AUSTIN, Texas — The Fanatec GT World Challenge America powered by AWS field brought the heat in Practice 1 for their opening 60-minute session at Circuit of The Americas. The grid set the track ablaze as temperatures gradually began to rise throughout the morning, getting up to speed quickly and setting competitive lap times from the get-go.
The fastest time in Practice 1 belonged to the No. 91 Regulator Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 Pro-Am entry of Philip Ellis and Jeff Burton, with Adam Adelson and Elliott Skeer setting the second-quickest overall time and fastest lap in the Pro class on board the No. 120 Wright Motorsports Porsche 992 GT3 R.
Pro Class
Elliott Skeer and Adam Adelson earned the top spot on the timing sheets within the Pro class, setting a lap time of 2:04.471 in No. 120 Wright Motorsports Porsche 992 GT3 R, which was also the second-fastest time overall in Practice 1.
Alec Udell and Tommy Milner had a successful opening session in their No. 63 DXDT Racing Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R, finishing in second place in class as they got up to speed with their new machinery. Luca Mars and Zach Veach followed in third position in the Pro class in the No. 93 Racers Edge Motorsports Acura NSX GT3 EVO22, with ST Racing’s Bill Auberlen and Varun Choksey just behind in the No. 28 BMW M4 GT3.
Pro-Am Class
Philip Ellis clocked in the fastest lap time of the session on board his No. 91 Regulator Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3, with a rapid time of 2:04.219 earning him the top time in both the Pro-Am class and overall. Neil Verhagen followed closely behind, setting the second fastest lap in class and third quickest lap overall, with a gap of 0.345 seconds separating his No. 38 ST Racing BMW M4 GT3 from Ellis in the top spot.
The next three teams all set remarkably close lap times, each separated by the finest of margins. RS1’s Trent Hindman and Jake Pederson went third-fastest in class on board the No. 85 Porsche 992 GT3 R, with the No. 88 AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3 of Custodio Toledo and Riccardo Agostini just 0.018 seconds behind in fourth. The Top 5 in Pro-Am was completed by George Kurtz and Colin Braun in the No. 04 Crowdstrike by Riley Mercedes-AMG GT3, who sat another mere 0.024 behinds, further emphasizing the competitiveness of the field.
Let’s Get Racing
The Fanatec GT World Challenge America Powered by AWS field will return to the track for Practice 2 on Friday, May 17 at 3:05 p.m. PDT.
NOTE NEW RACE 1 TIME: Live broadcast tomorrow at 1:15 PM ET on SPEED SPORT 1.
You can watch both GT World Challenge races (as well as other SRO series) LIVE for free on SPEED SPORT 1.  Click here for listings and information on how to get the network on your tv or mobile device.