Conquest Ferrari and Turner BMW Capture First Wins of Season

Strategic decisions often factor into IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship victories at Road America, the 4.048-mile road course, and in both Grand Touring (GT) classes that defined Sunday’s IMSA SportsCar Weekend two-hour, 40-minute race.

 

Conquest Racing, in its second and last scheduled GT Daytona Pro (GTD PRO) class start of the season, made it home with a single fuel stop after running a final stint of just over 92 minutes to secure its first win in the category.

 

Meanwhile in GTD, Turner Motorsport snatched its first WeatherTech Championship victory in more than two years – since Mid-Ohio in May 2022 – as the previously leading Vasser Sullivan entry hit the pit lane trying to also extend its final stint north of 90 minutes but stopped inside the final five.

 

Daniel Serra and Giacomo Altoe shared Conquest’s winning No. 35 Ferrari 296 GT3 in GTD PRO, with a final margin of victory of 1.873 seconds over Bryan Sellers and Madison Snow in the No. 1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3.

 

Altoe, in his third WeatherTech Championship start, and first since the 2022 Rolex 24 At Daytona, ran 27 laps in his opening stint and extended to nearly halfway through the race. He handed over to Serra, who drove in Conquest’s other GTD PRO start this year at Detroit.

 

What followed from there was a strategic gamble knowing there was nothing to lose, and with five full-course cautions disrupting the flow of the race, a chance for the team to win in a one-off entry.

 

With an hour and 15 minutes remaining under one of those yellow flags, the No. 35 Ferrari was one of only four GT cars split across both classes that opted to stay out. Two of the yellows covered most of the next hour and set up the final 15-minute dash for the victory, by which point Serra had to defend against Sellers and also hit a fuel number to ensure he’d make it home.

 

Ultimately, while Sellers got within a half second, he was unable to make a passing attempt on Serra, who ran the remaining 34 laps out front. The win marked Serra’s fourth in his WeatherTech Championship career and second this season (Rolex 24 At Daytona with Risi Competizione) and first in Altoe’s career.

 

“We were not expecting to fight for the win,” Serra said. “In a field as competitive as this in GTD PRO, all the mechanics worked together for the first time. In the end, they did a super job. We gambled on a yellow.

 

“We knew we had the speed, but not the straight-line speed to fight some cars. We gained a lot of track position and got lucky with the yellows. We finished with the fuel light on the last lap.”

 

Conquest Racing won the first race for the new Ferrari 296 GT3 at Road America in another sports car series in 2023. The team recently returned to the WeatherTech Championship full-time and delivered its third IMSA win, first since the 2012 American Le Mans Series race, coincidentally at Road America, in the Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2) class.

 

“This is the first time we have run two GT cars, so we had to put a crew together for this one,” said Conquest Racing team owner Eric Bachelart. “I didn’t meet Giacomo Altoe until last Thursday! He came as a recommendation from (Conquest GTD driver) Albert Costa. Obviously he’s done an amazing job. And we know how good Daniel is. We were aggressive on strategy and it worked, but it’s hard to believe that for our second attempt in GTD PRO we won.”

 

Sellers and Snow ended a season-best second, while Ross Gunn and Alex Riberas completed the podium in the No. 23 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo.

 

Championship leaders AO Racing finished fourth with Laurin Heinrich and new recruit Julien Andlauer in “Roxy,” the No. 77 Porsche 911 GT3 R (992), ahead of the pair of Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.Rs.

 

Corvette Racing’s 300th race as a team began from first and second on the grid, but fell to fifth and sixth after the No. 3 car was contacted on the start and the No. 4 car fell down the order during the second pit stop sequence.

 

Late Lead Change Returns Turner to Top of GTD

 

Will Turner’s quote in the team’s official pre-race press release was simple:

 

“We are looking forward to racing at Road America, specifically because of the cheese curds, brats, and Spotted Cows [a popular beer exclusive to Wisconsin].”

 

Expect several of those on the menu Sunday night as the team snapped a more than two-year winless drought in the highly competitive GTD class.

 

Similar to GTD PRO, strategy played a major impact on the category as cars either were on-or-off strategy depending on when any of the five full-course cautions flew.

 

The No. 12 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RD F GT3 appeared to be poised for a win for co-drivers Frankie Montecalvo and Parker Thompson, but it came unglued in the final five minutes when Thompson hit the pit lane.

 

That promoted Robby Foley to the top in the No. 96 BMW M4 GT3 he shares with Patrick Gallagher.

 

Their margin of victory was 1.130 seconds, as Foley secured his eighth WeatherTech Championship win and Gallagher his long overdue first, following five runner-up finishes. It also delivered BMW its first WeatherTech Championship win of 2024, thus marking the 16th manufacturer of the 18 racing in IMSA-sanctioned series to win a race this year.

 

Foley described the mental approach from the drivers’ seat on a hectic day.

 

“At one point we were on strategy thinking we were looking good, then a couple yellows put us off strategy, and then the next yellow gave us an advantage back,” Foley explained. “To be honest, until we got to the last yellow, I wasn’t good on fuel. We were able to save quite well. I was kind of hoping that would play out and that’d be our way to victory today.

 

“The last yellow for us got us home good. I didn’t drive much, maybe an hour and 15, but it was mentally exhausting just hitting the fuel numbers, managing the traffic.”

 

Gallagher reflected on the journey to break through.

 

“I’ve said this before, but 7-8 years ago we’re living in a basement in Monticello (Motor Club), working at a racing school,” he said. “To get my first WeatherTech win with him and Turner is just unbelievable. There is going to be a celebration.

 

“These races are really hard to win, even when you do everything right. Maybe we get a streak going. I’m happy for the guys that work on the car. Will’s guys are in the shop every day and that’s not common in this type of racing.”

 

Two Bronze group entries vying for the Bob Akin Award completed the GTD podium. Inception Racing finished second with Frederik Schandorff and Brendan Iribe in the No. 70 McLaren 720S GT3 EVO, with Gradient Racing securing its first podium finish of the season with Sheena Monk – who recorded a career-best result – and Stevan McAleer in the No. 66 Acura NSX GT3 Evo22.

 

The championship-leading No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 of Russell Ward and Philip Ellis finished fourth.