Turner Motorsport’s Justin Rothberg led flag-to-flag Sunday morning (Oct. 6) to wrap up the GT America powered by AWS weekend sweep at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. It is Rothberg’s fourth victory of the season. SKI Autosports’ Johnny O’Connell finished second and claimed the GT America SRO3 class championship.
“It’s not just me [that won this championship], it’s everybody at SKI Autosports,” O’Connell told SRO America’s Amanda Busick after the race. “It’s their dedication and how hard they work. We’re a ‘show up and race team.’
“The driver’s just the quarterback,” O’Connell continued. “I woke up this morning feeling a little like Tom Brady and Joe Montana, but great work by everybody and some bad luck for Jason [Daskalos].
“I really enjoy racing here, I’m 62 years old and got another championship. A lot of guys have retired by now, but I’m not ready. We’re gonna keep digging.”
Rothberg’s margin of victory was 8.148 seconds over O’Connell. Mishumotors’ Mirco Schultis was third, then GMG Racing’s Kyle Washington and Flying Lizard Motorsports’ Jason Bell.
The second-place finish was enough for O’Connell to win the championship by one point over Rothberg. Daskalos ended up sixth and finished third in points. For Rothberg, winning Friday was the only way that he could have even been eligible for the title Sunday.
By virtue of setting the fastest lap in Race No. 1 on Friday, Rothberg started from the pole in his BMW. The rookie racer got a clean start, but it wasn’t clean behind him.
Points leader Jason Daskalos got a run on Washington for second entering turn 1. Washington went deep in order to counter it.
Meanwhile, O’Connell made a huge move to charge from sixth to second in his Audi. That made up his entire margin from the start.
Then, James Sofronas got into the back of Daskalos, spinning Daskslos into the tires. The Mercedes was not significantly damaged, but Daskalos was stuck at the back of the field.
Sofronas was given a drive-through penalty by the stewards for the contact, but the damage had been done in the championship. O’Connell’s clean move on the first lap had given him the lead in the championship on the road.
“I’m absolutely mortified,” Sofronas told Busick in the pits after he retired from the race. “I’ve been racing for 30 years and I’ve only turned one car around like that in 400 races. So, I came over to Dasaklos’ pit and profusely apologized. I don’t race like that and he knows that I don’t.”
O’Connell briefly came into battle with Mishumotors’ Mirco Schultis for second, but was able to hold off the Callaway Corvette C7/GT3.R. O’Connell eventually challenged Rothberg for the overall lead, but never got to the point of getting
In GT4, Rotek Racing’s Isaac Sherman started from pole in his Porsche and drove away from the pack. ACI Motorsports’ Curt Swearingin chose not to race Sunday morning, so The Heart of Racing’s Gray Newell was Sherman’s primary competition.
Ultimately, Newell had nothing for Sherman as the champion-elect once again drove away from the rest of the class. It was an easy stroll for Sherman to his 13th win of the year and his fifth weekend sweep of the year.
Sherman won by 5.573 seconds over Newell after backing off in the final laps. Flying Lizard Motorsports’ Damir Hot was third, then Tim Savage and Nick Shanny.
GT America powered by AWS: Indianapolis Race No. 2 Results
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.