Ellis Wins Weather-Shortened Road America Saturday Race

Photo: Fabian Lagunas/SRO

The No. 91 Regulator Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo of Philip Ellis and Jeff Burton have been declared winners of the first GT World Challenge America powered by AWS round of the weekend at Road America, in a weather-shortened race.

Ellis, who started from overall pole, led all 14 laps of the race until the red flag was called for lighting in the area.

It came after an initial full-course caution with 52 minutes to go for the weather. The red was shown four minutes later.

The race was then abandoned with 26 minutes to go amid the arrival of heavy rain and continued lightning.

The No. 99 Random Vandals Racing BMW M4 GT3 EVO of Kenton Koch and Connor De Phillippi picked up the Pro class win with a second place overall finish.

Koch, who started third on the grid, got around the No. 34 JMF Motorsports Mercedes-AMG of Michai Stephens for second overall on the race’s first restart following a massive two-car accident in the Kink.

The sister No. 51 Random Vandals BMW of Varun Choksey also got by Stephens to give the Paul Sparta-led team a 1-2 class result and extension of Koch and De Phillippi’s points lead.

Stephens was fourth overall, with the No. 18 RS1 Porsche 911 GT3 R of Alex Sedgwick completing the overall top-five.

The No. 29 Turner Motorsport BMW of Justin Rothberg was sixth overall and second in Pro-Am, with the No. 11 DXDT Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R of Blake McDonald completing the class podium.

With no pit stop occurring, Rothberg was not subject to the five-second time addition during his driver change as part of an increased Bronze* derogation penalty for this weekend.

Am class honors went to the No. 163 AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3 of Jay Schreibman.

It came after a heavy crash for the then class-leading No. 6 Dollahite Racing Ford Mustang GT3 of Scott Dollahite, who lost control of his car at the Kink on Lap 4.

Todd Coleman’s No. 88 Archangel Motorsports McLaren 720S GT3 spun in avoidance of the massive impact and also made contact with the wall.

Both drivers climbed from their cars under their own power and were reported to have escaped injuries, although the Mustang GT3 has likely sustained weekend-ending damage.

Race 2 is scheduled for a 2:45 p.m. CST start with live coverage on SRO’s GT World YouTube channel and on Twitch, as well as RACER Network.

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