GT3 Cup: Series Road Atlanta race report

BOB FAIETA AND BRIAN WONG SWEEP PETIT LEMANS WEEKEND AT ROAD ATLANTA

BRASELTON, Ga. September 25-- Bob Faieta sat on pole and led every lap at Road Atlanta in the Patron GT3 Challenge by Yokohama. Following in Faieta's path was Gold Cup racer Brian Wong, who won his seventh consecutive race.

Faieta came into Road Atlanta with a lead in the championship over Martin Snow. Snow didn't let Faieta out of his sights the entire weekend, finishing second in both races.

"Bob was fast and I don't think I had a chance to catch him," Snow said. "We got close and stayed close. We'd go back and forth, but I didn't quite have it to beat him today."

Bill Sweedler finished third in Thursday's round 11, followed by Mitch Pagerey and Galen Bieker. Pagerey turned a faster lap time than Sweedler in that race, giving him the third starting position for Friday's round 12. Pagerey finished third in round 12.

Melanie Snow was the quickest qualifier in the Gold Cup, the class for 2005-2007 Porsche 911 GT3 Cup cars. She led much of the first race before being passed by Bieker, a Platinum Cup car. That pass allowed Wong to close up on Snow.

"We were battling with the Platinum cars, and I could see Melanie up there. It was a long race, so I bided my time," Wong explained. "When she got ahead of me, I knew I'd probably get only one chance to pass her. I got close enough to her to pass, and I knew I had to take advantage of that."

Wong set the fast time of the race pursuing Snow, which gave him the pole position for round 12. Wong started first and never relinquished the lead although Snow did all she could to try to get by him. That battled allowed Ben McCrackin and Jay Policastro to sneak by finishing second and third in round 12.

Snow finished sixth in class, allowing Wong to close up on her in the championship battle that will end in two weeks at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca with a 75-minute race.

-credit: imsa