Samantha Tan secured a third-place finish at Barber Motorsports Park, maintaining her ProAm championship lead ahead of the GT World Challenge America season finale, overcoming setbacks on Saturday to step once again on the podium in Sunday's race 2 at a circuit where she had never competed before.
Bouncing back from a challenging first day, Samantha Tan and ST Racing teammate Neil Verhagen secured third place in the second race of the Barber Motorsports Park weekend, stepping once again onto the GT World Challenge America podium in the ProAm class—on their first-ever visit to the Alabama circuit.
Tan and Verhagen will enter the season finale at Indianapolis as ProAm class championship leaders, having finished in the top three in class at every round to date, including three class victories.
The Samantha Tan Racing duo has dominated the ProAm class this year, showing consistency despite a difficult first race that put them out of contention early on. A strong Sunday run from both drivers saw the #38 BMW M4 GT3 fighting at the top of the ProAm class, and Samantha successfully held off competitors after a late safety car restart to claim their tenth podium of the season.
The 3.83 km circuit in Birmingham, Alabama, hosted a round of the SRO-promoted championship for the first time since 2016, meaning that both ST Racing drivers were new to the track and had to quickly get up to speed during the practice sessions of the penultimate round of the season.
“We managed to secure a podium at Barber, despite a challenging start. It was our first time at the track with no prior testing, so we had to maximize every on-track session and carefully analyze the data afterward", Tan explained.
Despite this, Tan and Verhagen had a promising start to the weekend, setting the third-fastest time in class in the first session, with a best lap of 1:21.185. They were seventh in the second session; however, Samantha further gained experience in the GT America practice, where she led the overall timing sheets, making the most of the available driving time ahead of qualifying.
Tan took the wheel for the first qualifying session on Saturday morning; Philip Ellis soon topped the ProAm class leaderboard, followed by Rothberg, Morris, and Tan. Samantha set a 1:22.509 before pitting, havnig secured a good starting position in ninth overall and fourth in class, just thousandths of a second behind ProAm competitors Justin Rothberg and Bryson Morris.
Alec Udell claimed overall pole in the #63 DXDT Corvette, followed by Luca Mars' #93 Racers Edge Acura, while Philip Ellis took third overall and ProAm pole in the #91 Regulator Racing Mercedes AMG GT3.
Neil Verhagen then took over for the second qualifying session in the #38 ST Racing BMW. He set a 1:22.377, putting him P12 overall before pitting midway through the session. Verhagen improved to a 1:20.921, taking the top spot overall, just 48 thousandths ahead of Riccardo Agostini's Ferrari. However, Robby Foley snatched provisional pole with four minutes remaining. Verhagen pushed again but went slightly wide into turn 1, settling for a front-row start in ProAm as Foley took pole overall.
Samantha took the start of Race 1, looking to challenge the two ProAm cars ahead from fourth. With a quick getaway, she moved into eighth overall and third in class, though there was contact at turn 1 with Rothberg, who spun.
Samantha survived the chaotic start but was unfortunately handed two drive-through penalties: one for having moved lane before crossing the line and another for the incident with Rothberg. Alec Udell retained the overall lead while Ellis, leading ProAm, stretched his advantage. Tan served her penalties by lap 8, falling to P15 overall and ninth in class but still on the lead lap.
Despite the penalties, Tan's pace was impressive—she was faster than Morris in second and significantly quicker than the AM AF Corse Ferrari ahead. Samantha closed the gap and passed Schreibman, continuing her charge as one of the fastest cars in class.
She remained on the lead lap despite the Pro entries closing in, but without a safety car, she eventually lost a lap, although she continued to fight hard.
Even in the second part of her stint, Samantha’s pace remained competitive, matching Morris and Pedersen, second and third in class. As pit stops approached, Tan stayed out, climbing to P11 overall before pitting on lap 27 and handing over to Neil Verhagen.
After the pit cycle, the ST Racing BMW settled in P13 overall and eighth in class. Verhagen immediately set the fastest lap of the race with a 1:22.826, closing in on Riccardo Agostini’s #88 AF Corse Ferrari for seventh in class.
Ellis finally pitted on lap 35, handing the #91 Mercedes over to Jeff Burton, who initially retained the ProAm class lead. Verhagen caught and passed Agostini after a fierce battle on lap 48 and later overtook class leader Burton to regain a lap.
Burton eventually dropped down and Bryan Sellers (DXDT Corvette) took over the lead, followed by Trent Hindman's RS1 Porsche and Robby Foley's Turner Motorsport BMW.
Despite strong stints by both drivers, the #38 ST Racing BMW M4 GT3 finished seventh in ProAm and P12 overall, overcoming two drive-through penalties after an unfortunate start.
"Practice and qualifying went smoothly — Neil and I qualified P2 and P4 in class", Samantha summarized. "However, in Race 1, I broke formation at the green flag (we were supposed to wait until the start/finish line to pass)."
"I went for a pass on the inside of Turn 1 but was given little room. I was more than halfway on the grass when I made contact with the #29 BMW, which resulted in two drive-through penalties. Despite the setback, we pushed hard and salvaged P7 by the end."
Looking for redemption on Sunday, the ST Racing duo lined up on the front row with Verhagen at the wheel for the final sprint race of the season before the 8 Hours of Indianapolis.
Verhagen maintained second after a clean start behind Robby Foley’s Turner Motorsport BMW, with Kenton Koch clearing Agostini and Miller for third. Foley created a small gap, but Verhagen kept a consistent pace, holding Koch at a safe distance. Verhagen lapped in the 1:22.5 range, keeping the gap to the Random Vandals BMW stable at half a second. By lap 20, Foley stretched his margin to 4 seconds, with positions unchanged behind Verhagen.
Despite not having the ultimate pace of the leading Turner Motorsport BMW, Verhagen held second place throughout his stint.
Pro entries pitted first, while Foley, Verhagen, Agostini, and Sargent stayed out longer. After pit stops cycled through, Verhagen briefly led before pitting on lap 34, handing over to Samantha Tan with 40 minutes remaining.
Samantha rejoined just ahead of Rothberg's Turner BMW but, on cold tyres, was passed while trying to defend. She smartly let the Pro cars of Daly and Udell by, aiming to use them to her advantage as they passed Rothberg. Tan was faster than Rothberg and applied pressure, but the battle held back both ProAm leaders as Bryson Morris, 15 seconds behind, gained ground.
The safety car, however, was deployed with 24 minutes remaining after Elias Sabo went off - potentially jeopardizing ST Racing's strategy.
The race resumed with 18 minutes to go, and after avoiding contact with the sister car of Auberlen, Tan dropped to third in ProAm. She refocused, maintaining her pace while keeping Morris behind.
In heavy traffic, Tan found herself stuck behind the #93 Acura, battling with Rothberg. A small mistake at Turn 1 saw Tan switch to a more defensive approach to hold off Morris. However, Morris lost out to Pedersen after contact in Turn 1.
With five minutes to go, overall leader Conor Daly pitted for fuel due to a fuel pump issue, dropping to P13 overall. Tan maintained consistent laps, expertly keeping Pedersen behind and finishing third in ProAm— securing her tenth podium of the season.
"Race 2 went better; we battled throughout the race and finished third at the checkered flag", Tan said. "Now, all focus is on Indy with a 36-point gap to close, and I'll be training harder than ever until then. Huge thanks to my team for all their hard work this weekend!”
ST Racing retains a 36-point lead entering the 8 Hours of Indianapolis, the final event of the 2024 GT World Challenge America season on October 4-6. Before, Tan will head to Spain for the 24 Hours of Barcelona, returning to the Creventic event after her race-winning run in 2021.
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