Trent Hindman and Shelby Blackstock win both rounds of a doubleheader weekend
Extends Acura NSX GT3 Evo win streak to three in a row in GT World Challenge America
Racers Edge Acura NSX GT3 Evo takes lead on opening laps in both victories
The Racers Edge Motorsports Acura NSX GT3 Evo continued its recent dominance of the SRO Motorsport World Challenge GT America series, as the Silver Class, driver pairing of Trent Hindman and Shelby Blackstock again were the overall winners in both Saturday's and Sunday's races at Road America.
Unlike the most recent Sonoma Raceway weekend – when the Acura duo won pole positions for both races – at Road America, the Racers Edge Acura NSX started both events from the outside of the front row. But in each race, the twin-turbo NSX would claim the lead before the opening laps were half-over and would remain in command for the remainder of the 45-minute runs.
Blackstock chased pole qualifier Indy Dontje to the starting line for Saturday's race and needed just three turns to wrest the lead from the Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 driver. When a pair Pro/Am cars crashed behind them, leading to a full-course caution, Blackstock made the move stick on the ensuing restart and held serve for the remainder of his stint. Smoothly executing the mid-race pit stop and driver change while holding a 15-second advantage, co-driver Hindman then widened it to nearly 40 seconds while romping to the win.
Sunday's race followed a similar script, although this time it was starting driver Hindman out dragging rival and pole qualifier Ryan Dalziel down the long Road America startline straight and into the opening turn. This time Hindman handed Blackstock a 12.5-second lead at the pit stop and driver change, and Blackstock extended it to 21 seconds at the finish.
The win was the fifth of the season for the #93 Acura and the third in a row for Blackstock and Hindman dating back to Sonoma. The victory allowed the team to extend its lead in the Silver Class championship after eight races.
The Racer's Edge team played one car short for the second straight weekend, as the defending series Pro/Am champion #80 Acura NSX GT3 Evo driven by Martin Barkey and Kyle Marcelli was again unable to compete at Road America, due to complications with travel restrictions for the Canadian pair, brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The wins this weekend are the fifth and sixth through eight GT World Challenge races for the Acura NSX GT3 Evo, which won team championships in both IMSA GTD and the SRO GT World Challenge series in 2019. The car, sold and supported by HPD in North America, runs in both Sprint and Endurance racing competition around the world.
The SRO Motorsports GT World Challenge America teams will next head to Texas for the penultimate race weekend of the 2020 season, rounds 9 and 10 of the championship, September 17-20 at the Circuit of the Americas near Austin.
Shelby Blackstock (Racers Edge Motorsports Acura NSX GT3 Evo) started 2nd, finished 1st both Saturday and Sunday: "It's always really important in any race to get to the front and really take command of the race. Then you can gauge your pace from there instead of playing follow the leader," said Blackstock of Saturday's win.
Trent Hindman (Racers Edge Motorsports Acura NSX GT3 Evo) started 2nd, finished 1st both Saturday and Sunday: "Shelby had one heck of a start and a really good move around Dontje, in turn, three, was all about execution today." [on Sunday's race] "I definitely took advantage of the bottom end torque that this Acura NSX GT3 has. The big thing was just watching when the green flag came out. I saw the starter's hand move a little bit quicker I think and just rolled the throttle from there."
