next race weekend will be at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course the weekend of June 7-8. Frontstretch will be on-site in Ohio to bring you all the action.
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.