Chouest Holds Off Schultis for Race 2 Win at Indy

Photo: Brian Cleary/SRO

Ross Chouest held off a hard-charging Mirco Schultis for victory in the season-ending GT America powered by AWS race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Chouest, in the No. 50 Chouest Povoledo Racing Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R egded out Schultis’ previous-generation Callaway Corvette C7 GT3-R in the 40-minute contest that started under safety car conditions.

Several cars, including pole-sitter Jason Bell, started on slick tires and pitted for wets before the the green flag came out with 34 minutes to go.

However, both Chouest and Schultis, along with the No. 004 HP-TECH Motorsport Ferrari 296 GT3 of Tony Davis, who made an aborted pit stop prior to the green, came to the fore as the track dried out while opting to remain on slicks.

Chouest, who claimed his third SRO3 win of the season, edged across the line by 2.179 seconds ahead of Schultis, who was nursing a broken left wrist this weekend.

The No. 32 GMG Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R of Kyle Washington led the early stages but was given a black flag for passing a GT4 car while under the race-starting yellow.

While Washington pitted on Lap 7, Schultis, Chouest and the No. 19 RS1 Porsche of Joel Cortes made it a three-wide battle for the lead on the front stretch in dramatic fashion.

Cortes finished fourth, with Memo Gidley, who pitted early on for wets, completing the top-five in the No. 56 SKI Autosports Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II ahead of Bell, who also finished the race on Wets.

Joseph Petkes claimed his first series victory in GT4 in the No. 83 RCX Motorsports Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport, ahead of Craig Lumsden’s Flying Lizard Motorsports BMW M4 GT4, some 14 seconds behind in second.

Washington’s car was disqualified from the race due to initially ignoring the black flag.

After clinching the SRO3 class championship on Friday, Justin Rothberg sat out Sunday’s race.

CJ Moses, the lone-remaining GT2 entry this weekend after a heavy accident in qualifying for the Flying Lizard Motorsports Lamborghini Huracan Super Trofeo EVO2 of Evan King, also did not take part, nor did GT4 Race 1 winner Mike Johnson, who has gone back into retirement.

RESULTS: Race 2

John Dagys

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John