JMF Motorsports’ Mikael Grenier and Michai Stephens dominated Sunday (Sept. 7) at Barber Motorsports Park. They were never seriously threatened en route to victory in GT World Challenge America powered by AWS Race No. 2. It is their third overall victory of the year and fourth Pro class victory.
“I think today was our best race [of the season] overall,” Grenier told SRO America’s Amanda Busick after the race. “We started from the lead. Michai was super-quick as well. I think we’re ready to fight [at Indianapolis].”
Grenier and Stephens’ margin of victory was 28.658 seconds over Rennsport One’s Jan Heylen and Alex Sedgwick. Random Vandals Racing’s Connor de Phillippi and Kenton Koch were third, then DXDT Racing’s Matt Bell and Blake McDonald. Bill Auberlen and Varun Choksey were third.
JMF Motorsports’ Mikael Grenier started from the overall pole in his Pro class Mercedes. At the beginning of the race, GMG Racing’s Tom Sargent challenged de Phillippi for second, but de Phillippi was able to hold him off.
Unlike the rest of the weekend, this was not the day for Random Vandals Racing. 22 minutes into the race, de Phillippi was forced to pit to take on fuel. Teammate Varun Choksey followed a lap later. Both cars were said to have fuel pickup issues.
De Phillippi’s issue meant that Grenier ended up with a three-second lead over Sargent, but a much bigger lead over the rest of the Pro class. Rennsport One’s Jan Heylen was 20 seconds back.
Once the pit stops were complete, Stephens ended up with a five-second lead over Kyle Washington. That lead rapidly expanded as Stephens was a couple of seconds a lap quicker than Washington’s Porsche. In class, he had a 23-second lead over Sedgwick.
That advantage continued to expand as the Random Vandals BMWs were down the order due to their unscheduled pit stops. Sedgwick was able to get up to second overall with 26 minutes to go, but was more than a third of a lap down by that point.
From there, Stephens was able to continue to expand his lead. The advantage was up to 32 seconds at one point before he backed up in the final couple of laps.
In Pro-Am, Sargent started from pole in third overall. After losing out on second overall to de Phillippi, he settled into his position and opened up a couple of seconds over Archangel Motorsports’ Aaron Telitz.
That lead expanded all the way to 10 seconds before Sargent pitted to get Washington in the car. In that sequence, the lead actually expanded up to 15 seconds.
McDonald ran down Todd Coleman in the Archangel McLaren and took away second in class. At that point, he was 18 seconds behind Washington.
What followed was a series of quick laps that allowed McDonald’s Chevrolet to pick up multiple seconds a lap to run down Washington. With 13 minutes to go, he was there.
With eight minutes to go, Washington went wide entering turn 14 and got his tires dirty. That was all McDonald needed to get a run on him for the lead. The pass was made in turn 1.
From there, McDonald pulled away from Washington to take the Pro-Am victory in fourth overall. Behind him, a fierce battle ended in tears.
Regulator Racing’s Philip Ellis charged from the back to try to get onto the podium, but he ran into a very insistent Jason Daskalos. For the last 10 minutes of the race, the two drivers dueled for third in class. The duo were also right in front of Stephens.
Coming to what would have been the white flag, Ellis ran into the back of Daskalos exiting turn 14, turning Daskalos into the wall. Ellis then pulled over and eventually let Daskalos back past.
The margin of victory was 12.360 seconds over Sargeant and Washington. A lap down, Daskalos and Isaac Sherman were credited with third, then Turner Motorsport’s Robby Foley and Justin Rothberg. Ellis and Jeff Burton were third.
Note that these results are unofficial. There are multiple investigations going on at the moment. Should the results change, we will update this recap.
In Am, Dollahite Racing’s Eric Powell started on the class pole in 12th overall. On the opening lap, he was able to move up three positions and put some space between himself and Oswaldo Negri Jr.
By the time the mid-race pit stops came along, Powell was up to seventh overall. Scott Dollahite didn’t quite have the same pace as Powell, but he was able to hold on to take the Am win. Dollahite and Powell ended up a lap ahead of Negri and Jay Schreibman.
GT World Challenge America powered by AWS: Barber Park Race No. 2 Results
There is only one race remaining on the schedule. That is the Indianapolis 8 Hour, a joint round with the Intercontinental GT Challenge. The race is scheduled to go green at 11:30 a.m. ET on Oct. 18. Coverage will air live on 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.