The SRO GT World Challenge America and GT America championships raced at Barber Motorsports Park in Alabama, in the last race weekend before the finales coming up at Indianapolis Motor Speedway next month. The BMW teams did a lot better in the first races at Barber than in the second races, but they’re still in position to win championships at Indianapolis.
The Random Vandals Racing team started from the Pro class pole in the first GT World Challenge America race at Barber on Saturday, with Kenton Koch on the pole in the #99 M4 GT3 EVO. Bill Auberlen qualified third in the Pro class in the #51 Random Vandals car, and Justin Rothberg qualified fourth in the Pro-Am class in the #29 Turner Motorsport M4 GT3 EVO.
Auberlen moved into second place in the Pro class behind Koch at the start, which had two full course cautions early in the race. Koch handed off to co-driver Connor De Phillippi (who was just married a week earlier), who maintained first place to take the win in the Pro class, with Auberlen and Varun Choksey finishing third in class. “I’m really proud of the team,” said De Phillippi. “Kenton did a phenomenal job, and everyone has worked really hard. “We put in a lot of work this weekend to make the car better. I think we were a little worried for the long runs, but we made some changes going into qualifying that really gave us that step forward we needed.”
Connor De Phillippi and Kenton Koch won the Pro class in race one.
In the Pro-Am class, Robby Foley and Justin Rothberg took the win in the #29 M4 GT3 EVO after Rothberg put in a solid stint and Foley moved the #29 M4 GT3 EVO (shown in top photo) forward at the end to take the win. “We had a great pit stop in pit lane and then from there I had a few good out laps to set the tone for the stint,” said Foley. “I just had to manage it from there. The car was good all stint.”
Things didn’t go as well for either BMW team in race two on Sunday. The Random Vandals Racing #99 car started from second with De Phillippi at the wheel, and he held second place until coming in for an unscheduled pit stop for fuel just 25 minutes into the race. The #51 Random Vandals car of Auberlen and Choksey came in a lap later for fuel as well. We’re still not sure exactly what happened, but at some point before the race someone either didn’t fuel the cars the full way or thought they were full of fuel when they weren’t. Whatever it was, it set both cars significantly back. They still finished third and fourth in class since there are only four cars in the Pro class, but their primary rival, the JMF Motorsports Mercedes-AMG, won the race, which sets the stage for a winner take all battle going into the final race at Indy next month in the finale, which also awards double points.
Bill Auberlen and Varun Choksey finished third in the Pro class in race one.
Things went even worse in race two for Turner Motorsport in the Pro-Am class. After starting from third and staying in that position during the first stint for Foley, the team had a longer pit stop than normal to make a sway bar adjustment and fell back. Justin Rothberg moved back into fourth by the end of the race but was penalized post-race for contact with another car, which put them into ninth in the final results. Unfortunately, their primary rival in the Pro-Am class, the DXDT Racing Corvette, won the class, narrowing the points lead that the Turner duo going into the finale.
In the GT America single-driver sprint race series, Justin Rothberg finished fourth in race one, which started on a wet track but dried out as the race went on and forced most teams, including Turner, to bring the cars into the pits to change tires. In race two, which was on a dry track in sunny conditions, Rothberg started on the pole (since he had the fastest race lap in race one) and went on to win the race, his sixth of the year. Rothberg is leading the points going into the final two races at Indy.
Justin Rothberg won his sixth race of the year in GT America.
The SRO America finales will take place at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on October 16th-19th, with two GT America races and the final GT World Challenge America race as part of the Intercontinental GT Challenge 8 Hour race. Next year will see a major format change in GT World Challenge America, as the series is moving from a pair of 90-minute races per weekend to a single 3-hour race.
—David Haueter
[Photos courtesy SRO]
