A second day of near-perfect climate offered the perfect setting for shut and aggressive racing Friday and Saturday at Historic Sportscar Racing’s Fall Historics weekend at Michelin Raceway Street Atlanta.
Clear and sunny skies returned to Street Atlanta for the second-straight day, although Friday’s cooler temperatures gave method to Saturday’s greater thermometer readings within the 80s and even hotter competitors on the two.54-mile Georgia street course.
Saturday
Saturday’s featured Can-Am Mini Problem Ed Spreen Cup race lived as much as its pre-race hype with an exciting end that wasn’t determined till the final lap. Three completely different drivers stepped as much as lead at the very least as soon as within the remaining lap-and-a-half of the dash race, with Greg Wold prevailing for the victory in his 1964 No. 88 Morris Cooper S.
Each Wold and eventual second-place finisher Evan Gaston, in his 1964 No. 44 Austin Mini GT5, trailed race chief Andrew Nelson with lower than two laps to go. After getting previous Nelson’s 1965 No. 11 Fortech Mini simply earlier than the white flag, Gaston made a transfer on Wold to take the lead on the ultimate race lap, setting the cross up within the uphill run out of Flip 1 and into Street Atlanta’s quick esses part.
A bobble by Gaston later within the lap put Wold again up entrance for the second and remaining time and he crossed the end line for a 2.468 second margin of victory.
Third place fittingly went to the Workforce Spreen Racing 1966 No. 12 Austin Cooper of Chris Kearney who took benefit of a last-lap subject for Nelson to steal the ultimate podium spot. Kearney drove the identical TSR Mini that Spreen himself drove to the C Sedan Nationwide Championship within the SCCA Runoffs at Street Atlanta in 1970.
One other Saturday showcase race was the one-hour B.R.M. Chronographes Endurance Problem race for Historic, Prototype and GT Trendy (GTM) opponents the place the battle was for total and Prototype top-three honors between a trio of acquainted groups and drivers which have all raced and received in HSR competitors.
The victory was secured by the Matador Motorsports ex-ESM Tequila Patron 2016 No. 22 Ligier Nissan OR05 of Pierce Marshall and Eric Foss who received a B.R.M. race at Michelin Raceway for the third time since 2020.
Second place went to the Olthoff Racing 2007 No. 25 Oreca FLM09 co-driven by Larry Huang and John Edwards whereas Travis Engen solo drove to 3rd in his equally ageless GMT Racing 2005 No. 2 Audi R8 LMP.
Alejandro Pimentel scored the B.R.M. GTM win in his 2018 No. 57 Porsche 991 GT3 however a pair of fast Porsche Cayman GT4 opponents stored the strain on to the end.
Second place in GTM went to brothers Paul Denton and Steve Denton of their 2016 No. 540 Porsche Cayman GT4 ready by Denton Carden Racing. Drew Ewing and Chris Ferraro accomplished the all-Porsche GTM podium in third of their Fandango Racing 2016 No. 13 Porsche Cayman GT4.
Saturday’s further race winners included Kenneth Greenberg, who took the B.R.M. Historic class victory in his 1996 No. 836 Porsche 993 RSR ready by Air Energy Racing, and HSR Basic RS Cup winner Mike Banz in his Heritage Motorsports 1974 No. 13 Porsche 911 RSR.
Friday
Close to-perfect climate and a pair of weekend-opening races that might be described the identical manner obtained the HSR Fall Historics off to a implausible begin on Friday. The Sasco Sports activities Worldwide/American Problem and Stoner Automobile Care International GT dash races mixed to crown the weekend’s first 4 race winners forward of two extra days of on monitor competitors Saturday and Sunday.
The Sasco Sports activities total and Porsche class victory was secured by longtime HSR competitor Jack Lewis in his pristine Jack Lewis Enterprises 1974 No. 9 Porsche 911 RSR.
Friday’s different total winner was native resident and Workforce Corvette racing legend Johnny O’Connell, driving his ex-GT World Problem 2011 No. 3 Cadillac CTS/VR. O’Connell held off a discipline of aggressive Porsches to win the Stoner Automobile Care International GT race within the Invoice Heifner-owned Cadillac “Johnny O” drove in its competitors prime.
Within the Sasco Sports activities race, Lewis was chased to the end line by one other HSR stalwart, Mike Banz, who took the checkered flag simply three seconds again for second place in his Heritage Motorsports 1974 No. 13 Porsche 911 RSR.
Lewis and Banz have been joined on the general Sasco Sports activities podium by American division winner Jeff McKee in his common 1964 No. 51 Ford Falcon ready by Olthoff Racing.
Fourth total went to Worldwide-class winner Joey Bojalad in his distinctive 1967 No. 12 Ginetta G12. Solely 29 of the mid-engine Ginettas have been produced, and Bojalad prepares and tunes his automobile – which is chassis No. 15 – with solely his teammate Joe Serbin.
The general prime 5 and second in American went to Steve Cullman in his 1970 No. 74 Ford Mustang Boss 302, giving Olthoff Racing and Ford a sweep of the top-two American division ending positions
The Porsche podium was accomplished by Colin Dougherty in his 1988 No. 86 Porsche Turbo Cup sequence automobile ready by DAS Sport that additionally completed a powerful sixth total.
Different Sasco Sports activities podium gamers included Amber Stephenson, Steve Piantieri and Craig Joslin.
Stephenson secured second in Worldwide and eighth total within the 2Girls Racing 1963 No. 52 Lotus Tremendous 7.
Piantieri additionally cracked the general top-10 in ninth which additionally locked down third place within the American class in his 1965 No. 95 Ford Mustang 2+2. Piantieri, the 2021 HSR Driver of the 12 months, is one other always-fast HSR competitor that tunes and prepares his automobile with solely the assistance of 1 or two hard-working teammates.
Joslin rounded out the Worldwide podium with a stable third-place end in his 1983 No. 09 Volkswagen Rabbit GTI.
In Stoner Automobile Care International GT, O’Connell held the lead from the pole for a flag-to-flag win forward of the 2015 No. 96 Porsche 991 GT3 of Ben Johnston and third-place finisher Ryan Harrold in his Workforce Imply 2011 No. 110 Porsche 997 GT3 Cup automobile.
Noteworthy
* The Ed Spreen Cup memorial race pays tribute to its namesake who was a pioneering and legendary determine within the North American Mini racing neighborhood. The Mini that Kearney drove to the third place exhibiting Saturday was the identical automobile that Spreen, who handed away in 2010, bought from England in 1967 and dropped at the U.S. The automobile was constructed for competitors from a brand-new Austin Cooper S in 1966 and has been run completely as a race automobile for greater than 55 years. A spotlight victory was Spreen’s 1970 Runoffs triumph that organizers of the favored Can-Am Mini Problem race deliberate to commemorate with the Ed Spreen Cup tribute race on the fiftieth anniversary of the victory in 2020. The COVID-19 pandemic delayed these plans till this weekend, which additionally contains the ultimate Can-Am Mini Problem dash to deliver the curtain down on this yr’s HSR Fall Historics on Sunday.
* Foss and Edwards aren’t the one two skilled driver/coaches competing this weekend within the HSR Fall Historics. Native resident and Corvette Racing legend Johnny O’Connell went two-for-two on the weekend thus far visitor driving the Invoice Heifner-owned ex-GT World Problem 2011 No. 3 Cadillac CTS/VR. O’Connell backed up his win in Friday’s Stoner Automobile Care International GT race with a WeatherTech Dash race victory immediately within the No. 3 Cadillac he raced in its competitors prime. Not too long ago topped Pirelli GT4 America co-Champion Eric Filgueiras can also be in motion this weekend co-driving with Angus Russell in his Amalfi Racing-prepared 2016 No. 15 Ligier JS/P3 LMP3 automobile.
Sunday
Sunday’s HSR Fall Historics motion obtained off to an early begin with the one-hour B.R.M. Chronographes Endurance Problem race for the Classic and GT Basic (GTC) lessons at 8:10 a.m. EDT. Sunday additionally options the second and remaining WeatherTech Dash races for all Run Teams and concludes with the ultimate Can-Am Mini Problem race at 2:35 p.m. EDT.
