Random Vandals Racing, DXDT Racing, Dollahite Racing Deliver Heated Sebring Race 1 Wins

Hot conditions greeted GT World Challenge America powered by AWS competitors in Race 1 at Sebring International Raceway, but the full field delivered a clean and green showcase of 90 minutes throughout all three classes. Random Vandals Racing and BMW enjoyed a double podium in the Pro class with Kenton Koch and Connor De Phillippi winning and their teammates finishing third. DXDT Racing and Chevrolet followed up on their Pro-Am success at Circuit of The Americas with another win for Matt Bell and Blake McDonald courtesy of a storming comeback drive from Bell against polesitter Regulator Racing. Dollahite Racing’s Ford finished atop the Am class.

Pro Class

The four Pro class cars gathered line astern after the first lap with Kenton Koch in the leading No. 99 Random Vandals Racing BMW M4 GT3 EVO ahead of Michai Stephens in his No. 34 JMF Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT3, Alex Sedgwick in his No. 18 RS1 Porsche 992 GT3 R and Bill Auberlen in the No. 51 Random Vandals Racing BMW M4 GT3 EVO.

It got fun quickly as Auberlen completed a Lap 2 double move on both Sedgwick for third and Stephens for fourth into Turn 17, a mere corner after Sedgwick passed Stephens for second into Turn 16 on corner entry. Auberlen tried to extend his momentum but briefly hit a curb and fell back into Sedgwick and Stephens’ tire tracks, although he maintained the position.

The field stabilized after the opening few laps with Koch more than six seconds clear of teammate Auberlen, working to keep Sedgwick and Stephens at bay. Sedgwick closed within half a second of Auberlen past the half-hour mark and got close to the back of the second Random Vandals BMW, with Stephens only marginally behind.

Koch and Sedgwick were the first two drivers to pit, 45 minutes into the 90-minute race at the conclusion of 20 green flag laps. Both changed tires and switched drivers with Connor De Phillippi and Jan Heylen taking over the respective vehicles for the finish. Stephens was in a lap later to hand off to Grenier, with Auberlen trying the long overcut to maintain momentum in class before switching to Varun Choksey. Heylen and RS1 used the undercut to get ahead of Choksey on their sequence, still seven seconds behind De Phillippi. 

De Phillippi passed overall leader Burton with 31 minutes remaining in the race. That pass put him in clear air as the remainder of the Pro field needed to get past the Mercedes-AMG. Heylen was clear in second, but the battle raged for third between Choksey and Grenier as he sought to defend. While Grenier got within half a second of Choksey, he was unable to pass the second Random Vandals BMW.

The No. 99 BMW brought it home with De Phillippi scoring the victory by 1.759 seconds over Heylen after 44 laps and 90 caution-free minutes of competition. Choksey completed the podium, ending more than a second ahead of Grenier.

“We just had to be really precise with how we managed that stint,” explained Connor after the race. “ I knew if I pushed too hard early, I’d be suffering by the end, so I focused on being consistent right from the start. I expected that middle phase of the stint to be tough, that’s when Jan was coming, and I was just hoping his tires would be gone by the time he caught me. Thankfully, I was able to hold my pace through to the end. That was everything we had. I made a couple of mistakes that let him close the gap a bit, but it was great racing, and I’m excited for what’s next.”

“It’s always good to grow from mistakes and improve as a team,” echoed Kenton. “ Today, everyone was firing on all cylinders. Connor did a great job holding them off at the end, and it was really nice to come out with the win. He knows how to get the job done, and he’s obviously been a huge asset to BMW throughout his career.”

Pro-Am Class

From Pro-Am and overall pole, Philip Ellis sought to make his strategy work in the No. 91 Regulator Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 by banking a gap over the Pro class cars, which worked well with the quartet of Pro cars behind him at the start and a more than six-second lead by Lap 3 over Blake McDonald in his No. 11 DXDT Racing Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R. McDonald and Justin Rothberg in his No. 29 Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT3 EVO were in a battle of their own, sandwiched between the four Pro cars and the lead Am car of Scott Dollahite in the opening stage of the race.

Ellis was unsurprisingly the last driver to pit, doing so at the end of the pit window following 23 green flag laps on track, with 49 minutes complete from the lead to hand over to Burton. As he commenced his stint, Burton held a 37-second lead over Matt Bell, who’d taken over the McDonald-driven entry.  

The gap always felt likely to shrink; the only question was how long it would take for Bell to catch Burton and then subsequently pass him. Bell closed to within 1.7 seconds by Lap 38, and made the move with a pass into Turn 10 two laps later.

Bell quickly extended the gap several seconds over Burton, who had enough of a buffer over the third-placed battle between Foley and Aaron Telitz in the No. 88 Archangel Motorsports McLaren 720S GT3 EVO that Todd Coleman started for the final Pro-Am podium position. Bell took the win by 9.124 seconds over Burton, with Foley gaining several seconds on Telitz to complete the top three. 

“Phil and Jeff from Regulator Racing really gave us a tough target today,” said Matt Bell after the race. “ They went with the opposite strategy, starting with Phil and finishing with Jeff, so I had to push hard to chase them down. They really gave us a run for our money, but they did a great job in that first stint. Phil kept them in P2, ahead of the other Bronze drivers, which was awesome. Then it was my turn to get in, put my head down, and push. When they told me there was a 38-second gap after Jeff came out, I thought, ‘Wow, that’s going to be a tough task to close.’ But in the end, we managed to get it done.”

“It’s honestly really stressful once I’m out of the car,” related Blake. “ Especially knowing there was a 38-second gap he had to make up. But things are working well for us right now, and I don’t think we’re planning to change anything.”

Dollahite Racing enjoyed a trouble-free drive to the Am class win with series debutante Stefano Gattuso and Scott Dollahite sharing the No. 6 Ford Mustang GT3.

Stefano Gattuso said after the race, “I’m very happy to be here. It’s my first full experience racing in the U.S., and it’s been amazing. I’m really happy with the result, we won our category and had a very consistent pace throughout the entire race. I’m also really thankful for the hard work the guys put in last night to get us here. So, thanks a lot, and big thanks to my teammate Scott as well.”

“We’re making progress every time we go out, and the guys at Ford Performance have done an absolutely amazing job,” said Scott Dollahite. “ Everything is improving, and everyone has been working tirelessly to push this program forward. I can’t say enough good things about the team.”

Results are HERE