Grenier, Stephens Take Road America Race 2 Win

Photo: Fabian Lagunas/SRO

JMF Motorsports scored top honors in the second GT World Challenge America powered by AWS race of the weekend, with Mikael Grenier and Michai Stephens giving the Canadian squad its second victory on Sunday at Road America.

Stephens took his No. 34 Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo to a narrow 1.328-second win over the No. 99 Random Vandals Racing BMW M4 GT3 EVO following a one-lap shootout to the checkered flag after Jason Daskalos’ stopped on track due to suspected suspension issues with seven minutes to go.

Kenton Koch, who took the restart in third, got around the No. 18 RS1 Porsche 911 GT3 R of Alex Sedgwick and then closed in on Stephens, who defended in the dramatic finish.

The win for JMF came just hours after Mike David Ortmann gave the team its first Pirelli GT4 America victory of the season in a dramatic conclusion to the race.

While the No. 11 DXDT Racing Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R of overall pole-sitter Matt Bell led the opening stint, co-driver Blake McDonald initially retained the outright lead following the pit stop sequence but then lost it to Stephens a few corners later.

McDonald, however, held on to claim Pro-Am class honors, finishing ahead of the No. 29 Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT3 EVO of Justin Rothberg, who was served a five-second driver derogation penalty during the pit stop due to Rothberg, a FIA Silver-rated driver, racing as a Bronze* in SRO America competition this year.

The margin of victory in Pro-Am was 0.439 seconds, which was reduced due to the late-race yellow.

Ellis, meanwhile, made a last-lap charge from nearly outside the top-ten to finish fourth in Pro-Am, after getting a one-position penalty post race by race control.

A stop-and-go penalty for a pit speeding infraction for the No. 91 Regulator Racing Mercedes-AMG, which won overall on Saturday, dashed hopes of a top finish for Ellis and co-driver Burton who were again running on an alternate driver strategy.

The penalty for Ellis promoted the No. 24 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo of Gray Newell and Darren Turner to the Pro-Am podium.

The No. 88 Archangel Motorsports McLaren 720S GT3 Evo of Todd Coleman was also penalized post-race, receiving a drive-through penalty that will convert to a 52-second time penalty.

Am class honors went to the No. 163 AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3 of Ozz Negri and Jay Schreibman, which ran largely uncontested.

Dollahite Racing, which suffered a massive accident at The Kink in Race 1 with its Ford Mustang GT3, completed two laps in a BMW borrowed from Turner Motorsport in order to score points and keep Scott Dollahite’s class title hopes alive with three races to go.

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