GMG Racing’s Kyle Washington led flag-to-flag from the pole Saturday (April 26) to win GT America powered by AWS Race No. 1 at Circuit of the Americas. It is his second victory of the year after winning in the wet at Sonoma Raceway last month.
“This is one of the greatest tracks in the world,” a very hot and tired Washington told SRO America’s Amanda Busick. “It’s really awesome to win here.”
Washington’s margin of victory was 3.545 seconds over Turner Motorsport’s Justin Rothberg. SKI Autosports’ Memo Gidley, in his season debut, was third running the sole Audi in the field. Chouest Povoledo Racing’s Ross Chouest and R. Ferri Motorsport’s Marc Muzzo rounded out the top-five finishers.
Washington started from pole in his Porsche 911 GT3 R. Once things got underway, the veteran racer was able to pull away from Elias Sabo‘s BMW.
However, Sabo switched lanes prior to the start line. That’s not allowed. As a result, he was forced to serve a drive-through penalty that hampered his effort.
Sabo’s penalty put Gidley, back in the series for the first time since 2023, up to second. Unfortunately, he was already three seconds back and not on the same pace as Washington.
Rothberg, coming off of a weekend sweep in Long Beach, was on Washington’s pace and raced him hard for second. The lack of pace from Gidley held the BMW up for a couple of laps before Rothberg was able to make the pass.
Once in second, he was able to turn in some quick laps to close the gap to Washington. However, by the time Rothberg got to second, he was already nearly six seconds behind.
That gap was ultimately a little too much for Rothberg to overcome. He was able to gain a couple of seconds on Washington in the second half of the race, but he could not prevent Washington from winning.
In GT4, van der Steur Racing’s Max Hewitt started from pole in his Aston Martin. This was effectively a two-man race between Hewitt and JTR Motorsports Engineering’s Anthony McIntosh.
Hewitt was able to pull out a small lead over McIntosh early in the race, but McIntosh ran him back down in the closing minutes. On the final lap, a slip by Hewitt allowed McIntosh to move in just a little on him.
It was enough for McIntosh to make an aggressive move to the inside in the tight turn 11 for the lead from quite a ways back. It was enough to snatch the advantage and take control of the race.
For the remaining half a lap, Hewitt attempted to come back on McIntosh. He tried in turn 12, but couldn’t clear him. Exiting the final turn, Hewitt tried again, but came up just short as McIntosh took the win.
The margin of victory was .135 seconds over Hewitt. Fast Track Racing’s Denny Stripling was third.
GT America powered by AWS: COTA Race No. 1 Unofficial Results
After his penalty, Sabo had one goal during the race: claim the fastest lap. He managed to pull that off with a lap at 97.330 mph. As a result, Sabo will start on pole for Race No. 2. That race is scheduled for 11:05 a.m. ET Sunday morning and can be seen live on the GT World YouTube channel.
Note that the track length listed on the result sheet and the track length used for the lap speeds on the sheet are not the same. The track is listed at 3.41 miles, but the speeds are listed for a 3.4-mile track.
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.