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DXDT Racing Continues Roll at Road America

DXDT Racing’s Tommy Milner re-assumed the lead after the mid-race pit stops Saturday (Aug. 17). He was then able to hold on after a late caution to win the first Fanatec GT World Challenge America powered by AWS race of the of weekend at Road America with teammate Alec Udell.

“[The caution] was the last thing that we needed there,” Milner told SRO America’s DJ Clark after the race. “We had a great pit stop and had a huge lead in class, then the yellow packed it back up. I prepped the tires up right and brought it home once again.”

Milner and Udell’s margin of victory was .771 seconds over Racers Edge Motorsports’ Luca Mars and Zach Veach. Wright Motorsports’ Adam Adelson and Elliott Skeer were third in their Porsche, then Turner Motorsport’s Robby Foley and Justin Rothberg. GMG Racing’s Tom Sargent and Kyle Washington were fifth. The top-three finishers were also the top-three in the Pro class.

Regulator Racing’s Philip Ellis originally qualified on the overall pole for the race, but the car flunked the height sticks in post-qualifying inspection. As a result, Udell started his Corvette from pole.

Saturday was the Fanatec GT World Challenge America powered by AWS debut for Random Vandals Racing with their new BMW M4 GT3. Madison Snow (driving in place of Conor Daly, who had INDYCAR duties at World Wide Technology Raceway). Snow qualified third and attempted to make a move on Bill Auberlen for second in turn 3. Then, trouble broke out.

Snow appeared to clip the curb, which was still wet from earlier rains. As a result, he slid into Auberlen and spun. Snow was then hit by DXDT Racing’s Bryson Morris, who was making his series debut.

Snow was out on the spot after the crash. Morris was able to use access roads to get back to the pits for repairs. The No. 08 Corvette would continue, but finished two laps down. Auberlen was judged to be responsible for the crash and was given a drive-through penalty.

The penalty elevated Mars up to second. A few laps after the restart, he began pressuring Udell for the overall lead. Ellis ultimately ran the two of them down as well.

Mars was unable to make a move until Udell caught ST Racing’s Samantha Tan. Eventually, Mars was able to make a move on the outside of Canada Corner to take the lead.

Mars led until the mid-race pit stops. However, the Racers Edge team had a bad stop, which allowed the DXDT team with Milner now in the car to jump them.

Ellis stayed out as late as he could and set the fastest laps of the race before pitting to put Jeff Burton in the car. Burton was able to get out of the pits with the overall lead, but Milner took barely a lap to run him down and take the overall lead.

Veach ended up 19 seconds behind Milner after the stops. Skeer was even further back due to the rear diffuser on his Porsche coming loose early on and the Wright Motorsports crew taking extra time to remove it during their pit stop.

Varun Choksey stalled on course with 13 minutes to go to bring out the second caution of the race. That wiped out Milner’s big lead and set up a sprint to the finish.

Milner had Veach right on his tail for the restart, but managed to get a good start. From there, he was able to hold on for the win.

In Pro-Am, Morris started on the pole and crashed three turns into the race. That crash allowed Turner Motorsport’s Justin Rothberg to take the lead.

Ellis was extremely fast early on and ran right up to Rothberg after the restart. Rothberg then made an error and went wide in turn 14. That error was enough for Ellis to take the lead.

It only got worse from there for Rothberg as wet curbs and slick tires do not mix. Rothberg ended up spinning his BMW and grazed the tire barrier, losing a wing endplate in the process. He was able to resume in third.

Ellis’ drive to the overall lead allowed him to put a lot of distance between himself and the rest of the Pro-Am field. When Burton took over, he had a roughly 40-second lead over Foley.

That margin had dropped to 10 seconds when Choksey stalled to bring out the yellow with 13 minutes to go. When the race restarted, Burton had only the lapped Porsche of Rennsport One’s Trent Hindman between himself and Foley.

Despite his pace difference as compared to Ellis, Burton was able to keep himself right up there after the final restart. After a full lap, Foley got a run exiting turn 14 and was able to make the move to take the class lead.

Burton then nearly completely ruined his day by getting loose exiting turn 1 and getting into the grass. He would continue, but lost significant ground.

From there, Foley was able to pull away to claim the Pro-Am victory in fourth overall. For Rothberg, it was his second victory of the day after he won the GT America race in the wet earlier.

See also
Justin Rothberg Wins Wet Road America GT America Race No. 1

Foley and Rothberg’s margin of victory was 6.992 seconds over Sargent and Washington. MMG’s Jean-Frederic Laberge and Kyle Marcelli were third in their Porsche, followed by Burton and Ellis. Tan and Neil Verhagen were fifth.

In the Am class, Esses Racing with Mercedes-Benz of Austin’s Will Hardeman and Alan Metni ran very competitively all day, running as high as fourth overall. They eventually finished seventh to take the class win.

Fanatec GT World Challenge America powered by AWS: Road America Race No. 1 Results

Fanatec GT World Challenge America powered by AWS Race No. 2 from Road America is scheduled for 3:15 p.m. ET Sunday afternoon. The race will be streamed live on both 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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