K-PAX Racing enjoyed four podiums in last season’s stop at Road America, which ultimately helped secure its 2021 Fanatec GT World Challenge America Powered by AWS title. The team, again, put both its Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVOs on the podium with the chance of defending its crown inching closer within reach. The K-PAX Racing cars swapped second and third place in Rounds 9 & 10 of this year’s championship.
It was a clean Sunday start for the two K-PAX Racing Huracán GT3 EVOs. Jordan Pepper overtook second at the drop of the green flag, and Andrea Caldarelli advanced four spots from an eighth position start. The major shuffle during the opening sequence of action saw both cars in Pro podium position, and this would be the case into the mandatory pit window. The No. 1 was the first to execute the driver change for Michele Beretta while the No. 3 opted for a later stop, switching to Misha Goikhberg.
Nearing the hour-mark, Beretta accelerated by Goikhberg for the two-spot. Shortly thereafter, the No. 3 served a drive-through penalty for a pit-stop time infringement. Beretta managed the No. 1 car’s advantage over third overall, ultimately finishing second – gaining six spots in the race. Goikhberg however experienced unrelenting electrical issues felt as early as Pepper’s opening stint, which eventually retired the No. 3 prematurely. The No. 3 still completed at least 70 percent of the race to earn points and finish on the Pro podium. The weekend result is the third time in five events that both Huracán GT3 EVOs finished on the podium in each race. The No. 1 has podiumed at least once in each event this season.
“All-in-all, we have to be happy with the finish of the No. 1 – scoring second-place points,” K-PAX Racing Program Manager Darren Law said. “Coming up from where they started, it was a great finish. But it is unfortunate for the No. 3. They were running second the whole first half of the race, but we had some type of electrical problem that caused the car to quit. Luckily, we completed 70 percent and got reasonable points. We’ll move onto Sebring [International Raceway], which is a great track for us. Hopefully we can have a strong finish there.”
K-PAX Racing extends its team title lead with the pair of second-place finishes (216), and during this weekend, Goikhberg made the jump over a competitor in the drivers’ category to give K-PAX Racing the first four rows of the rankings. With three rounds remaining in this year’s championship, Caldarelli (213) still holds a 47-point lead over Pepper (166), followed by Beretta (163) and Goikhberg (146).
DRIVER QUOTES
Andrea Caldarelli – No. 1 Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO (Race 1 – 3rd, 2nd) – “It was a very challenging week. We were lucky with a few things and just took the points. We are off the pace and it’s something we are chasing. Hopefully, we do for Sebring [International Raceway].”
Michele Beretta – No. 1 Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO (Race 1 – 3rd, 2nd) – “It was difficult to keep up with the pace. We were lucky, especially with some of the other team’s misfortunes that took them out of the final race. It was very difficult in terms of speed. So, we’ll just have to figure out how we can improve for the next one.”
Jordan Pepper – No. 3 Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO (Race 1 – 2nd, 3rd) – “Again, what could have been… We had a good start to the race, right behind the leader, and we had a different tire strategy so we could have been good in Misha [Goikhberg]’s stint. Unfortunately, an electrical issue progressively got worse – later in my stint and very bad in Misha’s which eventually ended our race. Luckily, we finished 70 percent, so we still managed to get points. It seems to be the tradition of our season – we have the potential to do well and to no fault of anyone, mechanical gremlins seem to end up with us. It’s pretty much the end of the championship. Now we just focus on what we can do, and the goal is simple: race wins.”
Misha Goikhberg – No. 3 Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO (Race 1 – 2nd, 3rd) – “We had a lot of potential this weekend but let the win slip away. We managed an issue throughout the race, which was unfortunate. We want a win badly. We have a test at Sebring [International Raceway] and hopefully there we can get two of them.”
Source. K-Pax Racing
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