Taylor Hagler charged to the lead on her first full green-flag lap of competition Sunday at Sebring International Raceway, taking her third Pro-Am victory of the season in Fanatec GT World Challenge America powered by AWS competition.
Hagler was joined by Dakota Dickerson in the No. 93 Racers Edge Motorsports Acura NSX GT3. Running sixth overall and second in class on a restart with 28 minutes remaining, Hagler made a move to the inside to pass the class leader and complete a last-to-first rebound for the team. Hagler has won three of the last six races in the class.
“Honestly, I don’t know if [Pro-Am leader Fred Poordad] had an issue, or if he just got startled at the start with all the Pro-Pro drivers,” Hagler said. “I was able to follow another car through, and made a pass on the outside of Turn 7 and made it stick. From there, that was it.”
Gridded fourth overall and second in class, Dickerson went to the outside in Turn 1 at the start. Two cars inside of him made contact, with one of them coming over and hitting Dickerson, sending the Acura spinning back to 14th position and seventh in class. From that point, Dickerson charged through the field, returning to sixth overall and second in class – although 23-seconds behind the leader.
“Dakota’s a really, really good teammate,” Hagler said. “He’s an amazing driver with a world of experience. He’s very quick and very precise in everything he does. I had a very bad start yesterday and I fell back, so I know what it’s like to come back and chase.”
Shortly after the pit stop and driver change, the only full-course caution of the event waved which allowed Hagler to close in on the leader, setting up her winning move on the restart and a flawless 28 minutes sprint to the checkered flag. Hagler crossed the finish line leading the Pro-Am category sealing her third victory this season.
Hagler will have one more opportunity in SRO competition this season, with the season officially wrapping up at the three-hour mark of the Indianapolis 8 Hours on Sunday, October 17th.
Source. Sunday Group
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