Kevin Woods drove the Chicago Performance KTM X-BOW GT2 to a dominant victory in Race 2 of the GT America powered by AWS season finale.
From Practice 1 through to the last lap of Race 2, the Chicago Performance team was constantly learning, improving and ultimately winning in their SRO debut. The successes started early on, with Qualifying on Friday morning, where on the last lap of the session, Woods pulled pole position away from the #80 Lone Star Racing Mercedes-AMG GT2 machine, driven by Dan Knox.
Knox would come back strong in Race 1 later that day, leading to an intense battle throughout the entire race. Ultimately, the Mercedes would come out on top and lock out the top step of the podium in Race 1.
Race 2 would be a different story. Knox and the #80 Mercedes would unfortunately get caught up in a turn 1 incident on lap 1, between some of the SRO3 class cars, resulting in them dropping to the back of the GT2 field. Woods managed to drive up the inside of the e #58 GMG Audi R8 LMS GT2 driven by CJ Moses, climbing up the order, and in the process avoid the turn 1 pile up. He then went on to drive a strong race, pulling out a 37 second lead over the rest of the GT2 field, and claiming the first victory for the for the KTM X-BOW GT2 in North America, as well as for Chicago Performance, both in their debut weekend in professional motorsport.
Catching Woods after the podium ceremony, he summed up his thoughts on the team’s Sunday effort
“What can I say, the SRO North America debut for the KTM X-BOW GT2 was a success! Pole position, fastest race lap, and a win were some of the many highlights of the weekend.
We proved to be very competitive in race 1, but just came up a little short of victory. Going into race 2 we [had] made changes to the car that we thought would help in the fight for the top step of the podium. After avoiding the first corner melee, we found ourselves 1st in class. From there, the setup improvements were confirmed with fastest lap of the race and a commanding win.
I can’t thank KTM and Chicago Performance & Tuning Co. enough for their preparation and hard work to make all of this happen. Also thank Liqui Moli, Gentex Corporation, Wagner Tuning, Modern Structures and Karcher for their support in all of this. I would also like to thank SRO for bringing [the] GT2 class back, and to such an iconic location and prestigious event.”
Chicago Performance’s founder and team principal, Al Uscinski echoed Woods’ feelings.
“It’s been an incredible weekend, the weeks of preparation and hard work back in the shop, the team coming together and constantly adapting to the nuances of a new class, all of that and to walk away from it all with a pole position and class victory, I mean that is lovely and makes it all worth it.
This is our debut weekend in SRO, the first time the KTM X-BOW GT2 has been run professionally in North America, for us to be a part of it and come away with what we have is beyond words.
Kevin has done a fantastic job this weekend, putting the car exactly where it needed to be. I don’t think I could be any happier or prouder of all the guys in the team, KTM, everyone who’s supported us in this program, and of course Kevin for his mega job.”
When asked about what is next for Chicago Performance and for Woods, Uscinski said “only time will tell. We’re pushing hard to prepare for next year, there’s still a few programs to solidify and put into place over the next coming weeks, including Kevin’s. We’d love to put a full effort together for GT America in the GT2 class next year, so that’ll be the main focus for now, getting that done for 2024.”
Chicago Performance and Tuning Co. © 2023 | Author: Christopher Lester