Drake Kemper of Copeland Motorsports earned the Continental Tire Pole Award earlier in the day and led the field to green to start Race One at Circuit of the Americas. As the field fanned out and made their way up the hill and into turn one, Kemper and the No. 99 Twitch machine took control of the race for the first three laps. After starting in eighth, Gresham Wagner piloted his No. 5 TechSport Racing machine to the front and looked to take over the top spot early in the race. Wagner was able to overtake Kemper on Lap 4 and didn’t look back as he led the next 15 laps of the race and took the checkered flag to claim his first GR Cup Series win of the year.
Podium
Wagner (first place) and Will Rodgers of Godwin Motorsports (third place) each earned their second podium awards of the season while Gonzalez (second place) continues his hot streak and secured his third straight podium of the year.
Race Awards
Wagner paced the field throughout the race and earned the Fastest Lap award, clocking a lap time of 2:28.993 on Lap 10. The 45-minute event saw a number of movers throughout the field as Gonzalez gained 27 positions from the start of the race, earning the Hard Charger award. Mia Lovell of Smooge Racing claimed the Highest Finishing Female honors, claiming her first award of the season.
What’s Next
The GR Cup Series will have a quick turnaround as qualifying for race two kicks off at 8:00 a.m. CT on Sunday, May 21 while the green flag drops at 12:15 p.m. CT. An autograph session will be held in the media center prior to the race at 10:30 a.m. CT.
You can catch all the action tomorrow live on either grcup.com or the GT World YouTube page.
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