Alec Udell Shows He Can Swim with the Sharks - Speedway Digest

Alec Udell was thrown into the deep water of the Pirelli World Challenge (PWC) GT class at the Grand Prix of Long Beach and the 21 year-old proved he can swim with the sharks. Having won the 2016 PWC GT Cup championship and the first two rounds of the 2017 GTA (GT Amateur) class, the resident of The Woodlands, Texas was moved up to the all-pro GT category entering Round Three of the Sprint Championship. The Clemson University junior not only showed he could battle with factory drivers and past champions, he proved he could beat them. Udell finished in seventh-place at the conclusion of the 50-minute race in California piloting the No. 17 Euroworld Motorsports/GMG Porsche 911 GT3 R.


Alec Udell made his PWC GT debut with a top-seven. Image courtesy of PCNA

The Pirelli World Challenge has become a hot bed of competition. With the Sprint Championship’s single-driver format, factory efforts and veteran drivers – many of who have careers longer than Udell has been alive – and top-flight programs have descended on the series. When series’ officials deemed Udell capable of racing with the professionals in the GT class, they placed him among the best-of-the-best of sports car racing.

Udell hit the ground running on Friday. Despite limited track time over the course of the weekend, the Porsche Young Driver Academy graduate learned the 1.968-mile street course quickly. In fact, he found speed so fast that he led much of the second practice session finishing just behind veteran Bryan Sellers in pre-qualifying times. He then went on to qualify the Euroworld Motorsports 911 GT3 R in eighth-place.

Pirelli World Challenge is not for the faint of heart and, again, Udell showed he belonged among the sharks. Taking the green flag from the outside of Row Four, the mechanical engineering major attacked the course and the competition. An odd caution flag for a broken water line that flooded the track 20-minutes into the race paused the event with a red flag condition. During the respite, Udell had time to contemplate the remaining 30-minutes and when the track returned to green flag conditions he took the fight to veterans surrounding him… and some took it to him. While in a line of cars, nose-to-tail, the No. 17 had heavy contact from behind, severely damaging the bumper of the Clemson blue and orange machine. Udell was able to continue and finish seventh among champions from around the world. The rear-engine car will require extensive repairs be made prior to the next race. Fortunately, the Euroworld Motorsports team will have until June to make the final preparations. The PWC Sprint Championship will resume at Road America on June 23-25.

The next race for Udell will be the April 28-30 PWC SprintX Championship season-opening rounds at VIRginia International Raceway (VIR) in Alton, Virginia. Udell will join Preston Calvert in the Calvert Dynamics Porsche 911 GT3 R for the two-driver, 60-minute races on the classic American road course.

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Adam Sinclair

NHRA, IHRA, Motocross and other forms of motorsports Staff writer
About Me: Adam has been a race fan since the first time he went through the tunnel under the Daytona International Speedway almost 30 years ago. He has had the privilege of travelling to races all across the state of Florida (as well as one race in Ohio), watching nearly everything with a motor compete for fame and glory, as well as participating in various racing schools to get the feel of what racecar drivers go through every week. Adam has spent the last three years covering motorsports for Examiner.com., where he had the opportunity to see the racing world from behind the scenes as well as the grandstands. He invites everyone to follow him on Twitter, Facebook, and Google Plus, and looks forward to sharing his enthusiasm for all things racing with the readers of SpeedwayDigest.com.Be sure to tune in for his weekly sports talk program, Thursday Night Thunder, where he discusses the latest in motorsports news with drivers, crew members, and fans. The show takes place every Thursday at 8:00 pm EST on the Speedway Digest Radio Network.