ANSA Motorsports returns to the Pirelli World Challenge to defend its 2016 Pirelli World Challenge GTS driver championship, won by driver Brett Sandberg. Last year, the team started with a bang and won race 2 at the season opener at Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas. Following its first GTS race win in Texas, ANSA Motorsports won two more races and collected an impressive 10 pole positions and 12 podium finishes. This year, the season opens at St Petersburg, which represents the home race for Alain Nadal’s ANSA Motorsports team, based in Miami Gardens, Florida.
“I am pleased to return to the Pirelli World Challenge with our KTM X-Bow GT4s in the 2017 GTS championship with drivers Bill Ziegler and Frankie Montecalvo,” said ANSA Motorsports team owner, Alain Nadal. “Last season was almost perfect for us. We won the driver championship for our first participation in the GTS championship and with a brand new car! We worked hard all winter to finalize our program and make our cars even more competitive than in 2016. We finished second in the GTS team championship last year, and this year again, for our third season in the Pirelli World Challenge, we want to continue winning with our KTM X-Bows.”
ANSA Motorsports comes to St. Petersburg with two KTM X-Bow GT4s to compete in rounds 1 and 2 of the 2017 Pirelli World Challenge GTS championship. Bill Ziegler is also back with ANSA Motorsports, for his second season with the team, and will drive the No. 9 Swisher Racing KTM X-Bow GT4 all season long. The second KTM X-Bow GT4 will be driven by Frankie Montecalvo.
Like Ziegler, Montecalvo lives in Florida and is excited to make his debut in the GTS championship. In 2015, he won the Pirelli World Challenge driver championship in the GTA class with seven wins, six top-three podiums and six pole positions.
“I am very excited for the opportunity to race with ANSA Motorsports,” Montecalvo said. “I could not be happier to drive for the 2016 champions and defend their GTS title. The KTM should be a great platform for the St Pete street circuit, its tight and technical corners should allow us to be very competitive. This will be my first time driving the KTM car and my first time racing in the Pirelli World Challenge GTS class. It’s never ideal to first drive a car at the race weekend but I look forward to the challenge and think I have the car and team to succeed.”
Montecalvo, 25, made his racing debut in 2008 by entering various club and historic events. Since then, he has competed in a selection of top racing series in North America and Europe and even raced twice in the famous 24 Hours of Le Mans. In 2016, he finished third in the Pirelli World Challenge driver championship in the GTA class.
Ziegler only competed in 10 races of the 2016 Pirelli World Challenge and finished 15th in the GTS driver championship and is happy to continue his racing program with ANSA Motorsports.
