Racers Edge Acura NSX GT3 Evo moves to third in season standings after four rounds
Trent Hindman and Shelby Blackstock topped qualifying for both weekend races

ALTON, Va (July 12, 2020) – The Racers Edge Motorsports duo of Martin Barkey and Kyle Marcelli, the 2019 SRO Motorsports GT World Challenge Pro/Am champions, had four months to think about a tough opening weekend at the Circuit of the Americas in March prior to this weekend’s resumption of racing at Virginia International Raceway.

The time off worked in the team’s favor as the #80 Acura NSX GT3 Evo returned to the sharp end of the grid as Barkey and Marcelli combined for a win and a second-place finish in Rounds 3 and 4 of the 2020 GT campaign this weekend in Virginia.

Meanwhile, the Silver Class pairing of Trent Hindman and Shelby Blackstock continued their strong 2020 season. After a start in March that saw the pair put their #93 Acura NSX GT3 Evo in Victory Lane in each of the first two opening rounds, Hindman and Blackstock added a P2 podium in Saturday’s VIR opening race of a doubleheader GT weekend.

Blackstock started the #93 NSX GT3 Evo from pole Saturday, and ran out to a lead of more than six seconds after 20 laps, while Barkey’s #80 machine was fighting its way into the top three after starting sixth. The team’s strategy of waiting longer than the rest of the field to make its driver change was paying dividends until a Lap 21 caution flag not only erased the advantage, but dropped the team behind those that had already made their driver swaps.

Marcelli, who had taken over from Barkey, restarted second and made quick work of the lead car, taking a lead he would not relinquish. Trent Hindman needed just three trips around the 17-turn 3.27-mile course to move into second, where he would finish 18 laps later.

Sunday’s race followed suit for the #93 NSX as Hindman opened up an early lead, after starting from the pole position for the second consecutive day, only to see it negated by a Pit Lane speed violation during the team’s driver change.

The resulting penalty promoted put Barkey into P2 amid a three-way tussle for the position.

A caution flew on Lap 42, setting up a seven-lap sprint to the checkered flag. Barkey restarted second and hounded the lead car all the way to the flag, finishing second by just .226 seconds. Hindman and Blackstock suffered a mechanical setback in the latter stages of the race and finished seventh overall, but had some consolation in running the race’s fastest lap.

The wins this weekend are the third in four GT World Challenge races for the Acura NSX GT3 Evo, which won team championships in both IMSA GTD and the SRO GT World Challenge series in 2019. The car, sold and supported by HPD in North America, runs in both Sprint and Endurance racing competition around the world.

Next
The GT World Challenge Series will traverse the country after running in Virginia, as the series’ next competition will take place at Sonoma (Calif.) Raceway August 7 – 9 where Rounds 5 and 6 will be contested.

Acura Motorsports social media content and video links from Virginia International Raceway are available on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/HondaRacingHPD) and Twitter (https://twitter.com/HondaRacing_HPD).  Produced by the CoForce Digital Media, the YouTube videos can be found at: https://www.youtube.com/HondaRacingHPDTV.  

Quotes
Martin Barkey (#80 Racers Edge Motorsports Acura NSX GT3 Evo) finished first overall Saturday, second Sunday: “We had better pace at COTA [prior race] than the results there really showed This is a great turnaround for us here. I have to tip my hat to the Racers Edge crew and of course the Acura. It’s such a great car to drive.”

Shelby Blackstock (#93 Acura Accelerated Service NSX GT3 Evo) finished second overall Saturday, seventh Sunday: “We had really good pace here, and it showed in qualifying P1 and in our race lap times. Unfortunately, the results didn’t reflect that, but happy that we showed that we can run with anyone in the class. Eager to get to Sonoma and challenge for the podium there. Thanks to the Racers Edge team and HPD for all the hard work this weekend!”