Following a devastating accident in 2015 that saw his weekend ruined before ever completing the first lap, Global Motorsports Group’s (GMG) Alec Udell will head to this weekend’s Grand Prix of St. Petersburg in search of redemption in his 2016 Pirelli World Challenge GT-Cup campaign.

“We definitely want to erase the memories of last year,” stated Udell. “Getting caught up in an accident that wasn’t our doing was extremely frustrating, and it obviously had a major impact on the rest of the season for us. Luckily with the new starting procedures of the Pirelli World Challenge, the chances of a repeat incident are at least reduced, and we’re all very confident heading back. We had a good start to the season at Circuit of the Americas, but we definitely needed to find a bit more speed and I’m confident that we can improve in St. Petersburg. Thanks to everyone for the hard work to get the car turned around, I’m excited to get going.”

In 2015, Alec and the No. 17 Euroworld Motorsports / Panther Pipeline / Amsource Capital Porsche 911 GT3 Cup became a victim of a start-line incident that would end up having a major effect on the rest of his season. During the series’ signature standing-start, the GT-Cup category would start behind the GT field, and a multi-car incident in front of Udell would leave him with no room to get by, with a careening Lamborghini slamming in to the nose of the 20-year old, pinning his car against a wall and causing severe damage to his machine.

The repairs were so heavy that the team would be forced to sit out the second race of the weekend, and ultimately several more races in the season.

With standing starts eliminated for 2016, the likelihood of such an incident in front of him will be reduced.

With the start of the season occurring in Austin, Texas last weekend, the entire team at GMG has had a matter of days to get the car turned around for this weekend’s third and fourth rounds at the notorious street circuit located in St. Petersburg, Florida. As a full-time engineering student at Clemson University, Alec has had the unique challenge of travelling between races while also taking mid-terms, proving a time management ability well beyond his years. Following a win during the opening race of the season, and a close second during the subsequent round 24 hours later, the challenge is definitely on as they pursue the series championship.

Official practice continues today, with Saturday’s Race One occurring at 9:35AM ET. Sunday’s Race Two will occur at 3:15PM ET, with live streaming available for both via www.world-challenge.com/streamvideo.