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

Turner Motorsport’s Justin Rothberg led flag-to-flag in adverse conditions Saturday (Aug. 17) to win GT America Race No. 1 from Road America. It is Rothberg’s second win of the year.

“[This] was a really tough race. The braking zones and grip were changing every single lap,” Rothberg told SRO America’s DJ Clark after the race. “I was sort of the test dummy going into every corner, but I kept [the car] on the track and kept it together, so I’m happy.”

Rothberg won by .729 seconds over CRP Racing’s Jason Daskalos. SKI Autosports’ Johnny O’Connell was third, then Mishumotors’ Mirco Schultis. GMG Racing’s James Sofronas was fifth.

Rothberg started from the pole in his BMW after qualifying fastest in the dry. However, shortly before the race was scheduled to start, heavy rains moved wet conditions were considered severe enough to require the race to start behind the safety car.

When the green finally came out, there were a little more than 27 minutes remaining. Rothberg led with the all-important clear windshield free of spray. Meanwhile, Sofronas was given a drive-through penalty for work being done to his Audi beyond the time limit. He was one of six drivers between the two classes to be given such a penalty.

Once Sofronas and teammate Kyle Washington served their penalties, Rothberg ended up with a five-second lead over Daskalos. Despite that, he was still running hard. That was to his detriment as the ABS system kicked in at Canada Corner, forcing him wide.

Further back, Flying Lizard Motorsports’ Jason Bell spun exiting turn 14 and nosed into the tire barrier in his Aston Martin. He was able to get himself back underway and into the pit lane, but went no further after that point.

Daskalos was able to run down Rothberg with 15 minutes to go, just as the rain started to pick up again. However, Rothberg was able to hold Daskalos off.

In the closing laps of the race, the rain stopped outright. That allowed the pace to gradually increase.

In GT4, Rotek Racing’s Isaac Sherman qualified on pole in the dry in his Porsche. ACI Motorsports’ Curt Swearingin was Sherman’s main competition, but was hit with the same penalty that Sofronas received.

Swearingin’s penalty left Sherman with with a 10-second lead over The Heart of Racing’s Gray Newell. The penalties resulted in Sherman getting up to fifth overall briefly before dropping back.

Sherman had the quicker car and was able to pull away from Newell by more than a second a lap. The lead got as high as 13 seconds, then trouble struck.

With nine minutes to go, Sherman cut his left rear tire and had to make an unscheduled pit stop. That resulted in Newell taking the overall lead. Sherman would end up finishing sixth.

Despite grabbing the lead, Swearingin was much faster than Newell and had been setting quick times ever since serving his penalty. When Newell took the lead from Sofronas, he had an 11-second lead over Swearingin. A lap later, the lead was down to eight seconds.

With just over a lap to go, Swearingin caught Newell for the lead. The two battled hard on the final lap. Contact was made under braking for turn 5.

Both drivers were run wide in turn 5 as a result of the contact, but Swearingin was able to get the run on Newell and made the pass stick in turn 6. From there, Swearingin pulled away to take the win.

Swearingin won by 1.606 seconds over Newell. Flying Lizard Motorsports’ Todd Parriott was third, then Carrus Callus Raceteam’s Nick Shanny. FASTMD Racing’s Farhan Siddiqi was fifth in his Audi.

Despite finishing fifth, Sofronas set the fastest lap of the race at 100.048 mph. He will start on pole for Race No. 2.

Race No. 2 for GT America powered by AWS is scheduled for 9:45 a.m. ET Sunday morning. That 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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