Brass Monkey racing had a mixed bag of results this weekend for round one and two of the World Challenge 2010 series at St Petersburg. With both GT-R’s qualifying in the top 10 (7th and 9th) things were looking positive but just after race start the #96 GT-R of Steve Ott was hit by the #57 Porsche GT3 causing the GT-R to get airtime and break some suspension in the process. This put the #96 car out of action but Rivera in the other #97 GT-R was able to bring home 72 points with a 7th place finish.

In race two the #96 GT-R again came into contact with a Porsche but was able to keep going. Later in the race he pitted in with a flat tire from the incident but was back out on the lead lap. It wasn’t to be however because further into the race he impacted a wall breaking a wheel cause by what may have been a bent rear arm from the initial Porsche incident. This forced him to pit and retire early. Again Rivera continued on strong to finish in 8th spot for 68 points. A total of 140 points for the weekend for Rivera and 88 for Steve Ott.

TV coverage of the first two rounds is upcoming on the 18th of April on VERSUS and will be available on the world-challengeTV website after that time. We should hopefully be able to post some video of the action at that time.

For a full race report click through the jump for the media release from World-Challenge.com. Next up is the Streets of Long Beach Race on 16th – 18th of April for round 3 for 2010.

Update: Information regarding Steve Ott’s race weekend updated. Thanks to Nissan NA.

Source: World Challenge Website
Source: 2009gtr.com – Brass Monkey GT-R Runs Over Porsche During World Challenge Race
Images: Copyright SCCA World Challenge

Crescentini Wins Sunday World Challenge in St. Pete

St. Petersburg, Fla. – Dino Crescentini, of Manhattan Beach, Calif., rocketed away from his second starting position and led all the way to take Sunday’s Acura Sports Car Challenge of St. Petersburg World Challenge Round Two GT class and overall win.

Dino Crescentini earned his third career World Challenge win this weekend in St. Petersburg.

Driving the No. 4 Centric Parts/Stoptech/GMG Porsche 911 GT3, Crescentini appeared to get away slow from the standing start, but had momentum to get past polesitter Randy Pobst’s No. 6 K-Pax Racing Volvo S60 as the field funneled into Turn One.

From there, it was smooth sailing for the Porsche driver, reversing his bad luck from Saturday”s race, in which his new Porsche developed an electrical problem and retired. Crescentini took his third-career World Challenge series victory by 0.848-second over teammate James Sofronas, of Newport Beach, Calif. He averaged 66.764 mph in the race slowed by a pair of caution periods and limited to 50 minutes.

“The start was really scary for me because the launch control wasn’t working and I had to do it manually,” Crescentini said. “I haven’t done that in a while. I had some luck on my side with Randy (Pobst, the pole sitter) slipping up and I took advantage of that. The car was so beautifully set up by the guys at GMG, as we saw in practice and qualifying. It seemed like every time I hit slower traffic, I was able to get by and whoever was behind me seemed to get held up, so I got really lucky.”

Sofronas started third in his No. 14 Global Motorsports Group Porsche 911 GT3 and ran behind Pobst and his teammate, Andy Pilgrim, in the opening stages of the race before Pobst pitted his car with overheating issues. On the race’s second restart to retrieve Patrick Lindsey’s crashed Porsche from Turn 12, Sofronas made his move by Pilgrim into second place, where he stayed for the remainder of the race.

“I made mental notes on where they dropped the flag yesterday for the restart,” Sofronas said. “It’s tough to pass here and you have to take advantage of every opportunity. Jason [Daskalos] laid back on the first restart, but he didn’t let me get a good run either. I changed my strategy on the second restart and things worked out better.”

Pilgrim, who finished second to Pobst on Saturday in his No. 8 K-Pax Racing Volvo S60, held the third position for the rest of the event.

“This is a great start,” Pilgrim said. “We knew the GMG guys were going to be strong, the Nissans are going to be good, Daskalos and Wittmer in the Vipers – there’s a lot of competition. I was hoping for two top-fives this weekend, I’m really thrilled with a second and a third.”

Jason Daskalos, of Albuquerque, N.M., finished fifth in his No. 5 Daskalos Developments Dodge Viper, followed by Canada’s Kuno Wittmer, in his No. 13 Dodge Motorsports Dodge Viper.

Rob Morgan (Porsche 911 GT3), Brian Kubinski (Chevrolet Corvette), Tony Rivera (Nissan GT-R), Jeff Courtney (Dodge Viper) and Tony Gaples (Chevrolet Corvette) completed the top 10.

Rivera earned the MTM Special Ops Move of the Race in the No. 97 Nissan/Brass Monkey Racing Nissan GT-R for his lap-26 pass on Courtney after following for several laps.

Sofronas’ pair of podium finishes place him atop the Championship standings after two rounds, with 210 points. Pilgrim is second, with 204, followed by Pobst (198), Crescentini (192) and Wittmer (155). Volvo leads the Manufacturers’ Championship, with 16 points, followed by Porsche (14), Dodge (four) and Chevrolet (one).

This weekend’s Acura Sports Car Challenge of St. Petersburg will air on Versus HD on Saturday, April 18 at 2 p.m. EDT.

The World Challenge Championships return to the track for round three of 12 at the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach, April 16-18.

Follow World Challenge on Twitter @ WCRacing.