Mercedes-AMG Motorsport Customer Racing Teams Secure Three Class Victories and 11 Podium Finishes in Successful Weekend of SRO America Championships Competition at Circuit of The Americas

Mercedes-AMG Motorsport Customer Racing Teams Secure Three Class Victories and 11 Podium Finishes in Successful Weekend of SRO America Championships Competition at Circuit of The Americas

AUSTIN, Texas – Mercedes-AMG Motorsport Customer Racing teams secured three race wins with a total of 11 podium finishes across three SRO America Championships racing series, during a successful weekend of competition at Circuit of The Americas (COTA). George Kurtz and Colin Braun co-drove the No. 04 DXDT Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 to a Fanatec GT World Challenge America powered by AWS Pro-Am class victory on Sunday. Mercedes-AMG GT4 teams RENNtech Motorsports and Murillo Racing split Saturday and Sunday GT4 class wins respectively, in GT America powered by AWS and Pirelli GT4 America SprintX series competition.
 
The Sunday victory by Kurtz and Braun was the second of the 2021 season for the No. 04 teammates. Later on Sunday, Kurtz solo drove a second DXDT Mercedes-AMG GT3 to a third-place class finish in the weekend-ending GT America race.
 
The pair of podium showings by DXDT was matched by Pro-class competitors Winward Racing with an overall podium result in each of the weekend’s 90-minute GT World Challenge races.

Debuting RENNtech and SRO driver Chris Ragnazzi also got in on the podium action. Ragnazzi joined Chouest in GT America victory lane Saturday after a third place GT4 class finish in his No. 39 RENNtech Mercedes-AMG GT3.
 
The weekend’s other race winner was the No. 72 Murillo Racing Mercedes-AMG GT4 of Christian Szymczak and Kenny Murillo, which charged from 16th on the grid of Sunday’s Pirelli GT4 America race to the Silver class victory and second-place overall finish. The win was the second of the season for the No. 72 team and drivers following a Silver-class win at Sonoma Raceway in March.
 
Capstone Motorsports and co-drivers John Allen and Kris Wilson maintained their podium momentum at COTA with a second place Am-class finish in the wet on Saturday in the No. 16 Capstone Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT4. The No. 16 team and drivers also secured a pair of podium finishes at the Sonoma opener.

Next up for Mercedes-AMG Motorsport Customer Racing teams in SRO America Championships competition is the third event of the 2021 season at VIRginia International Raceway (VIR) June 4 – 6.

Ross Chouest, Driver – No. 89 RENNtech Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT4: “RENNtech and Mercedes-AMG gave us a great car to work with. It was really competitive out there. My co-driver and coach Aaron Povoledo did an awesome job. He was quickest on track and put in an amazing drive all weekend. We have really great chemistry on the team, and everything went really well. It was a bit of a rollercoaster with lots of ups and downs, but we had four podiums including one win, so we will take that.”

Christian Szymczak, Driver – No. 72 Murillo Racing Mercedes-AMG GT4: “We’re super happy. We didn’t think we could do this well starting where we did down in 16th, so we were lucky. I just kind of survived and felt like I did my job and gave the car to Kenny and he did a fantastic job. We’re super happy to be in contention. The Mercedes-AMG GT4 was fantastic. It sticks to the ground really well. It stays under you for the whole race distance, which is the great thing about it. It handles the fast sweepers really well.”
 
Kris Wilson, Driver – No. 16 Capstone Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT4: “Second is always good. It’s not P1, but it’s next best, I guess. We were here last weekend on track, so we got some setup work done, and had a good head start into the weekend. The weather conditions were intermittent through Saturday, so you didn’t know if you needed to have a dry or wet setup or what was going to happen during the session. We were, if not the quickest, one of the quickest when it was full wet. It was working great in full wet, and the electronics worked really well on the Mercedes-AMG GT4.”