DXDT Racing’s Tommy Milner took the overall lead away under caution when Regulator Racing’s Philip Ellis made his mandatory pit stop. From there, Milner held on to win a caution-plagued Fanatec GT World Challenge America powered by AWS Race No. 1 from VIRginia International Raceway Saturday (July 20) with teammate Alec Udell. It is the team’s third straight victory.
The margin of victory was 1.654 seconds over Wright Motorsports’ Adam Adelson and Elliott Skeer. Rennsport One’s Trent Hindman and Spencer Pumpelly were third in their Porsche, followed by the Acura of Racers Edge Motorsports’ Luca Mars and Zach Veach. GMG Racing’s Tom Sargent and Kyle Washington were fifth.
Regulator Racing’s Philip Ellis started from pole in his Mercedes-AMG GT3. The plan was to pull away from the field as much as possible in the first half of the race to give teammate Jeff Burton the largest possible cushion. That did not come to pass.
Less than 10 minutes into the race, DXDT Racing’s Scott Smithson went wide exiting turn 10 in his Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R. The Corvette bounded through the grass, then spun.
Smithson’s car came to rest on the pavement and he was able to get it restarted. However, he went off into the grass while trying to turn around and got stuck in the wet grass to bring out the first caution.
The trouble wasn’t over for Smithson. Once he got pulled out of the wet grass, the car developed braking issues. He ended up locking up and sliding off course while trying to catch the field and hit the tires in turn 4 just as the race was restarting. That triggered a second caution.
The second crash required a tow back to the pits, but didn’t end up being the end of the day of Smithson or Bryan Sellers. They ended up finishing 14 laps down.
Behind Ellis, ST Racing’s Bill Auberlen was able to jump over Udell to take the Pro lead and second overall on the first lap. Once out front, Auberlen was unable to pull away significantly.
32 minutes into the race, Flying Lizard Motorsports’ Elias Sabo spun out in turn 4. This ended up being a similar situation to what happened to Smithson the first time. Sabo was able to recover, but ran off-course trying to resume. He then got stuck in the wet grass and drew a caution.
The green came back out a lap before the mid-race pit window opened up. The yellows effectively ruined Regulator Racing’s strategy.
Half of the field pitted at the first possible opportunity. Meanwhile, Ellis stayed out to expand the lead as much as possible.
Before Ellis could even pit, Turner Motorsport’s Robby Foley and ST Racing’s Neil Verhagen had contact entering NASCAR Bend (turn 3). The contact knocked Foley onto the wet grass and clay. From there, Foley was a passenger as his BMW M4 GT3 spun and went hard into the tires to bring out the fourth caution of the race.
Foley was ok and walked away from his stricken BMW. The BMW was not ok.
Ellis was likely pitting the lap that the safety car was brought out. The pit lane being closed meant that he went over the 50-minute mark in the car before he could get in to swap over to Jeff Burton.
When Ellis pitted his Mercedes, Milner took the overall lead. Verhagen took the lead in Pro-Am, but was given a drive-through penalty for causing Foley’s crash. Verhagen’s penalty allowed Sargent to move into the class lead.
As Verhagen was serving the penalty, teammate Varun Choksey blew his left front tire and came to a stop at turn 10. The disabled car and debris on the track brought out the fifth and final caution.
The green came back out with nine minutes to go. Milner was able to pull out a decent advantage and held on for the win.
In Pro-Am, Sargent continued to lead, but Verhagen was able to get himself back to second, aired significantly by a spin for Burton. Verhagen was right on Sargent’s tail on the final lap, but held on for the win.
Sargent and Washington’s margin of victory was .399 seconds over Verhagen and Samantha Tan. Ellis and Burton ended up third, then Esses Racing with Mercedes-Benz of Austin’s Adam Carroll and Will Hardeman. Sabo and Andy Lee were fifth.
Fanatec GT World Challenge America powered by AWS: VIR Race No. 1 Results
Race No. 2 for Fanatec GT World Challenge America powered by AWS is scheduled for 2:15 p.m. ET Sunday afternoon. The race will be streamed live on the GT World YouTube channel and on SpeedSport1.
About the author
Phil Allaway has three primary roles at Frontstretch. He's the manager of the site's FREE e-mail newsletter that publishes Monday-Friday and occasionally on weekends. He keeps TV broadcasters honest with weekly editions of Couch Potato Tuesday and serves as the site's Sports Car racing editor.
Outside of Frontstretch, Phil is the press officer for Lebanon Valley Speedway in West Lebanon, N.Y. He covers all the action on the high-banked dirt track from regular DIRTcar Modified racing to occasional visits from touring series such as the Super DIRTcar Series.
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