Before the racers could get on track, the NASA Southeast technicians needed about an hour to repair the timing/scoring loop. Seems the landscapers had dug it up and forgot to tell anyone.
For the Lightning race, GTS1 and GTS2 cars started in the third wave of the 80-plus car field. Pole for GTS2 had Vasile Balan, who qualified his BMW E36 M3 with a 1:44.6, and led all nine laps to finish first. He was followed by Matthew Agurkis in his BMW 325i, team car Joe’s Racing No. 2 with Joe Sullivan Sr. in his Porsche 944 S2, and Patrick Laughton in his Audi A4. GTS1 was all Porsche 944, with top qualifier Joey Sullivan driving the team car Joe’s Racing No. 1 taking the win followed by Larry Helm and John Mock.
GTS3, GTS4 and GTSU ran in the slightly smaller Thunder race group with 50-plus cars taking the green. Top qualifier was David Richardson in his Porsche Cup GTSU car, with a lap of 1:30.4. David went on to win the race, followed by Fred Benedict in his GTSU Porsche 914. GTS3 top qualifier Drew Ewing posted a 1:38.2 in his BMW M3, but leaving the grid for the race, the transmission failed just past pit out, and he quickly crossed to track right, and let the car roll backward into the pro-pits to avoid any downtime for other racers. With Ewing out, Craig Joslin won GTS3 in his BMW M3, followed by Jimmy Scott in his BMW M3 and Ryan Hulbert in his BMW Z4.
By Sunday morning the rain had arrived, and GTS3 driver Ryan Hulbert, and GTSU driver Fred Benedict were the only GTS drivers to take their cars out on track for the Thunder group qualifying. By race time the track was back to dry, but the GTS field was already thinned out. David Richardson again won GTSU, with Fred Benedict in second. Jimmy Scott won GTS3 followed by Ryan Hulbert.
GTS1 and GTS2 also qualified in the rain for the Lightning group, and the times showed just how wet it was, with Vasile Balan again qualifying fastest in GTS2 with a 2:06.7, followed by team car Joe’s Racing No. 2 and Patrick Laughton, with Matthew Agurkis sitting out the wet session. For the last race of the afternoon, Vasile Balan ran a 1:43.3 to win GTS2 followed by Matthew Agurkis, Joe’s Racing No. 2 and Patrick Laughton. GTS1 was reduced to two cars, with Joe’s Racing No. 1 taking the win, and Larry Helm taking second.
