Luck and Heylen Grab Pro/Am win in Race 1 at Sonoma

The clouds cleared and tarmac heated up as The Fanatec GT World Challenge America Presented by AWS headed out for Race 1 on Saturday afternoon. There were few incidents throughout the entire race, which led to lots of clean racing and fast lap times.

In Pro-Am, the top three drivers never eased up on eachother after the driver change, ensuring some great driving for the entire second half. The father-son-in-law duo of Charlie Luck (#45 Porsche) and Jan Heylen secured the top spot on the podium, followed by George Kurtz and Colin Braun (#04 Mercedes) grabbing the silver, and finally Chandler Hull and Bill Auberlen (#94 BMW) coming in third.

In Pro, Jordan Pepper (#1 Lamborghini) saw a comfortable lead for the entire duration of his stint, which turned into a comfortable stint for his teammate Andrea Caldarelli, at one point as high as 43.90 seconds away from P2. Caldarelli then drove home their #4 Lamborghini to an overall victory. Phillip Ellis (#33 Mercedes-AMG) crossed the finish line next, followed by Loris Spinelli (#6 Mercedes-AMG).

“I don’t know of any father and son-in-law combination that’s ever won.” Luck spoke of his win with Jan Heylen. “Jan’s proven himself, he’s been a winner for years and years. It’s incredible.”

“This driver pairing is pretty special,” Heylen stated about being teamed up with Luck. “We had a tough time leading up to the race, as we didn’t feel the speed in the car so much during practice. So great driving by Charlie. He was a bigger factor today in giving us a win.”

The #93 Acura NSX driven by Harrison and Farnbacher was given a drive-through penalty due to the team putting tires on too late before the out lap, which led to Harrison being a lap down before handing the car over to Farnbacher.

In Am, after a spirited battle with the Charlie Scardina (#23 Ferrari) and Onforio Triarsi, Conrad Grunewald (#61 Ferrari) drove home to an first place finish for AF Corse with Jean-Claude Saada.

Jordan Pepper and Andrea Caldarelli claimed the Crowdstrike Fastest Lap in Pro with a 1:37.310, while George Kurtz and Colin Braun laid down the quickest in Pro/Am with a 1:37.708, and Jean-Claude Saada and Conrad Grunewald claimed the fastest in Am with a 1:38.657.

Race 2 begins at 1:45 PM Pacific on Sunday.