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JD Davison took second place in the AIM Autosport Nissan GT-R GT3.
 
 
By: Pirelli World Challenge
June 27 2015
 
 

Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin – Chris Dyson, of Pleasant Valley, N.Y., clinched his first career Pirelli World Challenge GT win in Round 12 at the DeVILBISS Grand Prix at Road America presented by Cadillac. Frank Montecalvo, of Highlands, N.J., scored his second GTA victory of the year. Colin Thompson, from Doylestown, Pa., scored the win in Round 10 of the GT Cup presented by MOMO championship.

Dyson gave Bentley its first win of the season at the 14-turn, 4.048-mile road course where the team and manufacturer debuted in GT in 2014. Dyson won by a 3.838-second margin of victory in the No. 16 Bentley/Breitling/Mobil1 Team Bentley Dyson Racing Bentley Continental GT3. Thompson, piloting the No. 11 Kelly-Moss Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 Cup, scored his eighth win of the 2015 season.

From the standing start, pole-sitter Butch Leitzinger, of Rebersburg, Pa., in the No. 20 Bentley/Breitling/Mobil1 Team Bentley Dyson Racing Bentley Continental GT3 bogged on the start and third-on-the-grid Tomas Enge, of Kirchanschoering, Germany, piloting the No. 25 Blancpain Racing Lamborghini Gallardo GT3 FL2 moved around Leitzinger. Enge then drag raced Dyson to take the lead through the first turn. Leitzinger was able to get his No. 20 machine moving, but before he could, Race Control issued a full-course yellow.

Enge and Dyson paced the field to the lap 2 restart. Rounding out the top five on the restart were Mike Skeen, from Charlotte, N.C., in the No. 2 DeVILBISS/Hawk Performance Audi R8 LMS Ultra, Olivier Beretta, of Monte Carlo, in the No. 61 Ferrari of Ontario/Toronto/Alberta R. Ferri Motorsport Ferrari 458 GT3 Italia and Ryan Dalziel, of Windermere, Fla., in the No. 31 EFFORT Racing/World PMO Porsche 911 GT3R.

In GTA, pole-sitter Bryan Heitkotter, of Fresno, Calif., in the 05 Nissan GT Academy GT-R Nissan GT-R-GT 3 led Henrique Cisneros, of Miami, Fla., in the No. 30 MOMO NGT Motorsport Ferrari 458 GT3 Italia, who had started third in class and Tim Pappas, of Boston, Mass., in the No. 54 Black Swan Racing Dodge Viper GT3R, who had started second to Heitkotter in class. In GT Cup, Thompson led over Sloan Urry, of Salt Lake City, Utah, who had started second in class, and Alec Udell, of The Woodlands, Texas, in the No. 17 Amsource Capital/Panther Pipeline GMG Porsche 911 GT3 Cup, who had started third in class.

Into lap 5, Enge had build an .832 second lead over Dyson, but the driver of the No. 16 set the fast lap of the race at that point with a 2:06.611 to move on towards closing the gap.

While working on Lap 10, Dyson gained speed out of the kink in Turn 11 and pounced on Enge to take the lead in Canada Corner at Turn 12. JD Davison, of St. Petersburg, Fla., in the No. 33 AE/Replay XD Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3, took second spot when Enge pitted for a tire change. In GTA, Heitkotter led Cisneros, with Montecalvo, in the No. 66 Bayshore Racing DragonSpeed Mercedes-Benz AMG SLS GT3 moving around Pappas for third. In GT Cup, Thompson still led Urry and Udell.

On lap 13, Montecalvo passed Cisneros for second in GTA, while Thompson still led in GT Cup.

Dyson led by as much as seven seconds before a full-course yellow on Lap 15 was issued to remove the No. 14 GMG Racing/Spyder/Mobil 1 Audi R8 LMS Ultra of James Sofronas, of Pound Ridge, N.Y., that sat wounded at the outside of turn 1 with a mechanical issue. On the Lap 17 restart, Dyson extended his lead again and never looked back, en route to the victory. Davison and Dalziel were second and third in GT, respectively.

In GTA on lap 17, Montecalvo and Pappas both moved past Heitkotter, who ran wide through turn 6. At the checkered, Montecalvo scored the win, with Heitkotter in second and Pappas in third. In GT Cup, Thompson won over Urry and Udell.

Notable for Dalziel was his Cadillac Move of the Race Award, earned when he gained sixth position ahead of Skeen, making the outside pass in turn six while working Lap six.

Leitzinger proved his Bentley was dialed in, and recovered nicely from the bogged start to post a fourth-place finish. Enge, Friday's race winner, finished seventh in the field, while Beretta, the GT points leader coming into Round 11, was 24th.

The GT win was satisfying for Dyson, especially considering the accomplishment and 30-year anniversary of father and team owner, Rob Dyson, whose team secured its first win at Road America in 1985 with drivers Bobby Rahal and Drake Olson.

"I love Road America," Chris Dyson said. "I grew up coming here watching my dad race. Every time I come here I try not to leave anything on the table. The Bentley guys gave me an unbelievable car. We had a great car at Mosport (Canadian Tire Motorsport Park) a few weeks ago, and it was just about refining the setup a little bit. The track suits the car beautifully."

Chris Dyson went out of his way to praise the performances of Montecalvo and Thompson, young drivers who are making an impact in the Pirelli World Challenge.

Thompson, the GTC points leader, said he wouldn't be able to string together stellar finishes race by race, if it weren't for the hard work put in by his Kelly Moss Motorsports team.

"They put in the long hours to make this Porsche successful," Thompson said. I'm just glad I can take the top step each time. I go into every weekend thinking that I am 300 points behind the leader rather than 300 points ahead. I treat every race as if it is my first one."

Meanwhile, Montecalvo remains optimistic his team continues to make strides toward improvement in the points standings. "It was a tough battle today since there are so many super fast cars in our class," Montecalvo said. "This is a great track and I just tried to be patient. I was trying to race as clean as possible, and pick off each car as best as possible."

Of note, Dyson claimed the Invisible Glass Clean Pass of the Race Award for his move on Enge in Canada Corner on Lap 12. In addition, Ryan Eversley of Atlanta, Ga., driving the No. 43 Acura Motorsports RealTime Racing HPD Acura TLX-GT, gained 10 positions during the race to earn the VP Racing Fuels Hard Charger Award. Eversley also clinched the Optima Batteries Best Standing Start Award for gaining six positions when the lights went out to start the race.

Meantime, Sloan Urry, of Salt Lake City, Utah, received the MOMO Turning Point Award for piloting his No. 02 Engel & Volkers Porsche 911 GT3 Cup to second place on the final lap, to claim a GTC podium spot.

Results are provisional until posted final.

Setting the stage for GT and GTA Round 13 and GTC Round 11 on Sunday scheduled for 2 p.m. Central, Dyson posted a fast lap time of 2:06.611 to clinch the pole position. Bryan Heitkotter posted the best GTA lap for pole with a mark of 2:07.548, while Thompson took the GTC pole after a best lap time of 2:16.651. Watch the race via live streaming at world-challengetv.com and torque.tv.

Results from Saturday's 22 lap 89.056 mile Pirelli World Challenge Championship PWC GT/GTA Round 12, GT Cup Round 10 race, part of the DeVILBISS Challenge at Road America at Road America, with finishing position, class, starting position in parentheses, driver, hometown, car, laps and reason out (if any).

1. GT, (2), Chris Dyson, Pleasant Valley, N.Y., Bentley Continental GT3, 22.
2. GT, (7), JD Davison, St Petersburg, Fla., Nissan GT-R GT3, 22, -3.838.
3. GT, (5), Ryan Dalziel, Windermere, Fla., Porsche 911 GT3R, 22, -5.087.
4. GT, (1), Butch Leitzinger, Rebersburg, Pa., Bentley Continental GT3, 22, -5.801.
5. GT, (9), Michael Lewis(R), Laguna Beach, Calif., Porsche 911 GT3R, 22, -6.147.
6. GT, (4), Mike Skeen, Charlotte, N.C., Audi R8 LMS Ultra, 22, -7.489.
7. GT, (3), Tomas Enge, Kirchanschoering GM, , Lamborghini GallardoGT3FL2, 22, -7.694.
8. GT, (12), Johnny O'Connell, Flowery Branch, Ga., Cadillac ATS-VR GT3, 22, -8.344.
9. GT, (16), (A)Frank Montecalvo, Highlands, N.J., Mercedes Benz AMG SLS GT3, 22, -15.231.
10. GT, (20), Ryan Eversley, Atlanta, Ga., Acura TLX-GT, 22, -17.457.
11. GT, (8), (A)Bryan Heitkotter, Fresno, Calif., Nissan GT-R GT3, 22, -17.736.
12. GT, (14), (A)Timothy Pappas, Boston, Mass., Dodge Viper GT3R, 22, -19.517.
13. GT, (10), Peter Cunningham, Milwaukee, Wis., Acura TLX-GT, 22, -20.656.
14. GT, (18), (A)Henrique Cisneros, Miami, Fla., Ferrari 458 GT3 Italia, 22, -21.978.
15. GT, (17), Duncan Ende, Los Angeles, Calif., Ferrari 458 GT3 Italia, 22, -24.572.
16. GT, (21), Andy Pilgrim, Boca Raton, Fla., Cadillac ATS-VR GT3, 22, -24.667.
17. GT, (23), (A)Dan Knox, Pilot Point, Texas, Dodge Viper GT3-R, 22, -27.584.
18. GT, (24), (A)Eduardo Cisneros(R), Miami, Fla., Ferrari 458 GT3 Italia, 22, -28.536.
19. GT, (26), (A)Alex Welch, Englewood, Colo., Audi R8 LMS Ultra, 22, -30.742.
20. GT, (25), (A)Drew Regitz, Denver, Colo., Audi R8 LMS Ultra, 22, -33.583.
21. GT, (28), (A)Bill Ziegler, Ponte Vedra, Fla., BMW E89 Z4 GT3, 22, -38.047.
22. GT, (15), Robert Thorne, Littleton, Colo., McLaren 650S GT3, 22, -1:02.840.
23. GT, (11), Kevin Estre, Lochau Austria, , McLaren 650S GT3, 22, -1:06.298.
24. GT, (6), Olivier Beretta, Monte Carlo, , Ferrari 458 GT3 Italia, 21, -1 lap.
25. GT, (27), (A)Martin Fuentes, Mexico City, Mexico, Ferrari 458 GT3 Italia, 17, -5 lap.
26. GT, (13), James Sofronas, Pound Ridge, N.Y., Audi R8 LMS Ultra, 16, -6 lap.
27. GT, (22), (A)Jeff Courtney, Milwaukee, Wis., Audi R8 LMS Ultra, 12, Mech.
28. GT, (19), (A)Eric Lux, Buffalo, N.Y., Mercedes Benz AMG SLS GT3, 9, -13 laps.
29. GT, (29), (A)Jorge De La Torra, Mexico, , Aston Martin Vantage GT3, 0, DNS.
30. GT, (30), (A)Walt Bowlin, Tarpon Springs, Fla., Audi R8 LMS Ultra, 0, DNS.
31. GTC, (31), Colin Thompson, Doylestown, Pa., Porsche 911 GT3 CUP, 22.
32. GTC, (32), Sloan Urry, Salt Lake City, Utah, Porsche 911 GT3 CUP, 22, -7.010.
33. GTC, (33), Alec Udell, The Woodlands, Texas, Porsche 911 GT3 CUP, 22, -9.077.
34. GTC, (38), Preston Calvert(R), Potomac, Md., Porsche 911 GT3 CUP, 21, -1 lap.
35. GTC, (34), Lorenzo Trefethen(R), Napa, Calif., Porsche 911 GT3 CUP, 21, -1 lap.
36. GTC, (37), Mitch Landry, Lake Charles, La., Porsche 911 GT3 CUP, 21, -1 lap.
37. GTC, (36), Victor Gomez(R), San Juan, Puerto Rico, Porsche 911 GT3 CUP, 21, -1 lap.
38. GTC, (35), Brett Sandberg, Allendale, N.J., Porsche 911 GT3 CUP, 12, -10 laps.

Time of race: 51 minutes, 51.412 seconds.
Average speed: 103.040 mph
Margin of victory: 3.838 Seconds
Lap leaders: Laps 1-8, #25 Tomas Enge; laps 9-22, #16 Chris Dyson
Fastest race lap: #16 Chris Dyson, 2:06.611 (115.099 mph)
Fastest qualifier: #20 Butch Leitzinger, 2:03.912 (117.606 mph)

Drivers On Canadian Teams In Italics