GT World America championship standings – JMF, Turner crews in front
JMF Motorsports’ Pro class win in Race 2 at COTA has given Michai Stephens and Mikael Grenier the lead in the GT World Challenge America Pro standings after four races.
Stephens and Grenier entered the weekend down by three points to Kenton Koch/Connor De Phillippi but the #99 BMW’s troubles on Sunday turned what was a ten-point advantage into a deficit for the Race 1 winners.
Justin Rothberg and Robby Foley still lead the Pro-Am standings for Turner Motorsport, but the big Race 2 win from Regulator Racing’s Philip Ellis and Jeff Burton has put them within six points of the top spot. And with CrowdStrike by Riley not running the full season, Regulator Racing has stepped forward as Turner’s primary challenger for the 2025 Pro-Am title.
CRP Racing’s Jason Daskalos/Isaac Sherman are now third, one point ahead of Race 1 winners Blake McDonald/Matt Bell for DXDT Racing.
GT World Challenge America Pro
- Michai Stephens/Mikael Grenier (#34)—83
- Kenton Koch/Connor De Phillippi (#99)—80
- Alex Sedgwick/Jan Heylen (#18)—63
- Varun Choksey/Bill Auberlen (#51)—54
GT World Challenge America Pro-Am
- Justin Rothberg/Robby Foley (#29)—68
- Philip Ellis/Jeff Burton (#91)—62
- Jason Daskalos/Isaac Sherman (#27)—42
- Blake McDonald/Matt Bell (#11)—41
- George Kurtz/Colin Braun (#04)—36※
- Kyle Washington/Tom Sargent (#32)—31
GT4 America championship tables shaken up after double-points enduro
Saturday’s GT4 Lone Star Enduro produced several big swings in the championship standings with double points offered.
RAFA Racing Team’s overall and Silver class win gave Toyota young drivers Gresham Wagner and Tyler Gonzalez a 12-point lead in the Silver standings, while Random Vandals Racing’s Kevin Boehm/Kenton Koch slid down to third place behind JMF Motorsports’ Braydon Arthur/Mike David Ortmann.
The Pro-Am class win for BimmerWorld Racing’s James Walker Jnr and Tyler McQuarrie has given the #82 BMW’s drivers a commanding 24-point lead in the standings over Blackdog Racing’s Tony Gaples/Michael Cooper. Sam Craven/Josh Green dropped from the lead to fifth place, trailing by 39 points after a tough evening for all three Vandals cars.
And while they didn’t win the Am class, RAFA Racing’s Anthony Geraci and Kenny Schmied held onto a narrow seven-point lead in the class standings. The big gainers in the Am standings were COTA winners James Clay and Charlie Postins – the BimmerWorld drivers went from eighth to third in the table.
GT4 America Silver
- Gresham Wagner/Tyler Gonzalez (#68)—78
- Braydon Arthur/Mike David Ortmann (#4)—66
- Kevin Boehm/Kenton Koch (#97)—63
- Colin Garrett/Zac Anderson (#52)—49
- Hannah Greenemeier/Hannah Grisham (#26)—48
- Jonathan Neudorf/Jesse Webb (#3)—40
GT4 America Pro-Am
- James Walker Jnr/Tyler McQuarrie (#82)—80
- Tony Gaples/Michael Cooper (#33)—56
- Curt Swearingin/Riley Dickinson (#7)—53
- Adrian Comstock/Thomas Merrill (#15)—46
- Sam Craven/Josh Green (#94)—41
- Tyler Stone/Matt Million (#53)—31
GT4 America Am
- Anthony Geraci/Kenny Schmied (#72)—73
- Judson Holt/Dave Ogburn (#188)—66
- James Clay/Charlie Postins (#36)—60
- Alex Garcia/Michael Garcia (#07)—41
- Paul Sparta/Michael Kanisczak (#98)—37
- Sean Gibbons/Sam Owen (#10)—30
GMG Racing takes two wins in McLaren Trophy America triple-header
GMG Racing driver James Sofronas put in a storming drive in qualifying to secure overall pole position for race two of the weekend, while Motorsports In Action racer Alexandra Hainer put in a great lap to line up P1 in the Pro-Am class. Starting sixth overall, she put in an assured performance in the 50-minute race to take her first Pro-Am victory with teammate Jesse Lazare. Meanwhile, John Capestro-Dubets and Andre Solano secured their first of two victories over the weekend, while GMG Racing teammate James Sofronas converted pole position into his second win.
The gap in Sunday’s qualifying session between the top two was just 0.020 of a second, setting up an intriguing battle for the final contest with Sofronas edging out Race for RP-backed driver Kevin Madsen. As the lights went out and the cars blasted up the hill to turn one, the GMG cars once capitalised to run first and second, positions they would only relinquish during pit stops to take Pro and Am class victories.
Former McLaren Trophy Europe championship contender Rafa Martinez made his American series debut with teammate Jon Lancaster in the Pro-Am class. After limited testing, they made a solid start to the weekend but brought things together in the final race to secure victory after on-the-road winners Hainer and Lazare were hit with a penalty for a pit stop infraction.
Second place, however, is enough to strengthen their position at the top of the Pro-Am championship standings for Hainer and Lazare with a healthy 10-point advantage over their nearest rivals. In the Pro class, the gap is just four points between the James Li/Casey Dennis pairing and Cooper Broll/Tommy Pintos, while James Sofronas leads the Am title battle, but three consistent races from Colin Harrison put him just six points behind.
The championship now has a ten-week break before racing resumes at Virginia International Raceway on the 19th and 20th July.
Weisenberg, Bell split GR Cup races; Wood has up-and-down debut week
Lucas Weisenberg and Jaxon Bell each won a race during an eventful weekend in Toyota Gazoo Racing GR Cup
Weisenberg and Bell started on the front row for the first race on Saturday, with Weisenberg on pole position. The two prepared to lead the field to green, but before the race started, Will Robusto had a catastrophic mechanical failure during the formation lap and caused a wild start.
Once the race finally got going, the two leaders pulled away from the field, as Bell overtook Weisenberg for first place. A Full Course Yellow with 16 minutes left set up a sprint finish with Bell, Weisenberg, and the ageless John Dean II all battling for the win. They went three-wide through turn one on the last lap, but Weisenberg pulled ahead on the final lap to take the win from Bell and Dean.
The next day, Bell was on pole position and just like in Race 1, he and Weisenberg pulled away from the pack – as Robusto and Ethan Goulart battled for third behind them, then Westin Workman got past them both.
There was another late Full Course Yellow, and another sprint finish after the restart. Workman got past Weisenberg, then tried to challenge Bell for the lead – but the second-generation driver was able to hold on for the win ahead of Workman. Dean took another overall podium after getting past Goulart, while a collision between Robusto and Weisenberg knocked them both out of contention.
Dean collected $10,000 worth of bonus prizes in the Legends Cup class – but the other big story of the weekend was Rutledge Wood’s race debut for Precision Racing LA.
Wood drove a clean first race, finishing 24th in a race that began with the TV host getting a close-up view of Massimo Sunseri running into the back of Mike LaMarra and going three-wheeling. But unfortunately, Wood was caught up in an incident with Paityn Feyen in Race 2 and retired from the race, in a moment that triggered the final Full Course Yellow.
GR Cup North America’s next round is at Sebring International Raceway.
Images © SRO Motorsports America (except where otherwise listed)
