AUSTIN, Tex., (May 17, 2023) – From a rainy weekend in New Orleans to the sunny heat of Texas, the SRO America group travels to Austin for the next rounds of the sports car racing season, and Wright Motorsports rides in with the championship points lead. The two-car Porsche racing team has garnered two wins and four podiums to date so far in the Fanatec GT World Challenge America Powered by AWS, creating an eight-point lead over CrowdStrike by Riley. Meanwhile, in GT America Powered by AWS, the team sits in sixth place after completing four of the six rounds to date. Circuit of the Americas (COTA) will host the next two rounds of each championship, with four races between Saturday, May 20th, and Sunday, May 21st.
“Our race seasons in the SRO America championships have both gotten off to strong starts,” said Team Owner John Wright. “The group behind the No. 45 Porsche 911 GT3 R has made good strides with the new car, while the No. 120 Porsche group have accumulated their own success with the earlier car model. All four drivers have had success at COTA, and it should be a good weekend for our team.”
In the previous round at NOLA Motorsports Park last month, the No. 45 of father and son-in-law duo Charlie Luck and Jan Heylen earned their first podium of the season, celebrating a well-earned third-place finish. The drivers last competed at COTA with SRO America in 2021, Heylen secured two third-place finishes while Luck took home a victory and a second-place result. This year, the pair have joined forces for a second season, eager to claim the Pro/Am class championship title.
Momentum has been on the side of Adam Adelson and Elliott Skeer this season, with the pairing earning two wins and a third-place finish in four races. As Wright Motorsports leads the team standings, Adelson and Skeer hold second place in the driver standings, four points shy of CrowdStrike by Riley drivers George Kurtz and Colin Braun.
Adelson has had his own success in the bronze-only GT America championship, standing fifth in the driver standings while having only completed four of the six rounds. He would have a win to his record if not for a post-race results revision at Sonoma Raceway, but the young racer focuses forward to this weekend’s pair of 40-minute races at COTA, the site of his first race win.
Saturday, May 20 will host GT America’s race one at 1:00 PM CT, shortly after followed by GT World Challenge America’s 90-minute race at 3:10 PM CT. The weekend will conclude Sunday, May 21 with the GT America race at 8:40 AM, and then the GT World Challenge America race at 2:15 PM CT. All races will air live on YouTube.com/GTWorld.
DRIVER QUOTES
Charlie Luck
I can’t wait to get to COTA and race on a track where we have some high-speed corners and long straightaways. I’m ready to continue to work on the car set up and improve the in-traffic performance.
Jan Heylen
I’m happy to be back at COTA after the series skipped a year. It will be a very exciting weekend—my first as a dad. Hopefully, that will give me some extra speed to get the Wright Motorsports Porsche back on the top step of the podium! COTA is one of the best tracks in the USA for overtaking, so I’m looking forward to some good racing.
Adam Adelson
I'm beyond excited to be racing at COTA again, 2021 was the last time I raced there. It's where I got my first-ever win, so it's a special place to me. We have tons of momentum from our very successful first two rounds of the season, and the entire team has been performing at the top of their game, so I'm excited to see what we can achieve together this weekend.
Elliott Skeer
COTA is surely to be a very competitive race, but Adam and I are ready for the fight. Wright has proven that the 991.2 platform is still competitive, and we intend to maximize what we have and to keep our Porsche up front. Adam loves this circuit, and it has treated me pretty well in the past. We are looking to keep our win-per-weekend streak alive but are equally focused on the big-picture points battle ahead. Ultimately, our goal is to make zero mistakes and let the results sort themselves out as we have so far this year.