At the Indianapolis Motor Speedway this weekend, SRO America’s GT America powered by AWS wrapped up their 2025 season. SKI Autosports’ Memo Gidley won Race No. 1 on Friday (Oct. 17), while Chouest Povoledo Racing’s Ross Chouest won the season finale Sunday (Oct. 19).
Race No. 1
CrowdStrike by Riley’s George Kurtz started from pole in his Mercedes and got a good jump on Memo Gidley. However, a stackup at the first turn resulted in Mirco Schultis‘ Callaway Corvette spinning out after contact from GMG Racing’s Kyle Washington.
Schultis was able to drive away from the incident, but his car was smoking heavily from the left rear corner. He ultimately chose to pull off to a safe position and retire from the race.
The quick jump for Kurtz did not last long. A quick slip just after turn 1 allowed Gidley to slip past into the overall lead.
Once in the lead, Gidley was not able to get away from the Mercedes right away. Kurtz was able to keep him honest. As the race continued on, Gidley was able to slowly pull away.
The real race was for fourth. Tony Davis was able to drive his Ferrari up to fourth, but ended up creating a train in the process. Washington, Turner Motorsport’s Justin Rothberg, Chouest and Rennsport One’s Joe Cortes were all there, battling for position.
After multiple laps, Rothberg was able to put the moves on Davis to take the spot with 12 minutes to go. Washington tried to follow past, but made contact with the Ferrari and partially ripped his nose off.
Gidley won by 3.3 seconds over Kurtz. Flying Lizard Motorsports’ Jason Bell was third, followed by Rothberg and Davis.
Rothberg’s fourth-place finish was more than enough for him to clinch the SRO3 championship.
In GT4, Mike Johnson, owner of Archangel Motorsports, started from pole in his Aston Martin. It was the mechanic’s first race as a driver in 20 years.
Early on, Jozsef Petkes was able to keep pace with Johnson, but he fell off fairly dramatically. What was a two-second lead quickly became 11 seconds, then 30.
Ultimately, Johnson won the class by a full lap over Petkes and another lap over Craig Lumsden. The one-lap victory was mostly due to the positioning of the overall leader. In reality, Johnson was roughly 79 seconds ahead of Petkes when they took the white flag.
GT America powered by AWS: Indianapolis Race No. 1 Results
Race No. 2
By virtue of setting the fastest lap during Race No. 1 Friday, Bell started from the overall pole in his Aston Martin. However, the conditions were really borderline in regards to tire choice.
Some drivers chose to start on slick tires, while others were on wets. Bell was on slicks originally, but chose to pit at the start (which was under caution) for wet tires along with Davis.
Bell’s pit stop gave the overall lead to Gidley. However, Gidley chose to stop a lap later. He had had a couple of moments on his slicks before the 40-minute race clock even began, but the decision was ultimately the wrong one.
After a couple of laps behind the safety car, the green finally came out six minutes into the race with Washington in the lead. Cortes and Chouest gave chase while Gidley failed to catch the pack before the green flew.
Washington ended up fighting for the overall lead with Cortes early on. However, Washington was penalized.
Back on the formation lap, Washington spun out all by himself, then retook his position on the grid. That’s not allowed. He was required to reposition himself behind Lumsden’s GT4 car at the time, but not doing so resulted in a drive-through penalty.
Washington ultimately served the drive-through penalty, but waited too long to do so. As a result, SRO America officials pulled his scorecard.
If this scenario were to occur in NASCAR, they would show you a black flag with a white stripe and stop scoring you until you serve the penalty. In SRO America, getting your scorecard pulled is a disqualification.
Washington’s penalty resulted in a three-way duel for the lead between Cortes, Chouest and Schultis. The drivers were three-wide on the frontstretch before Chouest pulled ahead in his Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R.
As this was happening, sprinkles returned to IMS. Also, despite his DQ, Washington exited the pits right in front of Chouest and stayed there for a bunch of laps.
Schultis raced Chouest hard for the overall lead, but he was never able to get fully alongside. Eventually, the tires started going off on the Callaway Corvette, allowing Chouest to get away to take the win.
“We were on the fence the whole time [on going with slicks],” Chouest told SRO America’s Amanda Busick after the race. “I looked over and saw a couple of guys on wet tires. I questioned it a little bit, then decided to take the risk.”
The margin of victory was 2.179 seconds over Schultis. Davis ended up third, followed by Cortes. Gidley was fifth at the finish, but two full laps behind as his wet tires wore out on the dry track.
In GT4, Johnson chose not to participate after taking his victory on Friday. As a result, Petkes started from the pole in his Porsche.
Lumsden was able to take the lead about 10 minutes into the race, but Petkes stayed right on his tail. 10 minutes later, Petkes pounced in turn 1 to retake the lead.
From there, Petkes was able to hold on to take the class win by 14.203 seconds.
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.