It was one of those amazing days that you just have to take a step back and realize just how beautiful it was on Saturday. The temperatures were perfect, the roaring engines and the friendly racing banter in the clubhouse with what racing at Autobahn is all about. As members and guests enjoyed unparalleled access to either North or South track, the main focus was on South for nonstop racing.
Everyone loves the Triple Crown format, which is 3 short sprint races where drivers accumulate points for their respective finishing positions. First place gets 1 point, second place 2 points and so on. The second race had a partial inverted field mixing things up and making the front runners in race 1 work extra hard to gain those critical points for race 2. However, as the day wore on, drivers started getting antsy and making poor decisions. Throughout the day there were two full course cautions due to car-to-car contact with one resulting in a red flag, which allowed for the final race to be finished under green rather than the unimpressive finish under yellow.
Brandon Collins put on a masterclass on Saturday. Winning all three SM races and scoring an impressive 3 event points which gave him the overall win. Extremely impressive driving from the mustache man as he keeps his eye on the 2025 Spec Miata Championship. Taro Kushida came in second with 7 overall points and John Jodoin came in third with 11 points.
Fan favorite #808 Bob Reisinger was overcome with emotion as he took home his first ever Autobahn win! He has been working tirelessly all season improving his race craft and it finally paid off as he celebrated on the top step, while wearing an afro for some reason- but hey! That’s Bob! Eli Dysart had a fantastic day taking second place as he battled with his newest rival Conor Ryan as the two fought over every inch of racetrack. Track star Connor Miklos had friends and family cheering him on and were thrilled to see his smiling face on the 3rd step of the podium.
GT race was clean. SM drivers take notes because those gentlemen GT drivers know how to bring the car to victory lane without any damaged body work. It’s going to be another rough driver’s meeting as the SM guys force race director’s hand in handing more sever punishments for aggressive driving.
Tony Diar-Bakerli had an unfortunate spin, however being the only GT1 driver, took home the trophy and the precious GT1 Championship points. Who will contest Tony for the upcoming GT race on June 29th? Will Dan Gove come back to defend his previous championships? Tom Herb? Tadas Karlinskas in his Lamborghini Super Trafefo? We’ll have to wait and see.
GT2 was dominated by the beautiful Mercedes AMG piloted by Mark Boden. As Mark carved through the field, he quickly was out in front and led the entire 22 lap race. Mark even set a new Track Record in GT2 with a blistering 1:26.338 on South Track. However, in Mark’s rear view mirror, there was a dog fight going on behind him between the two BMW M4’s of Britt Casey Sr and Roy Lipner with Casey outmaneuvering Lipner and claiming second place.
GT3 had some fantastic racing as Bob Noorian’s Porsche inched out Valdas Gaurylius’ BMW for his first win of the season. New up and coming Tom Prokop continues his charge for the Championship in his bright orange Ford Mustang as he secures third place.
GT4 podium was all BMW. Sean Venckevicius continued his brilliant driving, finishing a full 2 seconds ahead of his rival Scott Bening Sr who landed in second place. Kirk Cordill locked in his second podium of the year rounding out the podium after he passed Julie Riggen’s Shelby Cobra.
GT5 saw the continued rivalry between Tony Kester and Mike Keck. Kester had to remap his engine due to horsepower loss the night before and was still able to hold off the onslaught of Keck’s 944.
Did you miss any of the weekend’s action? If so, feel free to relive all the fun by watching the race on the Autobahn YouTube page as drivers prepare for the next race.
