The SRO GT World Challenge America (GTWCA) championship, along with supporting series GT4 America and TC America, raced at Road Atlanta for the first time in fifteen years last weekend. What started off as a good weekend for the BMW teams competing in GTWCA ended up mostly disappointing, but there was more success in the GT4 America series.
In combined qualifying for the three-hour GTWCA race on Sunday (where both drivers qualify and the average lap time is used), the Turner Motorsport #29 M4 GT3 EVO of Robby Foley and Justin Rothberg set the third fastest time in the Pro class and overall, just 0.23 seconds behind the pole-sitting Ferrari. In the Pro-Am class, the #14 Riley Technologies M4 GT3 EVO of Andy Lee and Slade Steward qualified sixth in class, and the #99 Random Vandals Racing BMW of Derek DeBoer and Hampus Eriksson qualified ninth.
Turner Motorsport was running strongly until a fuel line leak set them back.
Both the #14 and #29 BMWs started the race strongly, with both running at the front of their classes for the opening hour of the race. The #29 Turner car ran into trouble around 30 minutes after Foley took over the car from Rothberg, when a fuel line leak sidelined the car on the side of the track and forced repairs. The #29 finished 16th overall, but with only five cars in the class they still ended up fourth in class, since another car in the class had a DNF. The Pro class and overall win went to the #27 JMF Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO.
The #99 Random Vandals Racing BMW had to retire after an accident.
In the Pro-Am class, the #14 had a solid race to finish sixth in class out of 13 cars. The #99 Random Vandals Racing BMW had bad luck as well, with a DNF after being involved in an accident around two hours into the race while running fourth in class.
GT4 America
The GT4 America series joined GTWCA over the Road Atlanta weekend, with a pair of one-hour races, and the BMWs in this series had more success than those in GTWCA. In race one, the Random Vandals Racing duo of Kenton Koch and Sam Craven qualified second in the Pro-Am class in the #94 M4 GT4 EVO and were leading the class in the race but had to serve a 30-second penalty for changing a tire while on the grid. This was due to a flat tire but is against the rules. Kenton Koch put in a great drive in the second half of the race to make up that difference (helped by a caution period), and the pair finished second in the Pro-Am class. The pair followed that up with another second-place finish in class in the second race.
Alex and Michael Garcia won the Am class in both races.
In the Silver class, the Auto Technic Racing duo of Francis Selldorff and Kevin Boehm also put in a strong pair of races in the #51 M4 GT4 EVO to finish second in class in both races behind the #028 RS1 Porsche that is leading the championship. The #98 Random Vandals Racing duo of Josh Green and Bruno Colombo also finished on the Silver class podium in third in their #98 M4 GT4 EVO.
Kenton Koch and Sam Craven finished second in the Pro-Am class in both races.
Some of the best racing at Road Atlanta took place in the Am class between the #21 ACI Motorsports M4 GT4 EVO driven by brothers Alex and Michael Garcia, and the BimmerWorld duo of James Clay and James Walker, Jr. in the #36 M4 GT4 EVO. The #21 came out on top in both races with the #36 second, but the two cars battled it out in both races, often trading the lead with good hard racing. “I think we finally found our groove with the car,” said Michael Garcia. “We got all the bad juju out of the way. We were due, and it’s nice to bring it home for the team because they work really hard on this car. We’re very happy.” The #188 Random Vandals Racing duo of Judson Holt and Denny Stripling made it a BMW podium sweep in the Am class in race one by finishing third.
Kevin Boehm and Francis Selldorff finished second in the Silver class in both races.
The next SRO America race weekend takes place at Road America in Wisconsin on August 28th-30th.
—David Haueter
[Photos courtesy SRO]