Birmingham, Alabama. Jack Baldwin, of Marietta, Georgia, secured his fifth career Pirelli World Challenge win today in the in Round 4 of the series at Barber Motorsports Park by piloting his No. 73 RESET-MD/StopTech/Motul Porsche Cayman S to a 4.7-second GTS class win. This, coupled with Baldwin’s third-place finish in Saturday’s fourth round , puts him back in the point chase after being shut out earlier in the month at Long Beach as the result of an opening lap accident.
In the GT class, EFFORT Racing’s Tim Bergmeister (Germany) placed his No. 31 Porsche 911 GT3 R in seventh and ninth place respectively in the two races. His EFFORT teammate, Michael Mills, was 11th and 12th overall but finished on the GT Amateur (GT-A) class podium both days, taking third in GT-A Saturday and second today in the No. 41 EFFORT Racing Porsche.
“We are making good progress on setting up the 911 GT3 R for North America sprint races. We hope that I will soon progress to the top ten and Tim to the top five. With another two podiums in GT-A, we are on top of that point championship, and pleased about that. And Jack getting the pole and winning the GTS class? That’s great for him and Porsche,” said Mills.
Mills leads the GT-A class by 10 points after four rounds.
For Baldwin and his Georgia-based GTSport/Goldcrest Motorsports team, just to make it to Birmingham was tough as the car was heavily damaged during that incident in Long Beach. The Cayman S performed well on Friday, capturing the GTS class pole position, but then another race incident knocked Baldwin out of the lead during Saturday’s 50-minute event. After a week of reassembly after the car returned from California, the crew was up again all night crafting repairs for Sunday’s start.
Baldwin raced to third on Saturday for his second podium finish of the season.
“We had a great car and a winning car Saturday. But it was a tough battle between Nic Jönsson and I that ended with contact,” Baldwin said. “It meant another tough night for this crew putting the car back together, but I had all the faith in the world that this Goldcrest Motorsports crew could do it again and we’d have the No. 73 Porsche Cayman S ready in time for Sunday’s race.”
Baldwin started from pole today after setting the fastest lap in Saturday’s event, and won the sprint to the first turn leading the second and third place qualifiers. From there, Baldwin led flag to flag and was never challenged .
“This is for the crew. All the work to get us to this point,” said Baldwin. “Yesterday we had a rough race and there was more work to do last night. We changed the setup, and today’s car was a completely different car. I’m so proud to be able to do this for the team. It’s just fantastic. I want to say thanks to all the fans and everyone who rooted for us, and never gave up on us. I’ve been racing for a long time, but this one is up there.”
Baldwin has climbed back into third place in the GTS points, only three markers out of second and 16 points from first.
GT, GT-A and GTS teams and drivers now head to Detroit and the Cadillac V-Series Challenge at Belle Isle, part of the Chevrolet Detroit Belle Isle Grand Prix, May 30-June 1 for Rounds 5 and 6 of the Championships.
Rounds 4 and 5 from Barber Motorsports Park will air on NBC Sports Network, May 10th at 4pm Eastern
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