Championship Battles Tighten Entering Final Doubleheader

Photo: Fabian Lagunas/SRO

Championship battles in both Pro and Pro-Am have tightened entering this weekend’s final dual 90-minute race format for GT World Challenge America powered by AWS.

With next month’s double points-paying Indianapolis 8 Hour presented by AWS serving as the season finale, GTWC America will shift to headline three-hour races for all races except Indy next year, with the the UAB Medicine GT World Alabama benefiting Teal Wings of Hope at Barber Motorsports Park offering a final opportunity to compete under the current format.

After the weather-shortened Race 1 at Road America, where half points were rewarded, Kenton Koch and Connor De Phillippi’s lead in their No. 99 Random Vandals Racing BMW M4 GT3 EVO has shrunk to 18 points over the JMF Motorsport duo of Michai Stephens and Mikael Grenier.

The RS1 duo of Jan Heylen and Alex Sedgwick, meanwhile, are just 5.5 points further behind in third.

Pro-Am has also tightened up, with the once-dominant Robby Foley and Justin Rothberg in the No. 29 Turner Motorsport BMW now holding only a 31-point lead over the DXDT Racing pairing of Matt Bell and Blake McDonald, who picked up top class honors in Race 2 at Road America.

Scott Dollahite, thanks to his Dollahite Racing team borrowing a BMW from Turner to start Sunday’s Race 2 at Road America, remains in the fight for Am class honors, at a 10.5-point deficit to Ozz Negri and Jay Schreibman, who swept the weekend in their AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3.

The No. 6 Dollahite Ford Mustang GT3 of Dollahite and Eric Powell is understood to be a new chassis following its Race 1-ending accident at Road America.

In fact, the same 15 cars that took part in last month’s rounds at Road America are expected to be present this weekend, with only one driver change.

Christian Hahn has been replaced by fellow Brazilian Diego Gomes Nunes in the No. 16 AF Corse Ferrari in Pro-Am.

GTWC America competitors will have two test sessions available on Thursday, followed by a pair of practice sessions on Friday, qualifying Saturday morning, followed by Race 1 (Sat. 3 p.m. CST) and Race 2 (Sun. 1:45 p.m. CST) with live coverage available on SRO’s GT World YouTube channel, on Twitch as well as the RACER Network.

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