Rothberg Takes Race 1 Win in Big Points Swing at Indy

Photo: Brian Cleary/SRO

Justin Rothberg scored a flag-to-flag victory in the penultimate GT America powered by AWS round of the season Friday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, in a race that saw SRO3 championship leader Jason Daskalos lose ground in the title race.

The Turner Motorsport driver took his No. 29 BMW M4 GT3 to a 3.167-second win over the No. 3 SKI Autosports Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II of Johnny O’Connell, who gained significant points on Daskalos, who was classified seventh in his No. 27 CRP Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo after multiple incidents.

The gap between Daskalos and O’Connell heading into Sunday’s season finale provisionally sits at just four points.

Rothberg, who picked up his third series win of the season, is also still mathematically in with a chance of the title, 14 points behind Dasaklos.

James Sofronas completed the overall and SRO3 class podium in third in the No. 14 GMG Racing Audi, after initially dropping back at the start of the 40-minute contest with a bobble at the start from second on the grid.

Contact on the final lap between Daskalos and the No. 70 Callaway Corvette C7 GT3-R of Mirco Schultis let the No. 32 GMG Racing Porsche of Kyle Washington through to finish fourth.

The incident, which was reviewed by race stewards, resulted in Daskalos receiving a post-race time penalty equivalent to a drive-through, dropping him from fifth to seventh in the results.

Schultis picked up a top-five finish as a result, with Jason Bell coming home sixth in the No. 2 Flying Lizard Motorsports Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo.

GT2 class honors went to the No. 10 Lone Star Racing of Dan Knox, who finished nearly a minute ahead of second-placed CJ Moses in the No. 58 GMG Audi R8 LMS GT2.

Isaac Sherman, meanwhile, picked up his 12th class victory of the season in GT4, with the champion-elect finishing on top.

It came after late-race contact between Curt Swearingin and Gray Newell, who initially crossed the line in second but was also assessed a post-race time penalty equivalent to a drive-through for incident responsibility.

As a result, Damir Hot recorded a season-best second place class finish in his No. 5 Flying Lizard Nissan Z NISMO GT4, ahead of Swearingin.

The season finale takes the green flag Sunday at 8:35 a.m. EDT with live coverage on SRO’s GT World YouTube channel and on Twitch.

RESULTS: Race 1

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