DXDT Racing’s great first season with the new Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R continues to shine bright: The #63 Corvette of Alec Udell and Tommy Milner scored its fourth overall victory of the season in Race 1 of GT World Challenge America at historic Road America circuit.
It’s Udell and Milner’s fourth overall win in the five races since their debut at Circuit of the Americas, and their fifth straight Pro class victory in as many races.
Udell inherited pole position after a technical infringement dropped the #91 Regulator Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 (Philip Ellis/Jeff Burton) to the rear of the grid, and Udell held the lead through the opening corners.
Random Vandals Racing’s first GT3 race was spoiled when the #28 ST Racing BMW of Bill Auberlen turned down onto the #99 of Madison Snow, and sent Snow spinning around into the path of the pack behind him. Series newcomer Bryson Morris couldn’t avoid the stranded BMW and hit Snow, inflicting damage upon the Pro-Am #08 DXDT Corvette.
The #99 BMW of Snow and Kenton Koch retired in just three corners, while the #08 Corvette of Morris and Bryan Sellers continued after repairs – finishing four laps down in 14th overall.
Udell led after the ensuing pit stop, but would come under pressure from the hard-charging Luca Mars in the #93 Racers Edge Motorsports Acura NSX GT3. Ellis in the #91 Regulator Mercedes quickly moved up into third place and made it a three-car fight for the overall lead.
27 minutes into the race, Mars drove around the outside of Udell at Canada Corner to take the overall lead; meanwhile, Ellis found his way past Udell to take second overall.
The window for pit stops allowed DXDT Racing the chance to try and undercut their way to the front again. Udell brought the #63 Corvette in on lap 20, and a lap later, Mars brought the #93 Racers Edge Acura into the pits.
The race turned when Zach Veach had trouble getting his seat insert securely placed into the cockpit. It only cost Racers Edge nine seconds, but those nine seconds were enough for Tommy Milner in the #63 Corvette to drive past Veach as the #93 Acura left the pits. Ellis waited until the end of his 50-minute time limit to bring the #91 Mercedes in for its stop. Jeff Burton would exit with a narrow lead from Milner, but it took Milner just a few corners to catch and pass Burton to retake the overall lead.
Then with 12 minutes remaining, Varun Choksey in the #28 ST Racing BMW ground to a halt at Mitchell Bend, bringing out a Full Course Yellow. The race restarted with just five and a half minutes left, leaving Milner’s lead very vulnerable.
Veach got up to Milner’s fender as the field rushed into turn one, but that’s as close as he’d get: Milner would keep him and all others out of reach, taking the chequered flag by less than eight-tenths of a second over Veach – who secured Racers Edge Motorsports’ best overall result of 2024!
Pro class championship leaders Adam Adelson and Elliott Skeer finished third overall in the #120 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R. Certainly not a bad result, considering the diffuser of the Porsche was heavily damaged during Adelson’s stint – it didn’t impact Skeer’s form as he got within striking distance of the two leaders at the end, though!
Adelson/Skeer continue to lead the Pro standings by 39 points over Auberlen/Choksey; however, five straight Pro victories for Udell/Milner have put them within 42 points of the top of the table.
That late caution was a pain point for Regulator Racing, as Burton was now in the clutches of the fast-approaching #29 Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT3 of Robby Foley.
On the penultimate lap, Foley slipped past Burton along the front stretch for fourth overall and the Pro-Am class lead; meanwhile Burton nearly spun exiting turn one and tumbled down the order.
It was something of a small miracle after Justin Rothberg spun and grazed the wall out of the final corner just ten minutes into his stint, but Foley drove off to take top honours for Turner Motorsport in Pro-Am for the second time in 2024 – their first Pro-Am win since Race 2 at Sebring.
Turner Motorsport and Foley are now two-for-two in class victories at Road America this month, including their IMSA victory two weeks ago.
Taking advantage of Burton’s slip-up, the #32 GMG Racing Porsche (Kyle Washington/Tom Sargent) moved up to fifth place overall, ahead of the debuting #92 MMG Porsche (Jean-Frederic Laberge/Kyle Marcelli) in a very impressive sixth place! Those cars would complete the Pro-Am podium, second and third respectively.
The first Am class victory of 2024 went to the #19 Esses Racing Mercedes of Will Hardeman and Alan Metni, who completely dominated the two-car category. Hardeman ran up in the top four during his stint, and Metni would consolidate seventh overall.
The #91 Mercedes of Burton and Ellis finished eighth overall, ahead of the #38 ST Racing BMW (Samantha Tan/Neil Verhagen) which languished down in ninth after an early call to start on wet tyres backfired. It was the first time that Tan and Verhagen finished off the Pro-Am podium.
And in its first race, the #8 Flying Lizard Motorsports BMW (Elias Sabo/Andy Lee) came back from a 60-second penalty stop – after allegedly being forced into pit lane by another car at speed – to finish tenth overall.
Tan/Verhagen had their Pro-Am points lead slashed to 31 points ahead of Rothberg/Foley, with four races remaining and 125 points available.
Race 2 starts tomorrow at 2:15 PM CDT (local time).
Images © Fabian Lagunas / SRO Motorsports America
