Porsche Pirelli GT3 Cup Trophy Race 6
It was a brutally hot day out at Utah Motorsports Campus, but the Porsche Pirelli GT3 Cup Trophy drivers and teams readied themselves and cars for the 45 minute race. But before they could race, they had to qualify.
Leading the GT4 pack to the green flag would be Sean McAlister, in the Silver class #00 Competition Motorsports Cayman.
Starting right next to Sean was Jeff Kearl in the #26 Rearden Racing entry.
Carter Yeung rounds out the top three Silver qualifiers, in the #7 GMG car.
The top of the Silver Master class was Steve Goldman, in the #1 Competition Motorsports car.
Qualifying behind him was Martin Brauns, the lone Flying Lizard entry in the entire GT4 field.
LA Car Guy Mike Sullivan qualified third in the third of Competition Motorsports’ entries in the class. Qualifying fifth overall was Hutton McKenna in the #17 GMG Racing entry, but was assessed a 5 grid spot penalty for an infraction in race 5.
Qualifying on top of the Platinum class (997.2 GT3 Cup cars), was Ray Shahi in the #65 Truspeed Autosports car.
Qualifying second in class was David Lockwood in the lone Air Power Racing entry, the all white #42 car.
And the #32 Truspeed Autosports car of Larry Schnur rounded out Platinum’s top three. And all three of them (Schnur, Lockwood, and Shahi) received 5 spot grid penalties for infractions in race 5.
Bryce Ward, in the #57 Winward Racing car, was the fastest Diamond Masters qualifier.
Michael Zuieback (#2 Competition Motorports) was right behind him, .249 seconds to be exact.
Mike McAlister was close to Michael, but not close enough to climb into second. He and the #18 Competition Motorsports car had to settle for third in Diamond Masters.
Topping GT3 qualifying, and the top Diamond class qualifier, was Loren Beggs, in the 08 911 Design car.
Russell Ward put the other Winward Racing car (#35) second overall and second in class. The last Diamond entry, the 07 GT Technik car of Max Root failed to post a time in the qualifying session. Now that we’ve got starting positions sorted, let’s see if that helped them during the race.
Steve Goldman, you #1 Silver Masters qualifier, went wire to wire and collected another win on the weekend.
In a dramatic shakeup, Mike Sullivan (yes, the LA Car Guy himself), grabbed second place in class! Just like he did in race 5.
On the short step of the podium was Martin Brauns.
Jeff “Jefferson” Kearl snagged the top spot in Silver, holding off a hard charging…
Sean McAlister! His battler with Jeff Kearl was a great one to watch.
Carter Yeung’s race result mirrored his qualifying result: a strong third.
Despite the top three qualifiers in the Platinum class receiving 5 grid spot penalties, they all managed to finish on the podium. Atop the podium was the number one qualifier Ray Ray Ray Shahi.
Larry Schnur grabbed himself the middle spot on the podium.
And David Lockwood slipped, but only a little bit. He came third in class.
Bryce Winward went wire to wire in Diamond Masters, and took home the win.
Mike Zuieback also went wire to wire, but he came second.
Coming in third was not Mike McAlister, who spun in the Attitudes during the first lap, but Dave Elsner in the second 911 Design entry.
The other 911 Design car, driven by number one qualifier Loren Beggs, took the top spot in Diamond AND the race.
Bryce Ward fought to keep the pressure on Loren Beggs, but ultimately fell short. But second place is not a bad place to be in, especially considering the field.
He did set a time in qualifying, but Max Root managed to finish seventh overall and third in class.
And there you have it, a solid weekend of racing. The series makes its next stop at the end of July, at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. The month after that they retun to UMC, along with the Pirelli World Challenge.
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