On the undercard of the Verizon IndyCar Series this weekend in St. Petersburg, Fla. will be the GT, GTA, GT Cup and GTS Classes of Pirelli World Challenge. Between those four classes, 45 cars are entered. The GT, GTA and GT Cup Classes will run together in two 50-minute races, while the GTS class will have two 50-minute races of their own.
The GT class is considered to be the professional division of GT. 13 cars are entered, representing nine manfacturers. Cadillac Racing has their two factory Cadillac ATS-V.R.’s for Johnny O’Connell and Michael Cooper, while RealTime Racing debuts their two Acura NSX GT3’s for Ryan Eversley and Peter Kox. K-PAX Racing has two McLaren 650S GT3’s for defending champion Alvaro Parente and Bryan Sellers. Patrick Long in the Wright Motorsports Porsche should be a contender as well.
There has been one withdrawal already. Always Evolving Racing had entered a Nissan NISMO GT-R GT3 without a driver listed. That car is no longer on the list.
The GTA class runs the same equipment as the GT class, but the sub-class is designed for more gentlemanly drivers. 10 drivers are entered. With Martin Fuentes not in the field, it appears to be quite wide open. Drivers to watch here include Michael Schein in a second Wright Motorsports Porsche, the two GMG Racing Porsches for James Sofronas and Alec Udell, and series newcomer John Potter in the Magnus Racing Audi. For GT Cup, there are only two cars entered. One is a Porsche for Preston Calvert, while Marko Radisic has a Ferrari Challenge Evo.
The GTS class will feature 20 cars, mostly built to GT4-spec. St. Petersburg will mark the worldwide racing debut of the new Chevrolet Camaro GT4.R. Two Camaros will be fielded by Blackdog Speed Shop for Lawson Aschenbach and Tony Gaples. Also of note, the new Porsche Cayman GT4 Clubsport MR makes its debut with five entries in the class (two from Flying Lizard Motorsports, two from the new Case-It Racing team and one from KRUGSPEED). The new McLaren 570S GT4 will also be present with two examples entered.
Brett Sandberg, last years’ GTS champion, is not racing in the series this year. His team from last year, ANSA Motorsports, has three cars officially entered this weekend, but only has drivers announced for two of them Bill Ziegler will drive the No. 9 KTM X-Bow GT4 full-time this season. He is joined by Frankie Montecalvo, who is taking over Sandberg’s No. 13. A third entry that will use the No. 25 does not currently have a driver listed.
The GTS class has their first race of the season scheduled for 12:15 p.m. on Friday. The first GT/GTA/GT Cup race will be Saturday at 9:35 a.m. All races this weekend will be streamed live at World-Challenge.com and will also be available at Motor Trend OnDemand and on Motor Trend’s YouTube channel.
2017 Pirelli World Challenge at St. Petersburg Entry List
Class
Team
Driver
Car
GTA
04 - De La Torre Racing
Jorge De La Torre
Aston Martin Vantage GT3
GT
007 - The Racers Group
James Davison
Aston Martin Vantage GT3
GT
2 - CRP Racing
Ryan Dalziel
Mercedes-AMG GT3
GT
3 - Cadillac Racing
Johnny O'Connell
Cadillac ATS-V.R.
GT
4 - Magnus Racing
Pierre Kaffer
Audi R8 LMS GT3
GT
6 - K-PAX Racing
Bryan Sellers
McLaren 650S GT3
GT
8 - Cadillac Racing
Michael Cooper
Cadillac ATS-V.R.
GT
9 - K-PAX Racing
Alvaro Parente
McLaren 650S GT3
GT Cup
11 - Precision Driving
Marko Radisic
Ferrari Challenge Evo
GTA
14 - GMG Racing
James Sofronas
Porsche 911 GT3 R
GTA
16 - Wright Motorsports
Michael Schein
Porsche 911 GT3 R
GTA
17 - GMG Racing
Alec Udell
Porsche 911 GT3 R
GTA
31 - TR3 Racing
Daniel Mancinelli
Ferrari 488 GT3
GT
43 - RealTime Racing
Ryan Eversley
Acura NSX GT3
GTA
44 - Magnus Racing
John Potter
Audi R8 LMS GT3
GTA
54 - Black Swan Racing
Tim Pappas
Mercedes-AMG GT3
GT
58 - Wright Motorsports
Patrick Long
Porsche 911 GT3 R
GT
61 - R. Ferri Motorsport
Alex Riberas
Ferrari 488 GT3
GTA
69 - Champ 1
Pablo Perez Companc
Mercedes-AMG GT3
GT Cup
77 - Calvert Dynamics
Preston Calvert
Porsche 911 GT3 Cup
GT
78 - Absolute Racing
Yufeng Luo
Bentley Continental GT3
GT
88 - Absolute Racing
Adderly Fong
Bentley Continental GT3
GT
93 - RealTime Racing
Peter Kox
Acura NSX GT3
GTA
98 - K-PAX Racing
Mike Hedlund
McLaren 650S GT3
GT
99 - GAINSCO/Bob Stallings Racing
Jon Fogarty
Porsche 911 GT3 R
GTS
04 - GMG Racing
George Kurtz
McLaren 570S GT4
GTS
017 - Case-It Racing
Adam Merzon
Porsche Cayman GT4 Clubsport MR
GTS
018 - Case-It Racing
Cameron Cassels
Porsche Cayman GT4 Clubsport MR
GTS
2 - Racers Edge Motorsports
Jason Bell
SIN R1 GT4
GTS
3 - Flying Lizard Motorsports
Rodrigo Baptista
Porsche Cayman GT4 Clubsport MR
GTS
7 - Krugspeed
Cameron Magueri
Porsche Cayman GT4 Clubsport MR
GTS
8 - Mantella Autosport
Anthony Mantella
KTM X-Bow GT4
GTS
9 - ANSA Motorsports
Bill Ziegler
KTM X-Bow GT4
GTS
10 - Blackdog Speed Shop
Lawson Aschenbach
Chevrolet Camaro GT4.R
GTS
11 - Blackdog Speed Shop
Tony Gaples
Chevrolet Camaro GT4.R
GTS
13 - ANSA Motorsports
Frankie Montecalvo
KTM X-Bow GT4
GTS
14 - Flying Lizard Motorsports
Nate Stacy
Porsche Cayman GT4 Clubsport MR
GTS
19 - Performance Motorsports Group
Parker Chase
Ginetta G55
GTS
25 - ANSA Motorsports
TBA
KTM X-Bow GT4
GTS
32 - Phoenix Performance
Andrew Aquilante
Ford Mustang BOSS 302R
GTS
45 - Racers Edge Motorsports
Jade Buford
SIN R1 GT4
GTS
50 - Team Panoz Racing
Ian James
Panoz Avezzano GT
GTS
62 - KPR
Mark Klenin
McLaren 570S GT4
GTS
69 - Performance Motorsports Group
Harry Gottsacker
Ginetta G55
GTS
80 - Mantella Autosport
Martin Barkey
KTM X-Bow GT4
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