Turner Motorsport returned to Pirelli World Challenge competition in the series’ season opener at Circuit of the Americas with a pair of Z4 GT3s entered for Bret Curtis and Bill Ziegler.
Forty-nine cars took the standing start for Saturday’s 50-minute sprint. Both Curtis and Ziegler run in the series’ GTA class, where the cars are the same as those in the GT class but the racers are “gentleman” drivers rather than professionals. Almost all GT and GTA cars are FIA GT3 machines. The third class in the race, GTC, is an all-Porsche class this season.
Curtis finished twelfth and Ziegler finished fourteenth on Saturday; both improved on their qualifying positions. Curtis said afterward that while the Z4s were strong in braking and cornering they were at a top speed disadvantage on the long straights at COTA.
As Sunday’s race started in the wet the series substituted a rolling start for its signature standing start. Curtis moved up early in the race, but was forced to pit after he was hit by another car and was left with a flat left rear tire. Later he had to serve a drive through penalty for speeding in the pit lane. Still, he recovered to finish eleventh in class while Zeigler finished seventeenth.
The GTA win in both races went to Michael Lewis in a Porsche 911 GT3R. Overall and GT Wins went to Olivier Beretta in a Ferrari 458 GT3 Italia on Saturday and to Kevin Estre in a McLaren 650S GT3 on Sunday.
The COTA race will be aired on the CBS Sports Network at 11:00 AM eastern time on Saturday, March 14. All races are streamed live on the series’ web site.
The series runs again on the streets of St. Petersburg, Florida on March 27-29.—Brian S. Morgan
