NEW ORLEANS, La., (April 25, 2023) – Motivated by multiple successes at the season-opener earlier this month, Wright Motorsports heads to New Orleans, Louisiana this weekend for Rounds three and four of the SRO Fanatec GT World Challenge America powered by AWS. The Ohio-based team has some unfinished business at NOLA Motorsports Park and will enter both the No. 45 Porsche 911 GT3 R (type 992) of Charlie Luck and Jan Heylen and the No. 120 Porsche 911 GT3 R (type 991.2) of Adam Adelson and Elliott Skeer to fight for top honors. Adelson and the No. 120 Porsche will also compete in the GT America powered by AWS, riding the momentum of his victorious weekend at Sonoma Raceway.
High temperatures and poor racing conditions made last year’s inaugural race at NOLA Motorsports Park a challenging one. However, the pair of Wright Motorsports Porsches have come prepared for another attempt at conquering the competition in the Big Easy. The GT World Challenge America series consists of GT3 machinery, split into three classes based on driver rankings: Pro, Pro/Am, and Am.
Father and son-in-law duo Charlie Luck and Jan Heylen have consistent results on their side after earning a pair of fourth-place finishes earlier this month at Sonoma Raceway in Rounds One and Two of the championship. Debuting their new Porsche 911 GT3 R, the two drivers and their crew earned valuable feedback in their first event of the 2023 race season. They will take that knowledge to the 2.75-mile, 16-turn circuit for the next two rounds of the sports car racing championship.
Team newcomers Adam Adelson and Elliott Skeer started the season off strong in their green and yellow Porsche, earning a first and third-place finish in the opening doubleheader at Sonoma Raceway at the beginning of the month. Running the 991.2 allows the duo to capitalize on the team’s several years of experience with the car, at most of the same tracks that the series competed at last season.
Adelson will also compete in the GT America series, consisting of Bronze-rated drivers running in GT3 or GT4 machinery in a pair of 40-minute sprint races. At Sonoma Raceway, Adelson swept both pole positions finishing first and second in his two races. A revision of the results changed the second result to tenth place, but Adelson has demonstrated his capabilities behind the wheel heading into the next two rounds, clearly a contender in the championship.
Saturday, April 29 will host the first set of races, with GT America taking the green flag for race one at 12:55 PM CT, followed by the GT World Challenge America competitors beginning their opening race at 3:10 PM CT. GT America will again go first on Sunday April 30 at 9:30 AM CT, with GT World Challenge concluding the weekend with race two starting at 1:45 PM CT. All races will air live on YouTube.com/GTWorld.
DRIVER QUOTES
Charlie Luck // No. 45 Porsche 911 GT3 R
I’m really looking forward to our second race weekend at NOLA. We have a new model car and will be working to try to extract the most speed out of it, given our lack of experience and streak with the car. We’ll continue to focus on every element of the racing that is within our control and are very excited about building on our two fourth-place finishes at Sonoma.
Jan Heylen // No. 45 Porsche 911 GT3 R
I’m happy to be going back to NOLA. It is a very challenging track with high tire degeneration which makes for a fun race. We had a strong weekend in Sonoma with great race pace. We’re hoping to improve on our qualifying performance to set up for a good race.
Adam Adelson // No. 120 Porsche 911 GT3 R
I’m still buzzing from how amazing of a first outing Sonoma was for us. We’re meshing with the team better than I anticipated, and even though we’ve only been together for one race, it feels like we’re already in a groove. Elliott and I had tremendous success at NOLA Motorsports Park in Pirelli GT4 America last year, which gives us (at least me) a natural affinity towards this track. It’ll be quite different racing a GT3 R around here, but I’m excited to see what we can achieve this weekend.”
Elliott Skeer // No. 120 Porsche 911 GT3 R
NOLA has always been a very good place for me personally as it not only brought me my first win in a Porsche, but also my first win with Wright Motorsports. Keeping the momentum of Sonoma has helped with having a very productive test, so I am confident that Adam and I will be able to maximize the strong package that Wright Motorsports will without a doubt be supplying. We are going into the weekend with our focus on operations and execution and let the results follow!
Wright Motorsports
Wright Motorsports is the premier Porsche race engineering facility in Ohio and a multi-series and international racing team known for superb car preparation, expert race strategy, and driver development. Located in Batavia, Ohio, it is owned and directed by John Wright, a certified Porsche factory-trained technician. As a crew chief John Wright has played a key role in winning eight driver and seven team championships in World Challenge, IMSA (ALMS) and the Grand-Am Rolex Series. Wright Motorsports won the team championship in Porsche GT3 Cup USA in 2012, 2013, and 2015, and went on to win the Pirelli World Challenge Overall, Sprint, Team, and Manufacturer’s titles in 2017. In 2020, the team captured the GT World Challenge America Am championship. In 2021, Wright Motorsports had a wildly successful season, capturing nine championships across their five racing efforts.
