Pirelli World Challenge Points Update: Di Meo builds while Lazzaro and Wilkins fall back.

R. Ferri Motorsports Ferrari 458 Italia GT - Anthony Lazzaro (photo © RaceCanada / Chris Jameson)

by RaceCanada / CJ
June 3, 2014

Another full weekend of racing for the Pirelli World Challenge Championships - albeit at two separate tracks, with all classes doing double-headers with GT/GTA/GTS at the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix on Belle Isle and TC/TCA/TCB running at New Jersey Motorsports Park in Millville, New Jersey. Full points were available and both divisions are on par having each run six races.

Going into this weekend Canadians were at the top of the charts in three of the four classes with entries.

In the GT Championship, Anthony Lazzaro was for R. Ferri Motorsports (Toronto, ON) in the #61 Ferrari 458 Italia GT going into Detroit with Ferrari four points back of Cadillac in the manufacturer's championship. Lazzaro's lead evaporated when there was just no stopping Johnny O'Connell who scored back to back wins on the team's home track in the Cadillac CTS-V R. O'Connell now holds an eighty-one point lead going into the next rounds at Road America (696 – 615).

Lazzaro's R.Ferri team mate Nick Mancuso sits seventh overall.

Cadillac has also extended its lead in the manufacturer championship to twelve points (from four) over Ferrari and Audi has pulled up to within three points of second (40 – 28 – 25).

In GTS, Mark Wilkins (Palgrave, ON) saw his thirteen point lead evaporate despite having a good weekend going P4 in race one and scoring a podium (P3) in race two. Jack Baldwin (Porsche), a model of consistency and always a threat, moved one point ahead of Wilkins in the championship (557 – 556) by going first and fourth on the weekend. Each of them scored a victory at the previous round in Birmingham, and are always within sight of each other at the end of the race. This is shaping up to be another great run to the end of the season for both drivers.

Wilkins' KIA Racing / Kinetic Motorsports team mate Nic Jonsson did not fair as well and has fallen back to fourth place, one point behind Dean Martin (Ford Mustang). They are one hundred points back of Baldwin and Wilkins.

KIA continues to lead the manufacturer's championship (31 pts) but Ford has pulled to within two (29 pts) with Porsche another four back (25 pts)

Over in the "junior" series, Michael Di Meo (Toronto, ON) has been unstoppable in his Compass 360 Racing HPD Honda Civic Si taking six wins in six races in TC Class. Adding to his 2014 resume, 22 year old Di Meo has also started from the pole five times and scored three fastest race laps. The only time he was not on pole he still started from the front row. With his fifth and sixth wins this past weekend at New Jersey Motorsports Park (NJMP), Di Meo has built up a massive 385-point lead over Compass 360 Racing team mate (and team principal) Karl Thomson who has also scored three podiums in the last three races. Thomson (also from Toronto) holds a 171-point lead over third. Compass 360's success has also put HPD Honda at the top of the manufacturer points leading Volkswagen and Mazda by fifty-six point (60 – 4).

In TCB class, PJ Groenke (Richmond Hill, ON) sits sixth in the championship and has one podium on the season (P3 CTMP race three) driving the Shea Racing #66 Honda Fit. Andrei Kisel (Vancouver, BC) is eighth and just missed the podium (P4) during the last race at NJMP. Kisel missed two races at CTMP after damaging his Racing.ca Mini in the first race that weekend (you might have seen the image we captured as he broadsided the sand barrels at the entrance to pit road).

The Pirelli World Challenge Championship is now headed to Road America (Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin) for rounds 7 & 8 with all six classes in attendance. Practice, qualifying and races will be held over three days from Thursday June 19th to Saturday June 21st.

All previous races in the series are available online for viewing at www.world-challengetv.com. GT/GTA/GTS races are also shown (tape delay) on NBC Sports within a few weeks of the event. Check your local listings (Canadian cable subscribers should note that NBC Sports may or may not be available in your area and is typically part of an upper tier bundle) All races are also live streamed on race weekends at www.world-challengetv.com with live timing and scoring at www.world-challenge.com/liverace/index.html

Complete championship standings, race notes and event photos are available at www.world-challenge.com