Regulator Racing’s Philip Ellis took the lead away from DXDT Racing’s Alec Udell with 12 minutes to go Sunday (July 21). From there, he pulled away from the pack to win Fanatec GT World Challenge America powered by AWS Race No. 2 at VIRginia International Raceway with teammate Jeff Burton.
“This is perfect. It is the opportunity that we’ve all been waiting for with our reverse strategy,” Ellis told SRO America’s Amanda Busick after the race. “Definitely a fun race. Jeff [Burton] did a great job overall. We’ve struggled at times, but it all came together today.”
The margin of victory was 1.290 seconds over Udell and Tommy Milner. Rennsport One’s Trent Hindman and Spencer Pumpelly were third in their Porsche, then Racers Edge Motorsports’ Luca Mars and Zach Veach. Wright Motorsports’ Adam Adelson and Elliott Skeer were fifth.
Milner started from the pole in his Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R. Once the green flag fell, he pulled away from the field, little by little. Meanwhile, Skeer was in a battle for second with Bryan Sellers in the second DXDT Racing Corvette. GMG Racing’s Tom Sargent eventually joined the battle.
Just before the mid-race pit stops, Chouest-Povoledo Racing’s Aaron Povoledo stopped on-track with a mechanical issue to bring out the safety car. That allowed the entire field to make their mandatory pit stops under yellow.
During those stops, Wright Motorsports had a good stop and managed to jump over the DXDT Racing No. 63 and give Adelson the overall lead. Once the green came back out, Udell stalked Adelson for the lead.
Udell was able to get a good run exiting the Hog Pen and swept around Adelson to take the lead with 21 minutes to go. A couple of laps later, Ellis took second away and ran down the Corvette for the overall lead.
The battle for the overall lead was pretty fierce, but Ellis was able to get the job done. For Udell, he was still in the class lead even after losing the overall lead.
Udell’s competition proceeded to crater in the closing laps. Adelson spun out with eight minutes to go in turn 1 after contact from ST Racing’s Bill Auberlen. Auberlen was given a drive-through penalty for the contact.
That contact gave Udell an easy run to the Pro class weekend sweep in second overall with Milner. The margin of victory was 5.696 seconds over Pumpelly and Hindman. Mars and Veach were third, then Adelson and Skeer.
In Pro-Am, Foley qualified on pole on Saturday for this race. However, he had a big crash during Race No. 1.
As a result, Foley took it easy early on. That allowed Sellers to drive up into the class lead in his Corvette. The ABS system was repaired overnight after Scott Smithson‘s issues Saturday and the No. 08 Corvette was one of the fastest cars on the track early.
When the mid-race stops were made under yellow, GMG Racing had a great stop that allowed Kyle Washington to take the class lead in fifth overall. However, that advantage was short-lived.
Ellis was on the move once he got into his Mercedes. He drove through the Pro-Am competition and took the class lead with 35 minutes to go.
Any chance for a decent finish for GMG Racing went away before Washington even lost the lead. The team was penalized for a pit road speeding violation during the caution, resulting in Washington having to serve a drive-through penalty. The penalty dropped him to the rear of the field
Ellis wasn’t simply happy with the Pro-Am lead. He went after the overall leaders. Having the fastest car on the track makes things a little easier.
Not only did he run down Udell for the overall victory, he drove away from the rest of the Pro-Am pack. As a result, Regulator Racing team took a dominant class victory.
Burton and Ellis won by 31.817 seconds over ST Racing’s Samantha Tan and Neil Verhagen. Sellers and Smithson were third, then Foley and Justin Rothberg. Esses Racing with Mercedes-Benz of Austin’s Adam Carroll and Will Hardeman were fifth.
Fanatec GT World Challenge America powered by AWS: VIR Race No. 2 Results
Fanatec GT World Challenge America powered by AWS teams are off for the next three weekends. They will return to action at Road America. Race No. 1 from the 4.048-mile road course will be at 4:10 p.m. ET and 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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