Back on top for the first time since their first GT3 race, JMF Motorsports won GT World Challenge America powered by AWS Race 2 from Road America to close out the weekend.
It was a complete victory for the #34 Mercedes-AMG GT3 of Michai Stephens and Mikaël Grenier, who took their third Pro class win of the year and their second overall win.
Grenier ran close behind the #11 DXDT Racing Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R of polesitter Matt Bell during the opening stint of the race, and after a good pit stop, Stephens was able to quickly get by the Corvette shortly after Blake McDonald got on board.
Stephens continued to pull away from the pack and was over 22 seconds ahead when Jason Daskalos’ broken-down #27 CRP Racing Mercedes-AMG triggered a Full Course Yellow with seven minutes to go.
The race restarted with enough time for one green flag lap, but Stephens was able to hold on for the win, ahead of the #99 Random Vandals Racing BMW M4 GT3 EVO of Kenton Koch and Connor De Phillippi in second, and the #18 RS1 Porsche 911 GT3 R of Alex Sedgwick and Jan Heylen in third.
Koch made a decisive move to pass Sedgwick on the last-lap restart and gain valuable championship points for the #99 team; the #51 Random Vandals BMW (Varun Choksey/Bill Auberlen) came home fourth.
The #11 DXDT Corvette finished fifth, and McDonald and Bell would take the Pro-Am class win with that result – their third class win of the season.
Right behind was the #29 Turner Motorsport BMW (Justin Rothberg/Robby Foley), and thanks to Ellis’ last-lap aggression, the #91 Regulator Racing Mercedes-AMG (with Jeff Burton) salvaged third at the line after serving a stop/go penalty for speeding in the pits.
But Ellis would then be given a one-position drop after the race for rough driving, handing the final Pro-Am podium position to the #24 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage GT3 (Gray Newell/Darren Turner).
The overall top ten was completed by the #32 GMG Racing Porsche (Kyle Washington/Tom Sargent), and the #16 AF Corse USA Ferrari 296 GT3 (Marcelo Hahn/Christian Hahn).
The #163 AF Corse Ferrari of Jay Schriebman and Oswaldo Negri Jnr finished 11th, taking the Am class win – but the win was not uncontested.
Thanks to a sporting gesture from Will Turner and Turner Motorsport, Dollahite Racing’s Eric Powell was able to start the race in one of Turner’s spare BMWs, complete two laps, and meet the minimum distance to score points on behalf of the team and co-driver Scott Dollahite.
Dollahite Racing will now work to ensure it can make it to the next round after the #6 Ford Mustang GT3 suffered terminal damage in its Race 1 incident.
With three races left in the 2025 GT World Challenge America season, the series heads to Barber Motorsports Park in Alabama for the final 90-minute sprint doubleheader weekend, on 5-7 September.
Images © Fabian Lagunas / SRO Motorsports America
