From the second row after Qualifying, to the rear of the field after a post-Qualifying technical infringement, to the win in Race 1 of GT World Challenge America at Circuit of the Americas: It was a bit of an understatement to say that Kenton Koch and Connor De Phillippi had a roller-coaster ride on the way to driving the #99 Random Vandals Racing BMW M4 GT3 to victory on Saturday.
Koch had initially qualified third for the 90-minute race, but when the car was found to be below its minimum ride height requirements, he was sent to the back of the field.
But by avoiding a four-car pile-up at the top of Big Red (turn one), Koch was able to gain nine positions before the Full Course Yellow was deployed at the end of the opening lap.
Oswaldo Negri Jnr’s #163 AF Corse Ferrari was turned around by Jason Daskalos’ #27 CRP Racing Mercedes-AMG. In the accordion effect, Kyle Washington’s #32 GMG Racing Porsche then ran into Daskalos, and Anthony Lazzaro in the #6 Dollahite Racing Ford ran into Washington a bit harder. The damage was too great for Dollahite Racing to continue, knocking them out of their home race.
And the full-course yellow practically ruined the strategy for polesitters Regulator Racing and Philip Ellis. Though Ellis was able to build a gap once the race went back to green, it wasn’t enough to keep the #91 Mercedes-AMG GT3 out in the Pro-Am class lead for long after Jeff Burton got in the car.
Compounding matters, Burton received a ten-second post-race time penalty for cutting the white pit exit line.
But it was another post-race time penalty that swung the race for the Pro and overall race win. The #34 JMF Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT3 ran second overall in the hands of Michai Stephens during his stint. Co-driver Mikaël Grenier re-emerged with the class lead, then quickly overtook Burton for the overall lead.
Grenier would have to maintain at least a 1.74-second buffer to the car behind him to offset a post-race time penalty for a short pit stop, and De Phillippi was quickly on the charge. The two factory drivers for their respective German brands swung in and out of that 1.74-second delta for several laps as they battled for the lead.
But a persistent De Phillippi was able to close within that delta to stay, and kept closing to try and ensure he could take the lead on the road, too.
De Phillippi took the chequered flag behind Grenier on the road, but with the penalty, the win went to Random Vandals’ championship-leading #99 car, by just 0.141 seconds. But JMF Motorsports can be proud to have finished today’s race after losing most of Practice yesterday to what was looking like a catastrophic suspension failure, and staying up until 1:00 AM to fix the problem.
The #18 RS1 Porsche 911 GT3 R (Alex Sedgwick/Jan Heylen) came home third overall and in class, 15 seconds behind the two leaders.
In Pro-Am, the #11 DXDT Racing Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R of Blake McDonald and Matt Bell took the class win and fourth place overall, returning to the site of the Corvette Z06 GT3.R’s very first win in global competition. It had been a difficult weekend at Sonoma for the pair, but they were able to bounce back in a big way in Austin.
The #29 Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT3 EVO (Justin Rothberg/Robby Foley) finished fifth overall and extended its Pro-Am points lead with second place in class.
And after being delayed due to the lap one, turn one incident, Washington and Tom Sargent drove the #32 GMG Racing Porsche all the way back to sixth overall and third in Pro-Am.
The #24 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage GT3 (Gray Newell/Darren Turner) took seventh, ahead of the #2 Racers Edge Motorsports Aston Martin (Jason Bell/Michael Cooper) in eighth, and the #88 Archangel Motorsports McLaren 720S GT3 EVO (Todd Coleman/Aaron Telitz) in ninth.
After the ten-second penalty, the #91 Regulator Racing Mercedes-AMG of Burton and Ellis came home tenth, one position ahead of the #50 Chouest Povoledo Racing Corvette (Ross Chouest/Aaron Povoledo), which was running solidly in the top ten until Povoledo spun out late in the race.
There was also a mechanical issue for the #51 Random Vandals Racing BMW (Bill Auberlen/Varun Choksey) that took the car out of the race, classified in 14th overall (fourth in Pro).
The #163 AF Corse Ferrari of Negri and Jay Schreibman simply had to finish the race (16th overall) to win the Am duel over the #6 Dollahite Mustang that retired after the opening lap.
Images © Fabian Lagunas / SRO Motorsports America
