JMF Motorsports’ Michai Stephens was able to take the lead from DXDT Racing’s Blake McDonald during the mid-race pit stop sequence Sunday (Aug. 17). From there, Stephens pulled away from the field, then held on in a one-lap shootout to win GT World Challenge America powered by AWS Race No. 2 at Road America with Mikael Grenier. It is Grenier and Stephens’ second overall win and third Pro class win of the season.
“I have to make sure [John Farrow, team owner] is ok. I think he and I both had a mild heart attack [after that one-lap shootout],” Stephens said after the race.
The margin of victory was 1.328 seconds over Random Vandals Racing’s Connor de Phillippi and Kenton Koch. Rennsport One’s Jan Heylen and Alex Sedgwick were third, then Bill Auberlen and Varun Choksey in the second Random Vandals BMW. DXDT Racing’s McDonald and Matt Bell were fifth.
Bell started from pole in his Corvette. He ended up spending the entire first half of the race battling with Grenier for the overall lead. He was able to open a small lead over Turner Motorsport’s Robby Foley in the Pro-Am class.
In the Pro class, Grenier started from pole in second overall. With the Pro drivers in the Pro-Am class starting the race, he ended up with a decent lead over Heylen in the Rennsport One Porsche. Heylen, in turn, opened a five-second lead over Auberlen.
At the start of the mid-race stops, Bell was less than a second ahead of Grenier and had two seconds over Foley in Pro-Am.
Grenier stopped on lap 20 along with Sedgwick for full service. The total pit lane deltas were relatively similar, but Grenier was starting to open up the gap prior to the stops. Afterwards, there was a seven-second gap between the top Pro cars.
Bell stopped with a little over 41 minutes to go to put McDonald in the car along with the majority of the other Pro-Am teams. McDonald was able to get out of the pits with the overall lead, but was on cold tires. That allowed Stephens to run him down and take the lead in turn 5.
In the pit window, Stephens turned in a series of quick laps to run away from Sedgwick. By the time the window closed, his advantage over the Porsche in class had doubled from seven to 14 seconds.
McDonald ended up with a substantial lead in the Pro-Am class over Turner Motorsport’s Justin Rothberg. He was able to run his own pace during his stint. That pace paled in comparison to the Pro class teams around him, but was more than enough to maintain his Pro-Am.
With seven minutes to go, CRP Racing’s Jason Daskalos suffered a rear suspension failure that shot his car off the track at turn 8. He managed to keep the car off of the wall, but he stalled in the runoff to bring out the caution. The caution wiped out a 22-second lead for Stephens overall and a nine-second lead for McDonald in Pro-Am.
Given the length of a lap at Road America, this seemed like it would take was more than enough for the race to end under caution. However, the safety crew was able to quickly remove Daskalos’ Mercedes so that the race could end with a one-lap shootout.
On the restart, Sedgwick attempted to make a move for the lead on Stephens. However, he went too hot into turn 1, which allowed de Phillippi to take second. From there, Stephens was able to hold on to take the win.
In Pro-Am, McDonald was able to lead on the restart, but Rothberg seemed to have more left on his tires. As a result, the BMW was right on McDonald’s tail.
Further back, Archangel Motorsports’ Todd Coleman went very wide in turn 1 and didn’t rejoin in a safe fashion. That rejoin resulted in Chouest Povoledo Racing’s Ross Chouest being forced into the grass and spinning out.
Rothberg made an aggressive move for the Pro-Am lead at turn 8 on the final lap, but McDonald was able to hold him off. From there, McDonald held on for the class win.
Bell and McDonald’s margin of victory was .439 seconds over Foley and Rothberg. The Heart of Racing’s Gray Newell and Darren Turner were third, then Regulator Racing’s Jeff Burton and Philip Ellis. GMG Racing’s Tom Sargent and Kyle Washington were fifth.
Ellis recovered from a stop-and-go penalty for speeding in the pit lane to finish third on the road, thanks to the caution. However, he was judged to have gone off the track to overtake Newell on the final lap, so he was docked a position.
The big crash that Scott Dollahite had in the Kink during Race No. 1 Saturday resulted in Dollahite being unable to race. Teammate Eric Powell was forced to borrow Turner Motorsport’s backup car to make a couple laps to get points.
As a result, AF Corse’s Oswaldo Negri Jr. and Jay Schreibman took the Am victory by default.
GT World Challenge America powered by AWS: Road America Race No. 2 Results
Next up is Barber Motorsports Park for the sixth race weekend of the season. Race No. 1 is scheduled for 4 p.m. ET on Sept. 6. The race will air live on both RACER Network and 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.