SAUKVILLE, Wis. – RealTime Racing will return to the Fanatec GT World Challenge America Powered by AWS this year with an Acura NSX GT3 Evo22 and a proven Pro-Am lineup.
Established race winners Erin Vogel and Michael Cooper will share driving duties in the 13-race season.
Vogel is in her third year of World Challenge competition but has achieved a great deal in that time. Last year, at Virginia International Raceway, co-driving with Cooper, she became the first woman to win a Pro-Am race in any SRO GT3 championship worldwide.
“I’m very excited to be working with RealTime and the Acura NSX GT3 program,” Vogel said. “I know Michael Cooper and I are in good hands with RealTime, whose storied history of working with Acura will give so many advantages to the program.”
In addition to her GT World Challenge win last season, Vogel earned three podium finishes and a pole position. The new season brings a change in team and car for the Southern California native, but it will be her third season co-driving with Cooper.
“I’m very fortunate to have found a great mentor in Michael, and we’ve been lucky to continue working together in World Challenge for the past few years,” Vogel added. “I’m ready to show up in 2022 with even more consistency. My goal is to be on the podium every weekend this season, on the top step as much as possible, and consistently running in the top five.”
In more than a decade of racing professionally, Cooper has won multiple World Challenge championships. He is fresh off an LMP3 class win in the legendary Rolex 24 at Daytona. The New Yorker has raced with RealTime before, filling in at Portland International Raceway in 2018 and finishing fourth and second in a Honda Civic Type R TCR.
“It’s very exciting that Erin and I will be teaming up with RealTime in GT World Challenge,” Cooper said. “The team has quite a winning pedigree and I know how good they are from the years we competed against each other in GT competition. I have some first-hand experience with the team too as I was fortunate enough to drive for them once in recent years.”
All dates on the GT World Challenge America schedule consist of two 90-minute races, save for the season finale at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, which is an eight-hour endurance race. Each 90-minute race requires a pit stop with driver change in a pre-determined window.
“This is a strong driver lineup for RealTime,” team owner Peter Cunningham said. “I’ve known Erin for the last few years and watched her progress and we’ve known Michael much longer. We’re going to do all we can to make sure they add more wins to their resumes. Hopefully their achievements will contribute to success for Acura and Honda Performance Development as well.”
Keyword: RealTime Racing Returning To GT World Challenge