GT, GTC battles steal American Le Mans show at COTA - MotorSportsTalk

Thrilling late-race duels in both the GT and GT Challenge classes were the highlights of the American Le Mans Series’ visit to Circuit of the Americas today in Austin, Texas.

In GT, the No. 3 Corvette Racing team of Antonio Garcia and Jan Magnussen leaped to the class points lead with a hard-fought win over the No. 93 SRT Motorsports Viper of Jonathan Bomarito and Kuno Wittmer.

For much of the final hour, Garcia had been battling with the No. 56 BMW Team RLL Z4 GTE of Dirk Muller for the GT lead. But with less than two minutes remaining, Bomarito was able to pass Muller for second place and set his sights on Garcia.

Unfortunately for Bomarito, he ran out of time and Garcia hung on for a win by eight-tenths of a second.

“The BMW was really good at some points during the stints and I knew there would be times I’d be faster,” Garcia told ESPN in Victory Lane. “This track is so different – he might be really fast in one side and I would be fast on the other, so I just had to focus.

“[Getting in] traffic was my goal. As soon as I hit traffic, I was making sure I was putting a gap on [Muller] and I think that’s what helped us win the race.”

Meanwhile in GTC, Sean Edwards (No. 30 MOMO NGT Porsche) and Damien Faulkner (No. 66 The Racers Group Porsche) were fighting it out for top honors when a pack of faster traffic enveloped them.

Edwards’ narrow lead quickly disappeared after he made apparent contact with one of the faster machines, which allowed Faulkner to catch and then pass him for the point with less than six minutes to go. Faulkner then went on to earn the victory for himself and Texas native/co-driver Ben Keating.

“I had a couple of half-gos at [Edwards], but I knew that he was struggling and I think he just got mixed up with some of the GTs. He just made one error or something – got off-track and put dirt on his tires – and I was able to take advantage,” Faulkner said.

At the front of the overall field once again were the P1 class champions from Muscle Milk Pickett Racing, Klaus Graf and Lucas Luhr. Graf took home the No. 6 HPD to its seventh consecutive victory by two laps over the No. 16 Dyson Racing Lola of Chris McMurry and Tony Burgess.

Scott Tucker and Ryan Briscoe (No. 551 Level 5 Motorsports HPD) locked up the win in the P2 category, while the No. 8 BAR1 Motorsports duo of Chris Cumming and Kyle Marcelli won in Prototype Challenge, giving Cumming his first ALMS triumph.

Follow @estradawriting

Ryan Hunter-Reay was named to replace Conor Daly in Ed Carpenter Racing’s No. 20 Dallara-Chevrolet, starting in the NTT IndyCar Series event next week at Road America.

Hunter-Reay is the 2012 series champion and 2014 Indianapolis 500 winner. He finished 11th for Dreyer & Reinbold last month in the 107th Indy 500, his first start since the 2021 season finale. He drove full time for Andretti Autosport from 2010-21.

“We need to improve our competitiveness and I wanted to add a fresh perspective from a driver like Ryan who has a massive amount of experience and success as well as a reputation as a team leader. I am excited to welcome Ryan to the team,” team owner Ed Carpenter said in a team release. “We have worked together in the past as teammates and he tested for ECR at Barber Motorsports Park in October 2021, where he made an immediate impact as we were able to qualify one of our cars on the pole following that test. I am confident that his experience and technical abilities will be an asset to ECR as we move forward toward our goals as a team.”

Hunter-Reay has 18 IndyCar victories, most recently in 2018. He also is a winner in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, having been a part of winning entries in the 2020 Twelve Hours of Sebring and 2018 Petit Le Mans. Last year, he was an endurance driver for Cadillac Racing while being on standby for Chip Ganassi Racing.

He replaces Daly, whose departure was announced a day earlier in what the driver and team said was a mutual decision.

“I was surprised when I got the call from Ed,” Hunter-Reay said in a team release. “He described how frustrated he was that his team has not been able to realize its potential despite their efforts, investments, as well as technical and personnel changes over the past few years and asked for my help. Ed and I are very close friends and have been for a long time. I’ve worked with the team in the past and they are a very talented group with high expectations and a committed partner in BITNILE.COM.

“This will certainly be a challenge for me as well. It’s a tough situation jumping in a car in the middle of the season without any testing in what I believe to be the most competitive series in the world. Certainly, part of my motivation in saying ‘yes’ to Ed is the great challenge ahead. The last time I turned right driving an NTT IndyCar Series car was in October of 2021 with this team at Barber. However, I remain very confident in both my driving and technical abilities and believe by working with the talented people at ECR and Team Chevy, while representing BITNILE.COM, we will make progress. I am going to do everything I can do to help the team achieve its long-term objectives.”

Said Milton “Todd” Ault, the chairman of sponsor BitNile.com: “It is great for BitNile.com to be aligned with an Indy 500 Winner and an NTT IndyCar Series champion. I have followed Ryan’s career for years and I am confident he will challenge the entire ECR team to perform at higher levels. I wish everyone luck at Road America.”