•29 Entries make up the Season Opener on the streets of St. Pete
•Nine manufacturers will be represented on the grid, including iconic makes from Italy, Germany, England, Japan, and the U.S.A.
St. Petersburg, Fl. - The 2022 GT America powered by AWS season kicks off on February 24-26th nestled alongside Tampa Bay on the picturesque and winding streets of St. Petersburg, Florida. The last time that SRO raced on this seaside 1.8 mile circuit was in 2019 and will be the first trip for SRO's GT sprint series under GT America. This year, the weather is shaping up to be a pleasant mid-to-upper 70s and sunny for the massive, 29-car field.
A solid variety of chassis make up the SRO3, GT2, and GT4 classes, which bolsters GT America as one of the premier North American racing series. Iconic hardware by Lamborghini, Aston Martin, Porsche, BMW, Ferrari, Audi, BMW, Toyota, Chevrolet, and Mercedes-AMG permeates throughout the grid, creating a diverse field of engine displacements, power- and drivetrain configurations.
Mercedes-AMG is one of the more populous platforms in SRO3, and will see some familiar teams in its ranks. Teammates Scott Smithson and David Askew will be behind the wheel of the #8 and #63 DXDT Racing GT3s, whereas George Kurtz will pilot his familiar #04 CrowdStrike Racing by Riley Motorsports machine, and Bryce Ward in the #47 Windward Racing rig.
Racing with raging bulls on their hoods are Jason Hayward and Jeff Burton in the #88 and #191 Zelus Motorsports Lamborghini Huracan GT3s, and Ziad Ghandour in the #9 TR3 Racing Lamborghini.
The lone bowtie entry in GT3 is the #70 Callaway Corvette C7 piloted by German driver Mirco Shultis. It's a homecoming for the Callaway Corvette, which made its North American debut on these same streets in 2018.
Finally, two Audi R8 LMs entries will be fielded. The #58 GMG Racing R8 LMS GT2 will feature CJ Moses behind the wheel, and Jason Daskalos will be in the eponymously named Daskalos Motorsports #27 car R8 LMS Ultra.
A Packed GT4 Field Ready to Rumble
After a successful and thrilling inaugural 2021 GT America season, the GT4 field features some stacked competition with some new and returning faces in the paddock.
The Toyota GR Supra GT4 will join in the fun with Todd Coleman driving the #69 Smooge Racing entry, and teammates Moisey Uretsky in the #55 and Nick Shanny in the #21 Accelerating Performance rigs.
Alongside and outnumbering them in the GT4 field are several teams sporting the Aston Martin Vantage AMR, with Sean Whalen in the #888 Zelus Motorsports car, Ross Chouest in the #50 Chouest Povoledo Racing entry, and Gray Newell in the #25 Heart of Racing car. Bryan Putt will race the #15 car for local Florida team BSport Racing.
Tampa hometown hero and 2021 SRO GT America GT4 defending champion Jason Bell will be piloting the #2 GMG Racing Aston Martin Vantage AMR.
Racing under the blue and white Bavarian roundel in GT4 are teammates Marko Radisic and Rick Uhler in the #22 and #28 SRQ Motorsports BMW M4. Paul Sparta rounds out the trio at the helm of the #98 Random Vandals Racing M4.
Sporting the Mercedes-AMG GT4 are Chris Cagnazzi in the #39 Cameron Racing car, with Chris Gumprecht in the #79 and Custodio Toledo making his series debut for RENNtech in the #89.
The Porsche camp lies entirely in the GT4 field. The #99 Rotek Racing Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport will be driven by Robb Holland, whereas the #120 Premier Racing 718 will have Adam Adelson at the helm, and Derek DeBoer will be piloting the #66 TRG rig.
Get Ready For 2022
The sophomore season of GT America is sure to be one for the history books with strong car-counts, solid driving talent, and a beautiful, technical, and action-packed venue to kick it all off.
The weekend schedule, live timing and scoring, and session reports are available at gtamerica.us. Check out race livestreams for free on YouTube at GT World.
Finally, get up-to-the minute info on the GT America powered by AWS social channels on Facebook @srogtamerica, Instagram @gt_america and Twitter @gt_america_
Photo credit: SRO Motorsports America
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A True GT Showcase
Just two Ferraris are in the mix, but they're no strangers to Floridian track action. Scuderia Corsa will field the #62 488 GT3 piloted by Bret Curtis, and Justin Wetherill will be at the helm of the #37 Triarsi Competizione 488. Triarsi is the family behind local dealer Ferrari of Tampa Bay, and brings a lot of experience racing in various series around North America to the grid.
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