Samantha Tan Racing rounded out a hard-fought weekend at Sebring with four podium finishes, including a Pro/Am class win, after overcoming penalties in both races.

 

Heading into round two of this year’s GT World Challenge America at the legendary Sebring International Raceway, ST Racing was anticipating a strong weekend, given both its on-track pace at last year’s event and its performance in qualifying on the Friday. Both ST Racing BMW M4 GT3s started race one 3rd in their respective class, with Neil Verhagen securing overall pole position for race two.

 

After fighting back from a pit-stop time penalty to take Pro/Am class victory in race one, the #38 BMW was then on course to win race two overall the following afternoon only for a drive-through to drop the M4 to the tail of the field. Incredibly, from more than 30 seconds down, the Canadian team bounced back with another stunning performance to finish 3rd in-class, less than a second behind the beneficiary Pro-Am winner.

 

Ironically, despite the setbacks, ST Racing has now closed the gap in the GT World Challenge America Pro-Am class title chase to just two points.

 

Samantha Tan, co-owner / driver (#38): “Following last year’s incident, we had something to prove this weekend. After a couple test sessions and practice, we put together a great car to fight with. We were able to qualify P3 for Race 1 and P1 overall for Race 2. In Race 1, we got a 5sec penalty in the pitstop but after a strong run from both Neil and I, we were able to push forward to P1! In Race 2, after an unfortunate start infringement, we were at the back of the field. Neil and I pushed to the limit and made up a 36sec drive through penalty to bring the car home in P3. I believe we demonstrated to everyone this weekend that our pace is irrefutable. I am super proud of everyone’s effort’s this weekend — we were able to close the gap to the championship leaders and we look forward to COTA in just a couple weeks!”

 

Kenneth Tan, team principal / co-owner: “What a thrilling, roller coaster ride it was at Sebring this past weekend. On Saturday, we started mid-pack and finished first then on Sunday, we start pole but got sent to the back with a penalty that was, in my opinion, a bit harsh. But we fought back strongly all the way to the end of the race and got back close to the front two cars that P1 became a possibility. That was the best racing I’ve seen Samantha do so far and it is so exciting to see her perform at this level. She just keeps getting better every race. I have to thank her coach Nic Jonsson and co-driver Neil Verhagen for pushing her development as well as the whole crew, especially our engineer Rafael Hess, for putting together another amazing car.  We have momentum and we’ll continue to build on it in our next race in Austin, TX. Can’t wait!”

 

As in round one at Sonoma, team co-owner Samantha Tan partnered Neil Verhagen in the ‘Pro-Am’ entered #38 BMW, while BMW legend Bill Auberlen shared the #28 ‘Pro’ M4 GT3 with young up-and-comer Varun Choksey.

 

Impressive starts and consistent stints, despite the humid conditions, meant Varun and Samantha were running 3rd and 6th (2nd in Pro/Am) overall respectively heading into the mid-race mandatory pit stop, one place ahead apiece from their grid positions. Metronomic work by ST Racing’s mechanics meant the #38, now with Neil on-board, had moved up to 5th, though the #28 (Bill) was unlucky to drop to 4th overall (still 3rd in-class) when Wright Motorsport’s undercut gamble paid off.

 

Having been allowed through to 4th by team player Bill, Neil, now 2nd in Pro-Am, began scything into the Pro-Am leader by more than 2.5 second per lap. The Connecticut native eventually made the move for the lead stick at turn one with just 16 minutes left on the clock.

 

Despite being served a 4.28-second penalty for a miscue during the pit stop, Neil continued pushing for the remainder of the race, and, incredibly, the #38 eventually collected the chequered flag 16.6 seconds clear of its nearest Pro-Am rival, more than enough to offset its penalty and take a well-deserved class win. Neil also posted the overall fastest lap of the race – a 2m 00.786s – en-route to Pro/Am victory.

 

Bill Auberlen rounded out a good day’s work by claiming 3rd in the PRO class and 6th overall with the #28.

 

Fueled by the BMW’s pace the day before, Neil made a commanding start to race two from overall pole, retaining his lead into turn one and quickly opening up a three-second lead.

 

Dropped back through the field by a drive-through penalty on lap 11 (handed down for an apparent start line infringement), Neil was in scintillating form thereafter, moving back up the field from 11th to 8th overall (5th in-class), recouping a 20-plus second deficit in the process, before handing over the #38 BMW to Samantha.

 

Samantha was on similarly determined form, closing the gap from nine seconds to just a matter of car lengths, and eventually moving into 3rd after pressuring the DXDT Racing Corvette into a spin. Samantha eventually collected the #38’s second podium of the weekend less than a second behind the Pro/Am winner.

 

Across in the #28, Bill completed a typically solid stint aboard the #28 BMW in 5th overall (3rd in Pro) before handing over to Varun. Just 15 minutes into his second stint of the weekend, Varun had systematically closed down and passed the Pro/Am leaders to move up to 3rd overall. Such was his speed, and in only his second GTWC America weekend, Varun finished a mature drive 12 seconds up the road from the battling Pro/Am pair.

 

Neil Verhagen, driver (#38): “Sebring was a great weekend for the whole STR crew! The team supplied a great car which felt very strong from the moment we touched the track. Race one was very special getting our first win of the season. Although in race 2 starting from pole to finish p3 after getting a drive through penalty for a start infringement definitely stings. It was a great comeback to go from pretty much last on track back to the podium. Another 4x podium for the team, looking forward to going to COTA now!”

 

Varun Choksey, driver (#28): “Sebring is never an easy race, the bumps and heat of Florida always prove to be challenging and this week proved to be no different. Ultimately we came away with a pair of podiums and importantly we are still in the hunt for the championship two rounds in. Race one was a mixed bag. The car felt strong early in the race and a good opening lap saw us jump up two positions to P2 in class. We struggled more and more as the race continued and finished the race third in class. Some big changes before race two saw our race pace improve greatly and gave us a much more consistent car to fight with. Another third place finish didn’t represent how much we improved the car but the pace we showed was very promising for the upcoming rounds.”

 

Bill Auberlen, driver (#28): “Sebring is in the books. We are going home with podium finishes in both of the races. P3 may not be what we came for but we gained some important points for the championship. For race one we tried a completely different setup which didn’t work as great as we expected so we turned it upside down for race two on Sunday. The car felt much better and now we have a solid foundation to work with. As always, the team did an amazing job and gave us a great car! Thanks for that. Now some days to recharge batteries before heading to COTA for some testing before round 5 and 6 of GT World Challenge America in the Lone Star State.”

 

Jon Miller, team manager: “I’m proud of our team efforts and the results we’ve accomplished in the process. The redemption feels good, too. The next step is to chase overall wins - with both cars.”