2017 Pirelli World Challenge Rounds 1 and 2: St. Petersburg

[Mechanic Z]

The Pirelli World Challenge season opener at St. Petersburg is less than two weeks away, so I figured it was about time for the event thread.

The initial entry list has 14 cars in GT, 8 in GTA and 19 in GTS.

2016 Team Champions K-PAX Racing are returning with their Flying Lizard-run Mclaren 650s GT3s, and a driver lineup featuring 2016 Driver Champion Alvaro Parente in the #9, along with Team Falken Tire legend Bryan Sellers in the #6 and 10-Tenths' own Mike Hedlund in the #98.

2016 runner-up Patrick Long is also returning in his #58 911 GT3-R, along with Porsche stalwarts Wright Motorsports, who he finished last year's season with. Wright's 2016 GTA driver, Michael Schein is also entered in his #16 Porsche.

Longtime PWC competitors Cadillac Racing are returning with the ATS-V.R, their Sprint lineup of former multi-champion Johnny O'Connell in the #3, and young gun Michael Cooper in the #8, is unchanged.

CRP Racing is likewise set to return, but with a new car in the #2 Mercedes AMG GT3 and a new driver in Ryan Dalziel.

Realtime Racing also has new cars: their Acura NSX GT3s will be driven by Ryan Eversley and Peter Kox.

Magnus Racing will make their PWC debut with two Audi R8 GT3s for John Potter in GTA and one TBA driver in GT.

R. Ferri Motorsport returns after a one year hiatus. Their Ferrari 488 GT3 is set to be driven by Ferrari pilot Alex Riberas.

Absolute Racing has two Bentley Continental GT3s on the entry list, with Adderly Fong returning in the #88 and a TBA driver in the #78.

Gainsco Racing has switched to Porsche, with team regular Jon Fogarty returning to drive the "Red Dragon".

TRG has entered an Aston Martin Vantage GT3 at St. Pete for James Davison.

GMG has two Porsches entered in GTA for James Sofronas and 2016 GT Cup Champion Alec Udell.

TR3 Racing is entering a Ferrari 488 GT3 for Daniel Mancinelli in GTA

Black Swan Racing will run a Mercedes AMG GT3 for team owner Tim Pappas.

Champ 1 has also entered a Mercedes in GTA, set to be driven by Pablo Perez Companc.

Notably absent from the entry is Always Evolving/AIM Autosport, who will reportedly return at Long Beach with a reduced effort.

Strangely absent from the list is 2016 GTA Champion Martin Fuentes, who has been announced to run the season in a new Ferrari 488 GT3 with Scuderia Corsa.

The GTS class likewise features fantastic entries from high quality teams like Flying Lizard Motorsports, Blackdog Speed Shop, ANSA Motorsports, Mantella Autosport and GMG.

New GT4 cars from McLaren, Chevy, Porsche and Panoz will be racing alongside cars from 2016 like the KTMs and Ginettas.

Schedule

Entry List

Live Stream (World Challenge site)

Live Stream (motortrendondemand.com)

Timing and Scoring (Should be available through the series website.)

Track Map

Weather (racecastweather.com)

Weather (National Weather Service)

Series Twitter Account