GT World Challenge & America Races - Sebring

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Matt Bell led the way in opening GT World Challenge America powered by AWS practice at Sebring International Raceway, putting the No. 11 DXDT Racing Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R atop the time charts.

Bell’s 1:59.757 in the Pro-Am class Corvette was 0.377 seconds quicker than fellow class competitor Aaron Telitz in the No. 88 Archangel Motorsports McLaren 720S GT3 Evo.
While Bell was the only driver to dip into the 1:59s, a 2:00.228 lap time by Mikael Grenier in the No. 34 JMF Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo was quickest of the Pro class contenders in third overall.

Aaron Povoledo made it two Corvettes in the top-four in his No. 50 Chouest Povoledo Racing entry, while Philip Ellis completed the top-five in the No. 91 Regulator Racing Mercedes-AMG.

The No. 92 LAB Motorsport by GT Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R of Kyle Marcelli was sixth overall, ahead of Robby Foley’s No. 29 Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT3, which is carrying 26 kg of ballast this weekend due to co-driver Justin Rothberg’s driver rating derogation.

The overall top-ten was completed by the No. 32 GMG Racing Porsche, No. 99 Random Vandals Racing BMW and No. 18 RS1 Porsche.

The lone Am class entry this weekend, the No. 6 Dollahite Racing Ford Mustang GT3 featuring recent FIA World Endurance Championship LMGT3 podium finisher Stefano Gattuso, was 15th overall.

The second practice of the day is scheduled for a 2:30 p.m. EST start time.

 

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Blake McDonald set the pace in the second and final GT America powered by AWS practice session of the weekend at Sebring International Raceway.
The DXDT Racing driver, who also set the fastest lap time in yesterday’s Practice 1, outpaced Memo Gidley by 0.662 seconds with his 2:01.084 benchmark time aboard the No. 11 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R.

As was the case yesterday, McDonald continued to improve on his best SRO3 class time once at the top of the time sheets, with his best time recorded on his tenth of 12 laps.
Kyle Washington was third fastest in the No. 32 GMG Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R ahead of Justin Rothberg, who finished in fourth after not turning any laps during yesterday’s Practice 1.

The No. 70 Mishumotors Callaway Corvette C7 GT3-R of Mirco Schultis, meanwhile, rounded out the overall top five.
Anthony McIntosh once again took his No. 69 JTR Motorsports Engineering Toyota Supra GT4 EVO2 to the top of the GT4 class times, slotting ahead of Michael Fitzpatrick by a comfortable 1.442 seconds.

At the start of the session, both Ross Chouest and Fitzpatrick served five-minute hold penalties for “track exit procedure violations” committed during Thursday’s first practice session, while Siddiqi served a drive-through for a pit stop infraction.

Qualifying for the field of nine GT America drivers takes place on Saturday morning at 8:10 a.m. EST ahead of Race 1 at 11:55 a.m. later that morning, which will be streamed live on SRO’s GT World YouTube channel and on Twitch.

RESULTS: Practice 2

 

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Turner Motorsport’s Robby Foley posted the quickest time in Friday afternoon’s GT World Challenge America powered by AWS practice session at Sebring International Raceway.

Foley’s 2:00.688 lap time in the No. 29 BMW M4 GT3 topped the leaderboard in the 60-minute session, but was slower than Matt Bell’s chart-topping 1:59.757 lap from the cooler morning session.
The BMW factory driver, however, ended up 0.137 seconds quicker than the No. 99 Random Vandals Racing BMW of Kenton Koch and Connor De Phillippi, which paced the Pro class.

Second in Pro-Am and third overall was Tom Sargent in the No. 32 GMG Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R, followed by the No. 34 JMF Motorsport Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo of Mikael Grenier.

Philip Ellis completed the top-five in the No. 91 Regulator Racing Mercedes-AMG, ahead of Bell’s No. 11 DXDT Racing Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R, which topped the time charts in the morning session.

The No. 6 Dollahite Racing Ford Mustang GT3, competing as the only Am class entrant this weekend, wound up 13th overall, an improvement from its morning position.
There were no reported incidents during the 60-minute session, which ran without any red flags.

Qualifying is scheduled for 9:20 a.m. EST with coverage on SRO’s GT World YouTube and Twitch channels.

 

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Philip Ellis and Robby Foley have claimed overall pole positions for this weekend’s pair of GT World Challenge America powered by AWS races at Sebring International Raceway.

Ellis, in the Pro-Am class No. 91 Regulator Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo, reeled off a best lap of 1:59.839 to edge out the Pro class pole-winning No. 99 Random Vandals Racing BMW M4 GT4 EVO of Kenton Koch by 0.145 seconds.

The Swiss driver, who remains undefeated in qualifying so far this season, and Koch were the only drivers to dip below the 2:00 lap time barrier in Q1.

Alex Sedgwick qualified third overall and second in Pro in the No. 18 RS1 Porsche, followed by Michai Stephens in the No. 34 JMF Motorsports Mercedes-AMG.

Blake McDonald was fifth overall and second in Pro-Am in the No. 11 DXDT Racing Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R, who was quicker than Bill Auberlen in the No. 51 Random Vandals BMW.

The No. 29 Turner Motorsport BMW of Justin Rothberg will start Race 1 from seventh, with Scott Dollahite recording a season-best eighth place overall run in the Am class No. 6 Dollahite Racing Ford Mustang GT3.

There was late session drama for the No. 27 CRP Racing Mercedes-AMG of Jason Daskalos, who suffered a left-rear puncture after clipping a curb, and limped his Pro-Am class entry back to the pits.

Q2 saw a red flag with five minutes completed the 15-minute session for Dollahite’s co-driver Stefano Gattuso stopping on track with a loose left-rear wheel, which left less than seven minutes of run time when the session resumed.

Foley, meanwhile, reeled off a qualifying-best lap of 1:59.478 to edge out the No. 11 DXDT Corvette of Matt Bell by 0.317 seconds, with Connor De Phillippi qualifying third overall and was quickest in Pro in the No. 99 Random Vandals BMW.

It came despite the BMW factory driver carrying 26 kg of additional ballast for Rothberg’s driver derogation this weekend.

Jan Heylen and Mikael Grenier completed the overall top-five for Race 2.

Race 1 gets underway at 3 p.m. EST with live coverage on SRO’s GT World YouTube and Twitch channels as well as on MAVTV, with Race 2 set for Sunday at 1:45 p.m.

RESULTS: Qualifying 1/Qualifying 2

 

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Blake McDonald continued his fine run of form at Sebring International Raceway, by setting the fastest lap in qualifying for the first GT America powered by AWS race of the weekend in Florida after leading both practice sessions for DXDT Racing.

McDonald climbed to the top of the time sheets mid-session, but continued to chip away time in his No. 11 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R, ultimately cementing his pole position with a 2:01.181 lap on his final attempt to comfortably pace the field.

Justin Rothberg was second-fastest for Turner Motorsport, 1.156 seconds down on the DXDT driver’s pace in his No. 29 BMW M4 GT3 EVO but will start from the pole position due to McDonald not slated to take part in either of the 40-minute sprint races this weekend.

Memo Gidley’s SKI Autosports Audi R8 LMS GT3 EVO II set the third-quickest time in the 15-minute session, a mere 0.015 seconds off of Rothberg’s time.

With a fresh powerplant installed in his No. 70 Mishumotors Callaway Corvette C7 GT3-R, Mirco Schultis jumped to the top of the times early, but would ultimately finish the session fourth, ahead of Ross Chouest’s No. 50 Z06 GT3.R, who rounded out the overall top five SRO3 times.

Anthony McIntosh will sit on the GT4 class pole after a 2:12.524 benchmark laid down in his No. 69 JTR Motorsports Engineering Toyota GR Supra GT4 EVO2.

Kyle Washington had to serve a stop-and-go penalty after being caught speeding in pit lane as the session went green.

Race 1 for GT America goes green at 11:55 a.m. EST with live coverage available on SRO’s GT World YouTube and Twitch channels.

RESULTS: Qualifying

 

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Kenton Koch and Connor De Phillippi claimed their third GT World Challenge America powered by AWS victory of the season in the opening race of the weekend at Sebring International Raceway.

De Phillippi pedaled his No. 99 Random Vandals Racing BMW M4 GT3 Evo to a 1.759-second win over the No. 18 RS1 Porsche 911 GT3 R of Jan Heylen, with Varun Choksey making it a double podium for the Paul Sparta-owned team.

Koch, in the opening stint of the caution-free contest, ran second to the overall pole-sitting No. 91 Regulator Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo of Philip Ellis, who controlled the opening stint before pitting to co-driver Jeff Burton with 40 minutes to go.

Bronze-rated driver Burton inherited the outright lead but lost it to De Phillippi with 32 minutes remaining, and dropped to finish second in Pro-Am.

The Pro-Am victory went to the No. 11 DXDT Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R of Matt Bell and Blake McDonald for the second time this year.

Bell passed Burton for the class lead and eventual win in the final ten minutes, recovering a 37-second lead by Ellis at one point.
The No. 29 Turner Motorsport BMW of Robby Foley and Justin Rothberg completed the Pro-Am class podium in third, seventh overall.
Fourth in the race and in the Pro class went to the No. 34 JMF Motorsports Mercedes-AMG of Mikael Grenier and Michai Stephens, who lost the points lead to Koch and De Phillippi.

The No. 88 Archangel Motorsports McLaren 720S GT3 Evo of Aaron Telitz was eighth, ahead of the No. 92 LAB Motorsport by GT Racing Porsche that was taken to the finish by Kyle Marcelli.
Scott Dollahite and Stefano Gattuso, meanwhile, picked up Am class honors in their No. 6 Dollahite Racing Ford Mustang GT3, which finished 12th overall.
The start of the 90-minute race saw Gray Newell stall his No. 24 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo that led to Jason Daskalos’ No. 27 CRP Racing Mercedes-AMG run into the No. 32 GMG Racing Porsche of Kyle Washington.
Washington spun later in the lap, while Daskalos pitted with nose damage, dropping the CRP entry one lap behind, while Washington’s co-driver Tom Sargent rebounded to finish 10th overall, just ahead of Newell’s co-driver Darren Turner.

A drive-through penalty for speeding in the pit lane dropped the No. 50 Chouest Povoledo Racing Corvette down the order to a 14th place result after a strong opening stint by Ross Chouest.

The No. 2 Racers Edge Motorsports Aston Martin finished 14th after an unscheduled stop for Michael Cooper late in the running.
Race 2 gets underway Sunday at 1:45 p.m. EST with live coverage on SRO’s GT World YouTube and Twitch channels, as well as on MAVTV.