Austin, Texas (29 August 2017) \u2013 The Pirelli GT3 Cup Trophy USA enters its final stretch of races this weekend with the first of the final three events that will mark the end of the 2017 season. This weekend features a return to the\u00a0Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas. The challenging 3.4-mile Formula 1 grade road course is a popular one among the field of Porsche racers with a 30-car field set to take part.<\/p>\n
Though heavy rain has enveloped the Austin area this week following Hurricane Harvey, the weather is expected to clear for this weekend\u2019s racing.<\/p>\n
![](\"https:\/\/ci4.googleusercontent.com\/proxy\/tZJFt7cfHllZ5uC3mNe2LTr1Q1nDrIiy3Qu0yLTKJwnHmEldKj0FgweUA71_FzVYUxhWGItJCmUtp_KfHoDW4ddA9Koq0UOp10sAhrofZsP8SLPHAkuThyoa8Q-4AU95t0mPdrfSFeRKaDKNfOYsmlw_W5saMcHKkuDEXghK41R6q0c=s0-d-e1-ft#https:\/\/gallery.mailchimp.com\/a33ba08d163385b4a77fabf6c\/_compresseds\/d21bdb0d-63e0-4ce1-8fcf-c58ac10e5631.jpg\")
Loren Beggs (No. 08 911 Design Porsche) leads the way in the Diamond class championship with seven podium finishes \u2013 including four victories \u2013 to his credit already this year. He is followed by Max Root (No. 07 GT Technik Porsche) who won the season-opener at Thunderhill and Russell Ward (No. 35 WinWard Racing Porsche).<\/p>\n
\u201cI was fortunate\u00a0enough to drive in the inaugural Formula 1 event with the Pirelli GT3 Cup Porsche Trophy USA \u2013 winning\u00a0first in class,\u201d said Beggs. \u201cI have been back to the track subsequently five times for different events. Performance is critical for this upcoming weekend in terms of physical and car preparation. It\u2019s going to be hot and humid so I have increased my regime with my trainer and everyone at 911 Design has done an excellent job preparing the cars for myself and my teammate Dave Elsner.\u201d<\/p>\n
The father-son duo of WinWard Racing \u2013 Bryce and Russell Ward \u2013 \u00a0call Houston, Texas home and have been dealing with the severe flooding in the area following Hurricane Harvey. Unfortunately due to the flooding in area, the two will not be able to compete in this weekend\u2019s event.<\/p>\n
![](\"https:\/\/ci5.googleusercontent.com\/proxy\/AclmdBpKW6xyA3l00RwA_RL4JTzj1OqRB_1PDZy3HY-9h1NvzuQsNff__EGLcsG-UwJ7PilyjiqVzmmStpPu4l6OL53PcvWFZ4AOr2Ji4b0tOfdpjsiGyEHvvJYBRVH8G27SPTt-lwNPgM4F87eGl_35aLttlnkIibH1fzMvdbHsPhg=s0-d-e1-ft#https:\/\/gallery.mailchimp.com\/a33ba08d163385b4a77fabf6c\/_compresseds\/fc5df0a2-37e4-47fc-9400-2b72555aa2f7.jpg\")
The pair had been looking forward to competing once again in their home state at their home track. Bryce Ward has stood on all but one Diamond Masters class podium this year and continues to sit atop the championship standings heading into the COTA event \u2013 where he experienced his first-ever Pirelli GT3 Cup Trophy USA race just last year.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur thoughts are with all of those affected by the hurricane and wish them a speedy recovery,\u201d said Bryce Ward. \u201cCOTA is a wonderful track and is the track where I had my first race event ever (in the Pirelli GT3 Cup Trophy USA) and where I had my first ever podium so there are lots of fond memories there. I want to thank the Pirelli GT3 Cup Trophy organizers for all the improvements they have\u00a0made to the series and I wish everyone safe travels to Texas.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the Platinum category, it\u2019s the familiar name of Ray Shahi who leads the championship. The TruSpeed Autosport driver of the No. 65 Sterling Collision Porsche has been at the top of the charts in almost every single race this year.\u00a0![](\"https:\/\/ci3.googleusercontent.com\/proxy\/FArRn4_5kRnxzxh8A6lYbIl8UKGARvVIkVUW0YQwt3iHFsn-65ieuaGTkhEgzCDcx0l5etWh8YRBAdHkZAQoAlPAyvbmHns3t3ljT2VzIwcuhk9GMYqP6dus1tUiFhHx0WE5VKHDU8GKmKBfecRox-TxeoMe0eeUWp3bu1CHQUr7YFs=s0-d-e1-ft#https:\/\/gallery.mailchimp.com\/a33ba08d163385b4a77fabf6c\/_compresseds\/1ca3c2d1-8f6d-4a9a-9953-fe7dc6cfd426.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
The Silver class has seen a battle between Jeff Kearl (No. 26 Rearden Racing Porsche) and Sean McAlister (No. 00 Competition Motorsports Porsche) all season long, but it\u2019s Kearl that leads the way with his seven wins to McAlister\u2019s two wins.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s also been a familiar sight at the top of the Silver Masters leaderboard with Steve Goldman (No. 1 Competition Motorsports Porsche) leading Martin Brauns\u00a0in the championship. Goldman has won eight races this year while Brauns has scored victory twice.<\/p>\n
Round 6 will kick off at COTA\u00a0on Friday<\/span><\/span>\u00a0with three practice sessions followed by two full race days\u00a0on Saturday<\/span><\/span>\u00a0and\u00a0Sunday<\/span><\/span>.<\/p>\n COTA SCHEDULE<\/strong><\/p>\n Friday, September 1<\/span><\/span><\/strong> Saturday<\/span><\/span>,\u00a0September 2<\/span><\/span><\/strong> Sunday<\/span><\/span>,\u00a0September 3<\/span><\/span><\/strong> Austin, Texas (29 August 2017) \u2013 The Pirelli GT3 Cup Trophy USA enters its final stretch of races this weekend with the first of the final [\u2026]<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":705,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-704","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/704","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=704"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/704\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":706,"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/704\/revisions\/706"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/705"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=704"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=704"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=704"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n8:00 AM \u2013 8:30 AM<\/span><\/span>\u00a0Practice 1
\n10:00 AM \u2013 10:30 AM<\/span><\/span>\u00a0Drivers Meeting (Series Trailer)
\n1:15 PM \u2013 1:45 PM<\/span><\/span>\u00a0Practice 2
\n5:45 PM \u2013 6:05 PM<\/span><\/span>\u00a0Practice 3<\/p>\n
\n8:10 AM \u2013 8:35 AM<\/span><\/span>\u00a0Practice
\n8:50 AM \u2013 9:05 AM<\/span><\/span>\u00a0GT3 Qualifying
\n9:05 AM \u2013 9:20 AM<\/span><\/span>\u00a0GT4 Qualifying
\n1:00 PM \u2013 1:30 PM<\/span><\/span>\u00a0Drivers Meeting (Series Trailer)
\n2:50 PM \u2013 3:25 PM<\/span><\/span>\u00a0Race 11<\/p>\n
\n8:00 AM \u2013 8:20 AM<\/span><\/span>\u00a0Practice
\n9:10 AM \u2013 9:25 AM<\/span><\/span>\u00a0GT3 Qualifying
\n9:25 AM \u2013 9:40 AM<\/span><\/span>\u00a0GT4 Qualifying
\n12:00 PM \u2013 12:30 PM<\/span><\/span>\u00a0Drivers Meeting (Series Trailer)
\n1:45 PM \u2013 2:20 PM<\/span><\/span>\u00a0Race 12<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"