RealTime Racing Acura NSX GT3 Evo Earns Pair of Sonoma Podiums
• Kyle Marcelli, Martin Barkey continue to lead series point standings after 8 races
• Till Bechtolsheimer pairs with Marc Miller for pair of top-five finishes
• RealTime Racing Acura wins Saturday, uses last-lap pass to place second on Sunday
SONOMA, Calif. (June 9, 2019) – For the fourth consecutive SRO Blancpain GT World Challenge America weekend, an Acura NSX GT3 Evo found its way to Victory Lane in the ProAm class, as Dane Cameron and Mike Hedlund stormed to a win in Saturday’s GT event at Sonoma Raceway.
The RealTime Racing Acura fielded its third different driver pairing in as many weekends this season as local hot shoe Hedlund joined Cameron for the first time this year, but the team didn’t miss a beat en route to its second win of the year. Hedlund put the Acura NSX GT3 Evo on pole for Saturday’s race and combined with Cameron to beat the field to the checkered flag.
The RealTime squad followed its Round 7 win with another strong performance on Sunday, earning a podium berth with a second-place run. The #43 Acura ran up front for the entire 90-minute race, surviving mid-race contact with a Ferrari 488 and securing second with a daring last-lap pass on Anthony Imperato’s Porsche 911.
The Racer’s Edge Motorsports Acura of Kyle Marcelli and Martin Barkey rebounded from a rocky Saturday that saw the team complete only three trips around the 2.52-mile Sonoma layout with a fourth-place finish in Sunday’s eighth round.
The top-four result came after a disappointing Saturday that saw the team retire when contact left the #80 Acura GT3 Evo with a broken radiator. The bounce-back performance did allow the Barkey/Marcelli pairing to maintain its hold on the Pro/Am points lead after eight of the year’s 14 races.
The Gradient Racing Acura NSX GT3 of Till Bectholsheimer and Marc Miller scored a pair of top-five results over the weekend, starting with a fifth-place finish on Saturday. The #80 machine did that one better in Sunday’s race, finishing just 0.36 seconds off the podium in fourth place, nearly wresting a third-place finish after a restart with three laps to go bunched the field.
Next
The SRO Blancpain GT World Challenge America series does not compete again until August 30 and September 1, visiting Watkins Glen International, for rounds 9 and 10 of the 14-race season.
Social media content and video links from this weekend’s activities at Sonoma Raceway are available on Facebook at (https://www.facebook.com/HondaRacingHPD) and on Twitter at (https://twitter.com/HondaRacing_HPD).
Quotes
Mike Hedlund (#43 RealTime Racing Acura NSX GT3 Evo) ran in the RealTime Acura for the first time in 2019: “The balance of the car was really nice. The track grip was slow, but it was like that for everyone so you just save the tires for the last 15 minutes of the race and you can fight.”
Dane Cameron (#43 RealTime Racing Acura NSX GT3 Evo): “Great to get another win here. Thanks to RealTime, HPD and Acura for a great car. Mike (Hedlund) did a phenomenal job this weekend, we were lucky to have him. He has about a million miles around (Sonoma) in all kinds of GT3 cars and he did a great job.”