JMF Motorsports dominated the proceedings in Sebring Saturday (May 9). However, a terminal oil leak gave the lead to Turner Motorsport’s Robby Foley. He was able to hold on to win GT World Challenge America powered by AWS Round No. 3 at Sebring International Raceway with Justin Rothberg.
“It was good fun today,” Foley told SRO America’s Amanda Busick after the race. “The track temps started dropping, so it was hard to get heat in the tires. Once [they came in], the Turner guys and girls gave me a great Laticrete BMW today. Awesome to get back in victory lane and for the first time in the Pro class.”
The margin of victory was 7.975 seconds over Dollahite Racing’s Cameron Lawrence and Alex Sedgwick. AF Corse’s Matias Perez Companc and Frederik Schandorff were third in their Ferrari, followed by McCann Racing’s Michael McCann Jr. and Zachary Vanier. GMG Racing’s Tom Sargent and Kyle Washington were fifth.
JMF Motorsports’ Michai Stephens started from pole in his Mercedes and led early. Sedgwick was able to sweep past Perez Companc to take second. Together, Stephens and Sedgwick pulled away from the pack.
The first pit stop of the day stretched things out. A bad stop for Sedgwick meant that Stephens’ lead went from a couple of car lengths to eight seconds. It only continued to increase from there.
By the time the second round of pit stops came along, Stephens’ lead was up to 22 seconds. Grenier was handed a Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo in excellent position.
Further back, Perez Companc copped a drive-through penalty when he spun out Kellymoss’ John Gilliland in turn 10 while trying to lap him. That dropped him way back.
Once he got in the BMW, Foley was able to run down Sedgwick for second and take the position. At the time he took the spot, he was 25 seconds behind Grenier. He was able to make up a couple of seconds, but things seemed wrapped up.
Then, smoke billowed out of Grenier’s Mercedes with 45 minutes to go. A massive oil leak led Grenier to pull off on the Uhlmann Straight, bringing out the race’s only caution. Foley took over the lead as a result.
The race went back green with 29 minutes to go with Foley up front. Lawrence was right there at first, but Foley was slowly able to pull away from the field. He ultimately was not challenged en route to victory.
In Pro-Am, Triarsi Competizione’s Sebastian Mascaro started from pole in his Ferrari. Mascaro was able to maintain fifth from the start and pulled away from JMF Motorsports’ Jason Daskalos.
Further back, Wright Motorsports’ Therese Lahlouh spun in Sunset Bend on the second lap. She was able to recover and continue, but lost a bunch of time.
Early pit stops to switch off of qualifying tires shook up the field. Daskalos was able to take the lead while Mascaro slipped back to third. Any chance of Mascaro being able to catch back up went away when he spun in Sunset Bend a little over 30 minutes into the race. The incident dropped the black and gold Ferrari to eighth in class.
Daskalos ended up with a seven-second lead over Archangel Motorsports’ Todd Coleman. That advantage increased up to nearly 10 seconds.
Archangel’s charge ended just as soon as Aaron Telitz got in the car. He was forced to pull off with mechanical issues. That gave second in Pro-Am to TR3 Racing’s Daniel Morad.
Further back, Sargent had contact with Wright Motorsports’ Ryan Yardley, which partially ripped the nose off of his Porsche. Luckily, it did not come off. An off-course excursion exiting turn 1
Morad quickly ran down Lorcan Hanafin and ran him hard for the lead. He could not get past before the final round of pit stops began.
The caution brought everyone back together. Morad took advantage of this to try to make the move for the lead in turn 5 on the restart. He was able to clear Hanafin, but forced him off the road.
As a result, Hanafin dropped down to fourth. Sargent moved up to third behind Morad and Rennsport One’s Jan Heylen. Despite barebond being applied to the No. 32 Porsche during their final stop, the nose was once again loose.
Despite the loose nose piece, Sargent was able to get past Heylen for second, then set out to run down Morad. However, it didn’t even matter whether or not he actually caught him or not.
SRO America officials determined that Morad had contact with Hanafin to force him off the road to take the lead. Their response to that was to assess Morad a 10-second post-race penalty.
As a result, all Sargent had to do was keep Morad in his sights and he would win. That is effectively what happened. Morad won on the road, but Sargent was only .898 seconds back at the finish. That was good enough to take the win with Washington once the penalty was applied.
Sargent and Washington’s margin of victory was 2.414 seconds over Heylen and Juan Pablo Martinez. Daskalos and Hanafin were third, then Yardley and Dave Musial Jr. Mascaro and Riccardo Agostini were fifth. Morad and Brayton Williams‘ penalty dropped them down to sixth.
GT World Challenge America powered by AWS: Sebring Unofficial Results
Phil Allaway has three primary roles at Frontstretch. He's the manager of the Frontstretch email 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 Frontstretch 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.