Kevin Estre takes first Detroit Pirelli World Challenge race by 10 seconds

Kevin Estre absolutely dominated the Cadillac V-Series Challenge at the Belle Isle Grand Prix in Detroit, the first of two Pirelli World Challenge races for the GT and GTA classes.

Estre, driving the K-Pax McLaren 650S GT3, finished nearly 10 seconds ahead of second place, veteran Olivier Beretta in the R. Ferri GT3 Italia. Third was Chris Dyson in the Team Bentley Dyson Racing Bentley Continental GT3.

Fourth was defending race champion Johnny O’Connell in the Cadillac Racing ATS-V.R GT3. J.D. Davison, in the AE Replay Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3, hung on for fifth after running as high as third before he received some front end damage, and spent the last half of the race shedding bits and pieces of body parts.

Finishing last at 24th was O’Connell’s Cadillac teammate, Andy Pilgrim, with mechanical problems, as his season from hell continues.

GTA winner

In the GTA class, Henrrique Cisneros outran the field in his NGT Ferrari 458 Italia GT3, leaving the battle behind. Bret Curtis was second in his Turner Motorsport BMW Z4 GT3, with Christina Nielsen finishing a bumper back in her TRG-AMR Aston Martin Vantage GT3.

Nielsen, who is scheduled to run the TUDOR SportsCar Championship race shortly in another Aston Martin, was taken to the medical center after the race suffering from dehydration. It’s warm and muggy in Detroit, with the threat of rain this afternoon.

Round two of the Cadillac V-Series Challenge, which is round 11 for the Pirelli World Challenge, runs Sunday at 12:10 p.m.