Racing returns to action this weekend in the Fanatec GT World Challenge America Powered by AWS with the third doubleheader of the 2021 season at Virginia International Raceway. The team will not only sport a new line up for the World Challenge round, but it will also compete in IMSA Lamborghini Super Trofeo competition after debuting in the category last month at Circuit of the Americas.
The team, which moved to the Lamborghini platform for the 2021 season, is well prepared for its first dual IMSA/SRO program weekend of the season as the championship-winning line up of Martin Fuentes and Caeser Bacarella join the effort this weekend, sharing the No. 11 Lamborghini Huracan Super Trofeo Evo for the World Challenge double header.
“It feels great to be back with TR3 and their new program in the Lamborghini,” said Fuentes. “There are so many great memories I have with this team, winning the championship in 2020 with the boys, and to be racing again with Caesar Bacarella is really exciting. I am looking forward to seeing a lot of familiar faces on the team, and competing at this legendary track, it should be amazing. I’m looking forward to winning some races with the boys again!”
TR3 Racing will also be represented by Mark Issa and Sandro Espinosa are entered in the Am class in Super Trofeo competition, sharing the No. 7 Issa and Castro Lawfirm/Lamborghini Miami entry.
“One of the best parts about being under the tent with people you have worked with before is that it leaves few things to chance-you know that the car is going to be extremely fast,” said Issa, who joined TR3 Racing for the COTA round of Super Trofeo competition. “Texas allowed us to learn about the car a little bit more. Trouble found us in race one! But that’s juts more motivation-the team did an amazing job, staying at the track until 3 in the morning to fix the car. And I went right into the race with no testing but I have so much confidence in this team. It was great we were able to overcome that adversity and I am looking forward to VIR to continue to hone our skills. This is a great series and I’m enjoying it very much—hopefully can come home with some more trophies.”
For the World Challenge America program, TR3 Racing will include a new driver line up this weekend. With Ziad Ghandour and Sandy Mitchell will pair in the No. 9 TI Capital/Lamborghini of Miami/Nobu Hotels Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo. Mitchell is stepping in for Giacomo Altoe, who is heading to race in the Nurburgring 24 Hours as part of his factory commitments. TR3 Racing races in the highly competitive Pro-Am class, which features 11 of the 16 entries for the VIR weekend.
The Ghandour and Altoe pairing finished fourth and sixth in the two recent races at Austin’s Circuit of The Americas, and TR3 Racing will look to build on that with more progress at VIR this weekend.
A year ago, TR3 Racing won both rounds at VIR, with John Megrue and Bill Sweedler leading the Am class in the No. 31 Ferrari 488 GT3 en route to placing second in the Amateur Teams championship.
“We are really excited about this VIR weekend, welcoming back Martin and Caesar as well as having Sandy join us for World Challenge,” said TR3 Racing’s Greg Romenelli. “This is a big effort from the team to be competing in both World Challenge as well as Lamborghini Super Trofeo, but we’ve got outstanding support and have been preparing for this for quite some time so are eager to get set up and get going this weekend.”
The VIR event weekend opens for the GT World Challenge America with a pair of 45-minute practice sessions on Friday beginning at 10:30 a.m. and 4 p.m. (all times ET). Back-to-back qualifying sessions begin at 8:50 a.m. on Saturday to set the grids for the respective races. The opening 90-minute race begins at 1:15 p.m. on Saturday. The weekend concludes with the second race, Round 6 of the season, on Sunday at 1:45 p.m. Lamborghini Super Trofeo highlights include qualifying on Friday at 3:05 p.m., and a pair of 50-minute races on Sunday at 8 a.m. and 4:35 p.m.
Source. Sunday Group
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