The #63 DXDT Racing Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R of Alec Udell and Tommy Milner won Race 2 of GT World Challenge America at Barber Motorsports Park, their seventh overall victory in eight races, and eighth consecutive Pro class win.
But that only came following a Safety Car intervention in the closing minutes of Sunday’s race, and only after heartache for Random Vandals Racing – which was poised for its first GT World Challenge victory with the BMW M4 GT3.
Locking out the front row for Sunday’s race were the two protagonists in the Pro-Am Championship battle – Robby Foley on pole in the #29 Turner Motorsport BMW, followed by Neil Verhagen in the #38 ST Racing BMW. Unlike yesterday, the two leading BMWs kept it clean through turn one and then the opening stint of the race.
Foley pulled out to a four-second lead over Verhagen in second, followed by the #99 Random Vandals BMW of Kenton Koch in third – making it an all-Bavarian 1-2-3. Tommy Milner in the #63 DXDT Corvette was down in sixth place overall, trying to fend off his main title rival, the #120 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R of Elliott Skeer for position in class.
All pit stops were completed with 40 minutes left. In the exchange, the #38 ST Racing BMW now driven by Samantha Tan left the pits ahead of the #29 Turner BMW of Justin Rothberg. But with Rothberg already up to speed, he was able to retake the overall lead on the outlap.
The #99 Random Vandals BMW of Conor Daly and the #63 DXDT Corvette of Milner were fast approaching though, and the two leading Pro-Am cars made little effort to defend their overall position. Daly, IndyCar’s hard-luck journeyman, took the overall lead while Udell followed through into second – while Rothberg and Tan dropped back to prioritise their own battle. Both battles were closely contested.
Then, with 26 minutes to go, the #8 Flying Lizard Motorsports BMW of Elias Sabo spun off at Turn 13 and couldn’t restart. The Safety Car was deployed, setting up a 20-minute sprint to the finish once the green flag waved again. Daly got a good restart and began pulling away from Udell.
But with victory within reach, Daly’s car began sputtering and retreated to the pits. A fuel pickup problem had denied Random Vandals the win with six minutes remaining.
Udell would inherit the lead thereafter and completed the #63 Corvette’s comeback, to win both races in Alabama. It was the third time that Udell and Milner swept both 90-minute sprint races in a weekend, they did it on debut at COTA, and again at Road America.
“It was very hard today, for sure,” said Milner. “We got lucky at the start. I got hit twice on the left-rear and thought something was broken or wrong, but I think the track was just super-dirty. We were lucky to get away with that one. As we expected, we weren’t the fastest car. Alec did a great job and we had a great pit stop. This DXDT team just excels in every area. I’m really proud to be part of this race team and to drive this Corvette Z06 GT3.R.”
And now, even after a late arrival, the GT World Challenge America Pro title is now truly within reach at the Indianapolis 8 Hour. “Everyone keeps asking about the championship and I didn’t want to talk about it for a long time,” Milner continued. “But after today for us, things are falling into our hands. Now it’s a discussion, and I’m happy to go to Indy with a good chance to win it.”
The #28 ST Racing BMW (Bill Auberlen/Varun Choksey) finished a season-best second overall, five seconds off the victory.
The big winner after the Safety Car was the #91 Regulator Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 (Jeff Burton/Philip Ellis). Burton kept the black and red Mercedes on the lead lap by the time their pit window opened. Ellis still had work to do to move through the field, and was only 11th when the Flying Lizard BMW stopped.
But the Safety Car brought the rest of the field closer to Ellis. The Anglo-Swiss driver powered his way through the pack at warp speed – in less than five minutes, he was past Tan, and then past Rothberg, for third place overall and the lead in Pro-Am. Ellis and Burton took their second Pro-Am class win of the year on the alternate driver strategy.
He pulled out an 11-second gap to the #29 Turner BMW of Rothberg and Foley, which finished fourth overall.
Meanwhile, with two laps remaining, the #93 Racers Edge Motorsports Acura NSX GT3 of Luca Mars overtook the #120 Wright Porsche of Adam Adelson for the last spot on the Pro podium. Mars and Zach Veach finished fifth, followed by Adelson and Skeer in sixth.
The #38 ST Racing BMW of Tan and Verhagen finished seventh overall, and third in Pro-Am.
Behind them were the #64 DXDT Racing Corvette (Bryson Morris/Bryan Sellers) in eighth, the #88 AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3 (Custodio Toledo/Riccardo Agostini) in ninth, and the #85 RS1 Porsche (Jake Pedersen/Trent Hindman). This was the first appearance for Toledo and Agostini since COTA, with AF Corse fielding two cars.
The other AF Corse Ferrari, the #163 of Jay Schreibman and Oswaldo Negri Jnr, won the Am class by default on Saturday with a 14th-place overall finish. Unfortunately on Sunday, the black Ferrari suffered a clutch issue and retired after just one lap. One car was scratched from the field on Sunday – the #50 Chouest Povoledo Racing Mercedes (Ross Chouest/Aaron Povoledo) did not start after an accident in the GT America race that morning.
Up next is the Indianapolis 8 Hour, the final round of the 2024 GT World Challenge America season – where both major titles are up for grabs.
Wright Motorsports’ Adelson and Skeer, who’ve run every race this season and started the year with a sweep at Sonoma Raceway, now lead the Pro Drivers’ Championship by just seven points over DXDT Racing’s Udell and Milner – who began the year 86 points in arrears. It will be a winner-take-all showdown at Indy between the two teams – with 50 points available to the FGTWCA Pro class winners.
One other team, the #28 ST Racing crew of Choksey and Auberlen, is also mathematically eligible but with a 37-point deficit in front of them, they’re not in full control of their destiny even if they win their class.
Meanwhile in Pro-Am, Tan and Verhagen’s lead in the standings was trimmed from 45 to 26 points over Rothberg and Foley after a tough weekend. Turner Motorsport has to finish in the top three in Pro-Am at Indy to have any chance at the title, while ST Racing can clinch the title no matter what if they finish on the Pro-Am podium.
Tan and Verhagen will have John Capestro-Dubets as their third driver at the Indy 8 Hour while other contending teams have yet to declare their third drivers.
The fifth annual Indianapolis 8 Hour starts Saturday, 5 October.
Images © Fabian Lagunas / SRO Motorsports America
