by Tim Collier As the sun was setting on Daytona International Speedway, the Champion Motorsports GT3 Sprint Series was wrapping up a tremendous season of racing with one last race to decide the season champions. Coming into the race, Michael Parker held a 11-point margin over Miguel Colon, with Chris Brunnemer not out of the hunt for the Pro title. In the AM class it was Steven Yanni with consistent finishes throughout the season holding off Nick Kuhn who was only 16 points back. With the race length of 75 minutes, it was important to not only finish but finish well. As is always the case at Daytona whether it’s a stock car or sports cars, the margins were slim in qualifying with Victor Tanaka taking the pole position by 0.171 seconds over AM pole sitter Scott Kessel with Parker and Richard McClure also in the 1:43’s in the > more

by Tim Collier The Champion Motorsports GT3 Sprint season has been spectacular, with the level of racing and competition, as well as field sizes well above the past few years. As the drivers arrived at Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin it was apparent that another large field would mean that qualifying was more important than ever. At the top of the qualifying chart was DJ Alessandrini putting his Audi out front with a lap time of 2:03.586 which was more than half a second faster than the second place qualifier Tyler Pinheiro, who was also the AM Class pole winner. Behind them in the second row were Chris Brunnemer and the Pro Class Points leader Michael Parker. The AM class points leader coming into the race, Steven Yanni, would be starting third in class and 13th overall. The field of 49 cars heads thru Turn 1 at the start As > more

by Tim Collier After four races, the Champion Motorsports GT3 Sprint series packed their bags and headed to North America for the second half of the season, as all five remaining races on the Season One schedule won’t require oceanic travel. This week, the teams headed down to the kudzu-covered state of Georgia to visit the world-renowned Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta for the second endurance length race of the season. With the Daytona 24 Hour race in the rearview mirrors, everyone shook off the dust and filled the garages with 51 entries, the second largest field of the season.  With 22 Pro teams, the battle for the overall Pole Position was fierce but in the end Miguel Colon would take the spot with a time of 1:17.420, edging out DJ Alessandrini by a mere 0.014 seconds!  In the AM class, Tyler Pinheiro would start 10th overall and take the > more

by Tim Collier Leaving the beautiful land of Austria following last week’s race, teams headed to Japan for this week’s CMS Sprint Series race at the Twin Ring Motegi Racing Complex for a 60-minute challenge to stay off the green stuff! With 39 drivers in attendance, the qualifying session would end with CMS veteran Humberto Roca on the pole with a fast lap of 1:50.162, edging out Michael Parker by less than a tenth of a second! The Am class pole winner was Tyler Pinheiro with fellow Am driver Steven Yanni starting right behind him. This race would have a clean start and the field didn’t take long to spread out over the first few laps. Humberto Roca leads the field into Turn 1 at the start of the race The Am Class pole sitter, Pinheiro, would lose four spots on the first two laps, giving Yanni the > more

by Tim Collier“The best laid plans of mice and men…”That summed up this week’s Champion Motorsports GT3 Sprint Series, but it had no impact on the action and, in the end, the satisfaction of our class podiums after racing on one of the tightest circuits and 49 drivers taking the field!After a few session changes, the field readied themselves for a 60-minute event and headed to qualifying. To everyone’s surprise—including the league administrators!—the ten minute session was an open session with everyone looking for room to lay down a lap or two before the clock ran out. At the checkers it was CMS newcomer Elliott Budzinzki on the pole with a 1:30.334 edging out last week’s race winner Chris Brunnemer by .044 seconds! The Am class pole sitter, Douglas Hintze started in 11th place overall, and was just over half second off the pole time! 49 drivers take the green > more