Since the last round however, we have also had it confirmed from multiple sources that the #12 Corsa Horizon crew of Manny Franco and Josh Hurley will not be competing again within the series this season for what has been described as a personal preference from the teams customer racer.

That is a great shame considering just how far they had come since their audition within the series at no other venues than Daytona having never raced that car before!!

Last time out at Lime Rock, the sole Aston Martin of Brynjolfsson and Hindman brought home their car for another podium finish in second overall to extend their overall GS Champiosnhip lead from the Mercedes of Eric Foss and Christian Szymczak after they endured another lowly points finish there.

There two hours race will start of Saturday at 14:15hrs local

Again competing for another of its renowned two-hour races, the Tioga Downs Casino Resort 120 will host the other two usual AMR incumbents with the #09 Stoner Car Care AMR of Ramin Abdolvahabi and Rob Ecklin still looking for a little bit of luck within their Bronze Cup class that would otherwise elevate them somewhat up the overall finishing order rather than just in class.

They too will of course be joined again by the new for 2022 Corsa Horizon AMR Vantage GT4 of what is listed still to be Manny Franco and Josh Hurley, but we understand from social media that Pat Gallagher will be deputising for Franco at this event.

Since their tentative steps within the series at all places than at the opening round of the series from Daytona in January, the #12 crew have enjoyed progressive steps forward to sit P22 in the GS Championship going into this round.

Free Practice begins on Thursday with another Free Practice and Qualifying on Friday before the green flag to their two-hour race being shown at 15:45pm local on Saturday.

Photo credits – Teams

Last time out at Laguna Seca, the #7 Volt Racing AMR of Alan Brynjolfsson and Trent Hindman lucked in with the periods of caution to come out in front by the end of the pit stop cycle to come home triumphant overall winners for the first time this season to now lead the GS class.

The #12 Corsa Horizon AMR of Manny Franco and Josh Hurley also had their best Qualifying of the season to date last time out to start from the third row of the grid, although did miss out on the fortunes that Volt Racing enjoyed by pitting early for fuel. That move followed the action of others meaning that the best that they could do by the end was a P12 finish.

The #09 Stoner Car Care AMR rounds off the trio as drivers Rob Ecklin and Ramin Abdolvahabi continue within their Bronze Cup GS sub-class that runs for the first time this season. They too got caught up again in the mistakes of others that compromised their race at Laguna Seca as early as the first corner when their Vantage GT4 got turned around by a competitor.

Still no sign of a return for the Automatic Racing prepared AMR of Paul Kiebler after his initial two opening rounds at both Daytona and Sebring, before declaring a full season intention to then not race at either Laguna Seca or Mid-Ohio.

Whatever happens, we know that this will be another great race.

Photo credits – Teams

Unfortunately for the #09 car, their race would go ‘south’ as early as the first corner when their sveltely liveried car was turned around by others and into the dusty infield at turn one. Abdolvahabi would recover but he would run for most of his opening forty-minute stint towards the back of the pack such was the time lost.

Also dropping back at the start was the #12 car of Franco, losing a couple of places to lead Brynjolfsson around the opening laps but with the race leader (Kenton Koch) steaming off into the distance, an unseen event for the #7 car would drop them down to P11just ahead of the first, and inevitable Safety car.

Whilst recovering the stricken Toyota, the pit lane was then opened for GS runners with the then highest placed Aston (#12) taking the opportunity to take fuel which both the Volt and Stoner cars decided against taking track position over an early and maybe not sufficient splash.

Another stranded car twenty minutes before the hour mark saw another Safety Car and that allowed many to pit for a driver change as their forty-minute minimum drive time had now been served. Brynjolfsson stayed out and assumed second in the race overall before pitting just a few minutes before the hour as another car became beached in one of the many gravel traps.

Cycling through the remaining TCR class pit stops following the Safety Car, the #7 car of Hindman now assumed the lead overall but the question would be one of fuel endurance for them to the end and that problem was helped no end as a tangling Porsche and Mustang sent the Ford heavily into the wall for another extended Safety Car period.

Losing eleven minutes of race time to that as well as another five for yet more stranded cars with just fifteen minutes remaining was enough to give the #7 car the capacity, they needed to see out the race to claim their first win of the season from the RS1 Porsche of Stevan McAleer and Alex Premat.

The #12 Corsa Horizon car would finish the race a disappointing P12 after they lost time in mid field battles during the multiple restarts with the #09 Stoner car completing the trio of AMR finishes down in P25 in GS and P4 in their Bronze Cup. Their performance was obviously mainly due to the time lost at the opening corner followed by vibration issues and losing out with one on the Safety cars just a lap after their stop to miss out getting back on to the lead lap.

The series now moves onto Mid-Ohio in just two weeks’ time.

Photo credits – IMSA / Teams

Now all confirmed as full season entries, the #12 Corsa Horizon AMR of Manny Franco and Josh Hurley have come away with their best Qualifying session of the season so far to head the AMR trio into this evening’s race.

Clocking a time of 1:32:030 was enough for Franco to pip the more established #7 Volt Racing car of Alan Brynjolfsson to claim P6 overall in the GS class, ahead that of 1:31:258 and P10 for the bright yellow Volt car that Brynjolfsson will share with Trent Hindman.

The #09 Stoner Car Care AMR of Ramin Abdolvahabi and Rob Ecklin ended Qualifying in P32 overall, P25 in the GS class and P4 in their own GS sub class.

Pole position went to the #56 Murillo Racing Mercedes AMG GT4 and Eric Foss and a certain Kenton Koch (from Bsport Racing GT4 America fame) after some dominating running from the two Murillo cars over the day to snatch pole from the so far series dominating RS1 Porsche of Stevan McAleer and Alex Premat.

The race is scheduled to begin at 16:00hrs local.

That was matched by the #09 Stoner Car Care AMR Vantage GT4 entry of Rob Ecklin and Ramin Abdolvahabi who secured their first podium of the year in second within the new for 2022 Bronze Cup class.

After their untimely retirement during the opening round of the season at Daytona, Sebring saw a much stronger performance from the series debutants from the NTE Racing team for drivers Manny Franko and Josh Hurley although the Automatic Racing Bronze Cup GT4 entry for Paul Kiebler and Jon Branam did end their day early again after unnecessary contact in the opening laps.

This weekend’s events in California again sees a combined grid size of forty-one cars being listed – twenty-eight in GS and thirteen TCR based cars with just three Aston Martins taking part this time around.

Volt Racing, Stoner Car Care and NTE Sport prepared Corsa Horizon cars are again all listed with their existing drivers but there is no #27 Automatic Racing entry for Kiebler/Branam despite previous reports of them also confirming a full season commitment prior to Sebring.

For this series, track action again begins this Friday with two Free Practice sessions before Qualifying and their customary two-hour race on Saturday, with the race starting at 19:00hrs local.

Photo credits – Teams / MPC

The #7 Volt Racing car of Alan Brynjolfsson and Trent Hindman was at the front of the pack after Qualifying, starting from P5 whilst the #12 NTE Sport prepared car of Manni Franco and Josh Hurley who both had a much better run this time around to claim P9 at the start. The two Bronze Cup runners from the Automatic Racing team had Ramin Abdolvahabi and Rob Ecklin claim P18 overall / P2 in class over the #27 car of Paul Kiebler and Jon Branam who would start from P25/P4 in class in only their second IMSA sanctioned race together.

Indeed, we would later learn that the #27 crew have now committed to a full season of the Series as did the NTE Sport team crew did after Daytona.

With the Porsche 718 GT4 having been slowed by means of an increased base weight and smaller fuel capacity, the chances of them being able to stretch an unassailable lead would be reduced – that it did and made for another cracking race in-between the multiple periods of full course caution.

The first of those was unfortunately for the #27 car of Kiebler who tried to get past an Audi at the hairpin on only the second lap – that move resulted in contact between the two and broken front suspension and steering for the Aston.

Getting back to green, the #7 and the #12 cars were having great battles for position as both Brynjolfsson and Franco won some and then lost some (positions on grid) to effectively hold station to that of their start positions.

After thirty minutes of running, an incident between a Toyota GT4 and a TCR lead for another short period of caution which allowed many GS cars to pit for fuel/tyres (as permitted to do so) instead of maybe having to stop again later.

Back to racing but quickly a prolonged period of caution as a serious incident between another GT4 and TCR lead to another large debris field and tyre wall damage that needed to be repaired. At that point, only seven of the competed twenty race laps had been completed under green!

Fortunately, both drivers were able to walk away but the FCY did lose over thirty minutes on the race clock before getting back to green at which point the Am drivers minimum time had all been served and there was a mad rush for the pit lane.

The #12 NTE Sport car had already gambled on pitting early and only time would tell if Hurley could improve upon their present P12 position but for the final half hour of the race, more terrific battles within the GS class would prevail as racy looking Hindman counted off the cars lap after lap.

Another FCY close to the end for an Audi nosed dived into the tyre wall gave us a two-lap dash to the flag to complete the second round of the year, and with that one of the best final laps that you would care to watch as Hindman finally secured second overall at the chequered flag, claiming their first podium of the year.

Hurley also improved upon their position at the end in claiming P10 overall after their DNF at Daytona with Ecklin bringing home the #09 car P21 overall but importantly P2 in the Bronze Cup.

Photo credits - Teams

Stepping up to Daytona with a trio of drivers that didn’t actually race together at Daytona at the end, the team have confirmed that drivers Manny Franco and Josh Hurley will be their primary pairing moving onto the next round of the series at Sebring next month.

Running the former Beechdean AMR British GT GT4 Pro-Am Championship winning / former Fred Roberts GT4 America car, an oil leak probably caused by sustained riding of the kerbs at Daytona forced the car into early retirement at the halfway stage of the four-hour opening so with the next round around an equally punishing course of a former WW2 airbase, the team will be looking to preserve their car during that two-hour race.

They will join the other confirmed full season entries from both the Volt Racing and Stoner Car Care (Automatic) racing teams (maybe more) for the next round of the Michelin Pilot Challenge Series at the IMSA/WEC double header weekend in March. We await confirmation of the intention from the other Automatic Racing car entered at Daytona for the year!

Photo credits - Teams