SEBRING, Fla., (September 25, 2023) – Wright Motorsports celebrated an exemplary race event at Sebring International Raceway last weekend, securing four victories in the Fanatec GT World Challenge America powered by AWS doubleheader. The Porsche customer racing team, with drivers Jan Heylen and Madison Snow in the No. 45 Porsche 911 GT3 R, and Adam Adelson and Elliott Skeer in the No. 120 Porsche dominated their respective classes putting on a clinic of race car preparation, pit stop execution, and driving to secure maximum points leaving the weekend. Heading into the season finale at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Wright Motorsports holds the points lead in the Pro-Am driver and team categories.
“This is the kind of result you strive for every weekend,” said Team Owner John Wright. “You can execute flawlessly and still not come out on top, but this weekend, it all came together. This group of men and women put in a lot of effort to bring us to this point, and they definitely earned these trophies this weekend. Our Porsches were expertly prepared to navigate the bumps of Sebring and fight the competition, and it certainly paid off.”
Snow kicked things off with a strong start, earning pole position for race one, with Adelson starting from third in class and ninth overall. While Snow continued to lead after the drop of the green flag, Adelson climbed to second place, reeling in class leader George Kurtz. Snow pitted from the lead, and Heylen took over, rejoining with the No. 45 continuing to run at the front. Skeer took over the driving duties from Adelson and joined the race in second place but took the lead when an equipment issue with a competitor led to a lengthy nine-second delay. From there, both Wright Motorsports Porsches sailed to the checkered flag, maintaining their leads in their respective classes to claim top honors.
Highly motivated by the dominating wins the previous day, both Jan Heylen and Elliott Skeer were amped up to attempt a repeat. Heylen started from pole in the Pro class and second overall, with Skeer back in fourth in the Pro-Am class and sixth overall. Skeer turned heads at the drop of the green flag as he drove three-wide on the outside of turn one to jump from sixth overall to third by the first turn. By lap two, he passed Heylen to run second overall and in the Pro-Am class behind Ryan Dalziel. After starting last, the charging BMW of Neil Verhagen made it through the field to compete with the lead pack before the mandatory pit stop for all competitors at the halfway point. Samantha Tan took over for Verhagen, leading Adelson now in the No. 120 as Snow joined the race and continued the lead in the Pro class from fourth overall. The Wright Porsches worked together to reel in the leader, with the Pro entry of Snow eventually climbing to second place with Skeer taking second in Pro-Am and fourth overall. The overall and Pro-Am winning No. 38 entry of Verhagen and Tan failed post-race technical inspection for the second time in the weekend, advancing Wright Motorsports to the victory and a celebration of a perfectly executed quadruple-win race weekend.
The successful weekend moves Wright Motorsports back to the lead in the team Pro-Am points, with 209 to CrowdStrike by Riley’s 129. In the driver standings, Adam Adelson and Elliot Skeer hold 190 points to George Kurtz and Colin Braun’s 187.
In GT America, Adam Adelson returned to the podium once again with an exciting performance in race one. He started the first race from third place and with every lap fought for every inch, engaging in a nail-biting battle with George Kurtz in the No. 04 Mercedes. All smiles at the checkered flag, Adelson celebrated a third-place finish, his fourth in the series this year. He started race two from second place but had slight contact from another car. Though he was able to continue, the No. 120 Porsche lost precious ground on the start, racing side by side with motorsport veteran and points-leader Memo Gidley. In the end, Adelson earned another top-five finish. The GT America Powered by AWS and Fanatec GT World Challenge America championship will also conclude next month at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The final event will take place October 5-7 with the headlining Indy 8 Hour, an eight-hour endurance race event worth double points for the main series. The length of the event will result in each driver lineup adding one driver to their existing full-season driver lineups. Wright Motorsports will announce the No. 45’s Pro addition and the No. 120’s Pro-Am addition in the coming weeks.
DRIVER QUOTES
Jan Heylen // No. 45 Porsche 911 GT3 R
It was a really cool race weekend, made easier by Madison’s stints. I’m happy for the team and for Charlie Luck. It’s been a tough season. I’m really happy to have the car back on the podium and the top step. It was a perfect race weekend for the No. 45 with two overall wins! We deserved it after a tough year.
Madison Snow // No. 45 Porsche 911 GT3 R
What an amazing weekend! It couldn’t have gone much better and that’s due to all the hard work and planning the Wright team puts in to win. To win one race is hard enough but to do it in both classes is spectacular.
Adam Adelson // No. 120 Porsche 911 GT3 R
What an absolutely incredible weekend. For us in the 120 car, this was a do or die weekend. We started off the year incredibly strong, much stronger than we ever expected, but the last few race weekends proved extremely difficult for us and we weren’t able to bring home the points we needed. We lost the championship lead, and we had to beat the 04 car in both races this weekend to get ourselves back in the fight. With the hard work and perseverance of the Wright Motorsports team, we got the championship lead back, even only if it’s by a few points, and gave ourselves a fighting chance for the championship. I can’t express my love and gratitude for this team enough, they never stopped believing in our ability to get the job done which was huge for me. A huge congratulations is in order to the 45 car for sweeping the weekend as well, it’s amazing to have Wright sweep the entire GT World Challenge America race weekend in both classes. As much as I want to celebrate these accomplishments, we have almost no time until the Indianapolis 8 Hour, so it’s full focus on that.
Elliott Skeer // No. 120 Porsche 911 GT3 R
I cannot be more proud and happy for every single person at Wright Motorsports and what we achieved as a team this weekend with the double sweep. This is truly the ultimate goal for a team each weekend and to accomplish it is something special. The energy and morale of everyone post-race makes all the moments of strain and stress through the season worth it time and time again. Beyond Sebring, we are now looking at a square fight for the championship going into the Indy 8 Hour, and this momentum is a huge boost for our confidence in the fight we will bring as a team to accomplish the season-long goal.
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