Turner Motorsport’s Justin Rothberg led flag-to-flag from the pole Saturday afternoon (July 19) to win GT America powered by AWS Race No. 1 at VIRginia International Raceway. It is Rothberg’s fourth victory of the season.
Rothberg’s margin of victory was 4.844 seconds over SKI Autosports’ Memo Gidley. Chouest Povoledo Racing’s Ross Chouest was third, then GMG Racing’s Kyle Washington.
A small field of only eight cars were on the grid Saturday. Rothberg started from pole in his BMW. Gidley gave chase in his Audi.
Gidley threatened early on, but Rothberg was able to slowly pull away from the field. Eventually, the advantage reached nearly six seconds.
The race’s sole safety car period came out with 14 minutes to go when Racers Edge Motorsports’ Jason Bell slid off-course at the far end of the circuit and hit the tires.
Bell was ok and immediately got out of the car under his own power. Further inspection of the car revealed that Bell had lost his rear brakes, causing the crash. To make matters worse, the in-car fire extinguisher went off as well.
The field bunched back up for a six-minute sprint to the finish. Rothberg was able to open up a small advantage over the field. Meanwhile, Gidley ended up in a battle for second with Chouest.
In GT4, 89x Motorsports owner-driver Michael Fitzpatrick started on pole in a two-car class. He was easily able to pull away from teammate John Dean, who was making his series debut.
Dean ended up pulling into the pits just past the halfway point with overheating issues.. As a result, Fitzpatrick had a clear run to the win.
GT America Powered by AWS: VIR Race No. 1 Results
By virtue of turning in a lap at 108.378 mph, Rothberg earned the pole for Race No. 2. That race is scheduled for 9:15 a.m. ET Sunday morning. Coverage is scheduled to begin at 9:10 a.m. ET on the GT World YouTube channel.
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.