After securing his third consecutive Continental Tire Pole Award, Gresham Wagner led the field to green as they made the 133 ft. climb up into Turn 1 with the field fanning out three and four wide behind him. Before the field could get back around to the start/finish line on lap one, the safety car was deployed for a full course yellow after an incident between the No. 44 of Aidan Yoder and No. 34 Braydon Arthur.
The caution lasted 13 minutes before drivers roared their GR86 Cup cars back to life with just over 30 minutes remaining on the clock. Jaxon Bell went for a crossover move on Wagner after the restart as they made their way through Turn 1 but was unable to complete the pass for the lead. With just over 23 minutes remaining, Westin Workman was able to get by Bell for second and had his sights set on chasing down Wagner.
Just behind the top 3, a three-way battle for fourth ensued between Lucas Weisenberg, Spike Kohlbecker, and Jordan RickSegrini. The three drivers were separated by less than a second for the final 20 minutes of the race as they swapped positions on the track. As they battled for position, Workman was cutting into his lead on Wagner and was able to pull within a second, setting the fastest lap of the race while doing so.
The 45-minute clock expired as Wagner held on for his fifth consecutive win of the season, followed by Workman, Bell, Weisenberg, and Kohlbecker rounding out the top-five finishers.
Podium
Wagner secured his eighth overall GR Cup victory and first at Circuit of the Americas. Workman continues his strong run this season, tallying his fifth straight podium honors and sixth overall. Coming in third, Bell notched his third consecutive podium finish.
Race Awards
Workman clocked the fastest lap of the race on Lap 15 with a time 2:29.24. Driving the No. 24 for Nitro Motorsports, Jade Avedisian earned her first career Endava Highest Finishing Female honors with a 12th place finish. After starting in 25th, Alex Garcia was able to climb 15 spots on the board to claim a top-10 finish and the Hard Charger Award.
What’s Next
Drivers and teams will have the evening to regroup before hitting the track at 9:15 AM ET on Sunday for Race 2 qualifying. The GR Cup Series will wrap up the weekend with Race 2 scheduled to go green at 12:35 PM ET, live on grcup.com or the GT World YouTube channel.
Connect with us!
Stay up to date with all the latest GR Cup Series news online at grcupseries.com, by liking us on Facebook (officialgrcup) and following along on Instagram (@officialgrcup).