The SRO GT World Challenge America (GTWCA) and GT4 America championships are winding down. BMW teams are in position to win and fight for championships in the two series after the penultimate race weekend of the year at Barber Motorsports Park in Alabama.
Turner Motorsport is still in the hunt for the GTWCA Pro class championship with Robby Foley and Justin Rothberg driving the #29 M4 GT3 EVO (shown in top photo), after winning the previous two Pro-Am class championships in the series. The duo finished fourth in class at Barber Motorsports Park, which puts everything on the line in the final race at Indianapolis on October 10th. They now sit third in points behind Mercedes-AMG drivers Michai Stevens and Mikael Grenier (who lead) and Ferrari driver Matias Perez Companc, who won with Frederik Schandorff at Barber.
There are only 10 points separating the top three points positions in the Pro class championship, so anything can happen at Indy, an eight-hour race that also pays double the points. Turner Motorsport won the championship two years ago in the final race at Indy, so they’ve done it before. “We collected good points here at Barber for the championship,” said Foley. “Unfortunately, just one step off the podium, but still have a shot at the championship headed into Indy. We’ll try to use our momentum from the last time we were there and have a good weekend at Indy.” Turner has recruited Connor De Phillippi as a third driver for the Indy finale.
Slade Stewart and Andy Lee have shown good pace in their #14 M4 GT3 EVO.
There were also two BMWs competing in the GTWC Pro-Am class. Slade Stewart and Andy Lee once again showed good pace in their Riley Technologies #14 M4 GT3 EVO and were running fifth in class but had a tire puncture that set them back, ultimately finishing ninth in class, with the Pro-Am class win going to the #60 McLaren. Derek DeBoer and Hampus Eriksson finished 11th in Pro-Am in the #99 Random Vandals Racing M4 GT3 EVO.
Random Vandals Racing Doubles-Up in GT4 America
Random Vandals Racing driver Sam Craven came into the Barber Motorsports Park weekend as the leader in the GT4 America Pro-Am class lead, despite a poor showing in the previous two rounds at Road America in late August. Craven and co-driver Kenton Koch bounced back well, winning their class in both races at Barber and extending the lead in the championship, though Craven hasn’t clinched it yet. He now sits four points ahead of co-driver Koch (who missed Road America due to the birth of his first child) and 17 points ahead of McLaren drivers Michael Cooper and Tony Gaples. “We needed these points this weekend,” Craven said. “I kept the car clean and knew we had a five-second penalty against one of our competitors, so I was just trying to manage that gap and be smart. Kenton did a phenomenal job moving the car forward.”
Sam Craven and Kenton Koch won both Pro-Am class races at Barber.
BimmerWorld Racing drivers James Clay and James Walker, Jr. also came into Barber leading the Am class championship, but left Barber in second place. It wasn’t due to any fault of their own. Clay and Walker Jr. looked set to finish well in both races, but had an issue crop up with the car that caused them to lose power in both races. Clay was running second in class in race one in the #36 M4 GT4 EVO when the issue happened and fell all the way back to 28th. In race two, Walker, Jr. was leading the class with less than six minutes left and fell back to sixth. Going into the final two rounds at Indy, Clay and Walker are now one point behind Ford Mustang drivers Frankie Muniz and Tyler Stone.
Joseph and Lucas Catania finished second in the Am class in race one.
Aside from the BimmerWorld woes, BMW teams did have success in the Am class. Father-son duo Joseph and Lucas Catania finished second in the class in race one in their Rigid Speed Company #17 M4 GT4 EVO, and Colorado Motorsport with Flying Lizard BMW drivers Zach Lumsden and Kris Wilson finished third in race one and third in race two in the #413 BMW. In the Silver class, the #51 Auto Technic Racing M4 GT4 EVO of Francis Selldorff and Kevin Boehm finished second in race one, and the #98 Random Vandals Racing BMW of Josh Green and Bruno Columbo finished third, with the win going to the #68 Toyota. The best Silver class finish for a BMW in race two was fourth for the #51.
Zach Lumsden and Kris Wilson finished third in the Am class in both races.
—David Haueter
[Photos courtesy SRO]
