Austin, TX – Parker Chase received a late call to join Panoz Racing for the SprintX rounds of the SRO GT4 America Series at Circuit of the Americas in Austin, TX. Parker was paired in the #51 Panoz Avezzano GT4 with Canadian driver Roman De Angelis for the dual hour long races. Chase and De Angelis are no strangers to each other, as they competed against each other in karting across North America in their early days in motorsport.
"It was great to receive the call to join Panoz at COTA this weekend. We have raced against them in the past, and they have always been an excellent team with a championship winning pedigree. This is a local race for me and one that I always look forward to competing in," said Chase.
His local knowledge would pay dividends as Parker would qualify in the top three in the Panoz Avezzano for Race 1. Parker settled into a rhythm in Race 1 and utilized the strong braking capability of the Panoz to fight his way up to second place in the Silver class. Chase is known for his dynamic passing ability and he put that on display in Race 1 before turning the car over to De Angelis to finish off the race. Roman was able to track down the leader of the race and make the pass for victory with around fifteen minutes left in the hour long event.
The pair would start shotgun on the field for Race 2 as they did not set a lap in Qualifying 2. De Angelis would put on a show making passes on eleven competitors in a few laps before the progress was halted with a suspension failure. Unfortunately, the strong result Parker and the team were looking for in Race 2 was not meant to be on Saturday.
"We had a great Race 1 and really showed the strength of the Panoz in the technical sections of the track. Roman didn't get a lot of laps in practice and he did a great job to track down the leader and grab the victory. It is always cool to race at COTA and it's even better to stand on top of the podium. I'm very thankful to the Panoz organization for having me in their car this weekend."
Next up for Parker Chase is the double header IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge event at Mid Ohio on September 25-27.