Cadillac Racing‘s Johnny O’Connell took the overall victory in the second GT round at Miller Motorsports Park, giving him a clean sweep for the weekend. Meanwhile, Frank Montecalvo repeated his GTA success, whilst Colin Thompson won GT Cup.
GT
From pole position, O’Connell took the lead into turn one, ahead of James Davison. Points leader Ryan Dalziel started eighth but soon made his way through the field to pass Andy Pilgrim for third on lap two.
Pilgrim lost a further position when Guy Smith overtook him for fourth at the Black Rock Hairpin. The Bentley driver, who makes his return to the series this weekend, caught up with Dalziel soon after, and began a battle for third place that would last most of the race.
Meanwhile, the leading pair were pulling away and would finish the race as they were from the start.
It was at two-thirds race distance when Smith began to make serious overtaking attempts. Following a defensive, low line into turn one from Dalziel, Smith tried to pass around the outside only to cause contact and be momentarily pushed off course.
Smith finally made his move successfully just minutes before the chequered flag, taking the final podium position ahead of Dalziel. O’Connell led Davison out front. Andy Pilgrim took fifth place.
“This was a great points weekend,” O’Connell said. “We had a good car yesterday, but the guys at Cadillac Racing improved it even more and just made it a little easier to drive today. James Davison was all over me in his Nissan. He even tried flashing his lights at me late in the race, I just ignore that stuff. He is a great young talent. Two good wins and a lot of points going into Sonoma in one week.”
Credit: PWC
GTA
The amateur category also saw a repeat winner, Frank Montecalvo. The Bayshore Racing driver also claimed class lead at turn one, and was ahead of Martin Fuentes and Henrique Cisneros.
It took until lap 17 for a change to happen out front, as Cisneros ran wide allowing Eric Lux to steal third place. The penultimate lap saw Lux gain an extra position, passing Fuentes for second.
At the chequered flag, Montecalvo had a comfortable lead over Lux and Fuentes. Henrique Cisneros came home fourth ahead of brother Eduardo Cisneros.
GT Cup
Alec Udell led the GT Cup field through turn one, but was challenged by Colin Thompson by lap six, the pair running side-by-side for a few corners.
Careful planning and execution awarded Thompson the class lead as he lined up Udell at Witchcraft, to later pass at The Attitudes. Soon after, Phil Fogg, Jr. overtook Mitch Landry for third position, only to lose it to Sloan Urry a few laps later.
These top three positions remained static to the chequered flag, Thompson having a 7.9 second lead over Saturday’s winner. Urry finished 30 seconds down on the leader, and was in front of Lorenzo Trefethen and Phil Fogg, Jr.
