Mike gets two more convincing victories in the GT World Challenge America. On the Virginia International Raceway Michele takes the fourth win in the American series, starting from pole position in race 1.
The weekend on the spectacular track in Virginia was very similar to Nola’s Motorsport Park last month, Michele and his teammate, Andrea Caldarelli, took the lead in both races without any rival.
In race 1 Michele signed the pole position and drove in the first part of the race with authority, without ever being worried by his rivals, except for a timid attack after the safety car, which went in after a crash in the early stages of the race.
Race 2 was much more exciting, with Caldarelli starting from sixth position and finishing his driving session in third place. In his stint, Michele immediately fought with Kurtz’s Mercedes-AMG GT3, climbing to second place with half an hour left of the race. In just a few laps, Mike completed the comeback by passing Ashton Harrison’s Acura NSX GT3 and winning the race with a clear advantage over Kurtz and Michael Dinan’s BMW M4 GT3.
With his fourth success out of three rounds, Micke got 100 points in the Pro standings and now is in the third position, not far from the second, Jordan Pepper. The fourth of the seven scheduled events of the GT World Challenge America will take place on the iconic Watkins Glen track from 22nd to 24th July. Michele’s activity does not stop and continues in these days at Spa (Belgium) for the test session in view of the prestigious Total Energies 24 Hours of Spa.
“I raced on this track four years ago in the Supertrophy and I like it. In my stint in Race 1 I had no particular problems, except for the safety car which nullified the job done until that moment, eliminating the advantage we had gained. When the race resumed I didn’t have any problems, I left the car to Andrea in first position and he finished the race in the lead.”
At the end of race 2 Michele appeared visibly satisfied as soon as he got off his Huracan:
“Andrea (Caldarelli) did a great performance and handed me the car having already recovered a lot. At the pit stop the team, the K-PAX Racing, did a great job and put us in the best conditions to recover. I had a car that allowed me to pick up those in front of me and complete another nice weekend in the best possible way. Now we look to Watkins Glen and look forward to it.”