March 25, 2023 RNW Staff 0

TR3 RACING SET FOR GT WORLD CHALLENGE AMERICA WITH AMG AND ADDS ASTON MARTIN FOR SRO CAMPAIGN

TR3 Racing is expanding its competition program for 2023, and will field Daniel Morad and Ziad Ghandour in the Pro-Am championship in Fanatec GT World Challenge America powered by AWS.

The duo will share the driving duties on board the No. 9 Mercedes-AMG GT3. The 13-race series opens this weekend with a pair of 90-minute races at Sonoma Raceway.

Ghandour has continued to grow his experience, having moved up the ladder to the GT3 ranks with TR3 Racing after proving himself a winner in single-make racing with the team. Formed by Arthur, Oliver, and Gregory Romanelli brothers, TR3 Racing has continued to diversify its racing programs as the team looks to open a new chapter with the new GT3 platform.

“It’s been a flawless transition to Mercedes,” said team principal Gregory Romanelli. “Thanks to all the personnel behind AMG, and especially Julian Schoch (Mercedes-AMG Motorsport Customer Racing Project Manager), who has made everything so simple for us. We have been running the car for a few months now and we’ve gotten up to speed fairly quickly. The SRO field will mainly be Mercedes, so we can’t wait to put ourselves up against teams that have been running the car for quite some time now.”

The driver line up of Ghandour and Morad will look to get a fast start to the season with the double-header set in California’s wine country this weekend. Ghandour, a native of Lebanon now living in California, is in his fourth season with TR3 Racing.

“We are excited to have Daniel in the car with Ziad,” said Romanelli. “We have had some great battles against each other in the past, and I can say I’m happy to have Daniel on our side now.”

Morad, a 32-year-old Canadian, is a three-time SRO winner and has won three championships in addition to numerous karting titles.

“I’m really happy to join TR3 alongside Ziad,” Morad said. “It’s great to see another top-level team switching over to the Mercedes-AMG platform. With so much prior success in the series, I’m very much looking forward to get to work with the team and tackling this new challenge.”

Action at Sonoma opens with testing on both Wednesday and Thursday, practice on Friday and qualifying on Saturday morning. Saturday’s race schedule (all times PT) includes Race 1 for GT America at 1 p.m.; GT World Challenge America at 3:05 p.m.; and GT4 America at 4:50 p.m. Sunday’s racing includes GT America at 8:55 a.m.; GT4 America at 1:30 p.m.; and GT World Challenge America at 2:15 p.m.

TR3 Racing is expanding to a second program in SRO competition in 2023, which will see the team run two programs with two different manufacturers in three series. The team will integrate a new program this year, competing in Pirelli GT4 America with Jon Branam and Paul Kiebler sharing the No. 77 Aston Martin Vantage GT4 in the GT4 category. Each event weekend will feature two 60-minute races.

Branam is a veteran racer, stunt driver and coach. He has one pole and one podium in SRO action. Kiebler has experience both in single-make competition as well as previous SRO campaigns. He will have some busy weekends this year as he is also set to race the No. 77 Aston Martin in GT4 America, which features single-driver lineups in a pair of 40-minute sprint races each race weekend.

“It’s been almost a year in the making to put this program together with Paul Kiebler,” said team principal Gregory Romanelli. “The off-season was quite busy for us putting together a whole new program to TR3 Racing. We had a great outing in Daytona together, finishing first in the bronze cup in the GS race. We were able to put together a very experienced team with these cars. So we are confident to offer Paul Kiebler and Jon Branam a competitive car.”

The family-run team is looking forward to building on the relationship with this expanded program.

“I’ve had a great friendship with John for over 10 years now, and I’m very excited to be working together with him,” said Romanelli. “He really excelled for us in the Indy Eight Hour last year. I look forward to this new venture with this new program, new cars, and new drivers for TR3 Racing.”

“I’m really excited to be back in the Aston Martin with Paul Kiebler for the full season with TR3 in SRO GT4 America,” Branam said. “Having run a couple of races with TR3, I know we are in a good position to bring home some good results. We’ve spent much of the off season testing and preparing for 2023, so we are ready to get out there and go to work.”

Kiebler finished second in the 2022 Ferrari Challenge North America Coppa Shell Am action, winning two races and securing two poles. He is a podium winner in 2021 SRO Pirelli GT4 SprintX action.

The Aston Martin GT4 program will run in parallel with the TR3 Racing GT3 effort Daniel Morad and Ziad Ghandour will compete for the Pro-Am championship in Fanatec GT World Challenge America powered by AWS, racing the No. 9 Mercedes-AMG GT3. The 13-race series opens this weekend with a pair of 90-minute races at Sonoma Raceway.

Source. Sunday Group