Atte Kauppinen and Alexander Spetz secured overall victory in the No. 31 Acura ARX-06 at the Kinetic 240 on 27 September, finishing 1.124 seconds ahead of the No. 8 Grid-and-Go Aston Martin Valkyrie shared by Jake Denehan and Sean Campbell.
The two-hour-and-40-minute race began with a difficult tyre choice. Qualifying had taken place in wet conditions, but the rain stopped before the start, leaving the 52-car field to weigh immediate grip against the benefits of starting on slicks.
Most teams chose wet tyres. Those that committed to slicks initially lost substantial time, but moved into contention as the racing line dried and their rivals stopped to change compounds.
Kauppinen survives late pressure through traffic
The No. 33 Verstappen Sim Racing BMW M Hybrid V8 was among the slick starters, with Sam Kuitert briefly taking the GTP lead during the crossover.
Bleu Mercure’s winning Acura followed the wet-to-dry approach. Spetz handled the opening stint before Kauppinen took over, with the No. 31 emerging ahead after the final stops.
Denehan closed rapidly in the closing laps as GTD traffic complicated Kauppinen’s defence. The gap narrowed to around a second entering the final lap, but the Acura remained ahead to the flag.
“The last few laps was complete chaos,” Kauppinen said. “I just tried to survive.”
Kuitert and Luke McKeown completed the GTP podium in the No. 33 BMW. Bleu Mercure’s No. 32 Acura finished fourth, followed by the No. 62 SOELPEC Precision Racing Aston Martin of Markus Søholm and Robin Schwanke.
Several leading entries lost ground during the transition to slicks. Dayne Warren crashed the No. 91 Porsche Coanda entry, while Enzo Bonito’s No. 1 BMW M Verstappen Sim Racing car also encountered trouble early. They were classified 18th and 19th respectively.
The pole-sitting No. 92 Vesta Sport Porsche of Niklas Beu and Przemyslaw Marek Lemanek finished 16th after a late crash.
Risi’s slick gamble pays off in GTD
Nicolas Mateo faced an uncomfortable opening stint in the No. 107 Ferrari 296 GT3. Starting on slicks left him struggling for grip while cars on wet tyres passed, and he said the deficit reached around 50 seconds before conditions began to favour his strategy.
That recovery put Mateo and Daniel Pásztor into the fight with the No. 161 VØRAX Mercedes-AMG of Beckham Jacir and Manuel Troncoso. Risi stayed out longer before its final stop, a decision that helped Pásztor take the lead and secure victory by 2.012 seconds.
“It just feels surreal to me,” Pásztor said.
Dáire McCormack and Jerome Fischer finished third in the pole-sitting No. 114 EMM Esports Corvette.
Bleu Mercure leaves Road Atlanta with a 37-point GTP championship lead over Grid-and-Go. Risi leads GTD by 39 points from EMM Esports, whose qualifying score puts it one point ahead of race runner-up VØRAX.
The five-round championship continues at Sebring International Raceway on 11 October.
