Las Vegas, NV – SRO’s Blancpain GT World Challenge America series heads to one of the premier entertainment capitals of the world to close out its 2019 season in grand style, October 17-20 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Once the races conclude, the champions will be crowned Sunday evening at the year-end Awards Celebration at The Bellagio.

Intriguing story lines abound for the finale weekend – it’s only the second time in its 30-year history that the premier sportscar series will race in Vegas and the Speedway – last time was in 2000. It’s also the first time since 2007 that the series will race on a Roval and the first time since 2000 that the Motor Speedway will host a race using its Roval layout – utilizing both the Motor Speedway’s banked oval and infield circuit. To add to the excitement, Saturday’s action-packed schedule features two 90-minute GT World Challenge races including the series’ final race of the season – Round 14 – held under the lights starting at 7:30 pm local time.

Ferrari Versus Bentley, R. Ferri Motorsport Versus K-PAX Racing

With R. Ferri Motorsport’s Toni Vilander having already secured the Pro Driver’s Championship at the last race at Road America, the stage is now set for the crowning of the equally important Manufacturer and Team Championship categories.

Ferrari, represented by R. Ferri Motorsport, holds the lead over Bentley coming into Vegas. Finn Vilander and teammate Spaniard Miguel Molina will co-pilot the #61 Ferrari 488 GT3. Representing Bentley, K-PAX Racing enters its familiar two-car team of Spain’s Andy Soucek and Portugal’s Alvaro Parente in the #9 Bentley Continental GT3, and Brazil’s Rodrigo Baptista and Belgium’s Maxime Soulet in the #3 Bentley Continental GT3. R. Ferri Motorsport holds the lead over K-PAX Racing in the Team Championship standings with the final two rounds of the season remaining.

Looking to play the spoiler role and put Porsche on the top step is the American/Canadian duo of Patrick Long and Scott Hargrove driving the #58 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R (991).

Can RealTime’s Hedlund and Cameron Pull off the Major come-from-behind Pro/Am Team Title Win at Vegas?

All season long the Canadian duo of Martin Barkey and Kyle Marcelli have topped the Pro/Am Driver’s Championship standings. They started off the season piloting their #80 Racers Edge Motorsports Acura NSX to three victories in the first six races and since then have posted consistent top four results. Barkey and Marcelli come into the weekend tied atop the driver’s standings.

Since the Sonoma weekend back in June the RealTime Racing American driver duo of Mike Hedlund and Dane Cameron piloting the #43 Acura NSX have been a force winning five of the last six races. In the Pro/Am Team Championship standings, Racers Edge Motorsports leads RealTime Racing by a slim margin.

Wright Motorsports’ Anthony Imperato still has a shot at catching Barkey for the overall Driver’s Championship. He will co-pilot with Aussie Matt Campbell in the #91 Porsche 911 GT3 R (991). The team also looks to put Wright Motorsports at the top of the Pro/Am Team Championship standings – the team comes into the weekend third behind both Racers Edge Motorsports and RealTime Racing.

Also in the mix is Gradient Racing’s Till Bechtolsheimer of Great Britain who comes into the weekend third in points. He will co-pilot the #5 Acura NSX with American Marc Miller.

Looking to play the spoiler role are DXDT Racing’s American duo of George Kurtz and Colin Braun in the #04 Mercedes-AMG GT3, as well as US-based drivers Kevan Millstein and Alex Barron in the #38 K2R Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R (991).

Rounding out the Pro/Am field Squadra Corse brings two cars to Vegas – the #64 Ferrari 488 GT3 for American Bret Curtis and accomplished sportscar driver Italian Alessandro Balzan as well as the #7 for Martin Fuentes from Mexico and Dutch driver Renger Van Der Zande.

The lone Am division entry is the #96 Turner Motorsport BMW F13 M6 GT3 for Japanese duo Naoto Takeda and Takuya Shairasaka.

On-track action for Blancpain GT World Challenge America competitors begins Thursday, October 17 at 8:35 pm PDT for the first practice session of the weekend. Qualifying for both weekend races starts at 3:50 pm local time Friday, October 18. The Saturday October 19th schedule features both Round 13’s 90-minute contest scheduled to go green at 10:25 am local time with the final race of the 2019 season – Round 14 – scheduled for a 7:30 pm local time start. Races and qualifying will be streamed live on gt-world-challenge-america.com.

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