Random Vandals Racing and Turner Motorsport BMWs Scorch the Field in Race 2 at Sebring

BMW added two more wins to an excellent weekend at Sebring International Raceway, with both Pro and Pro-Am class triumphs in Sunday’s GT World Challenge America powered by AWS. A late-race restart after a mid-race full-course caution shifted the storyline in the Pro-Am class and led to a wild finish under warm temperatures and sunny skies.

Random Vandals Racing, Turner Motorsport and Dollahite Racing captured the final wins of the Sebring weekend. Random Vandals’ Kenton Koch enjoyed a perfect weekend of four victories, with two apiece in GT World Challenge America powered by AWS and Pirelli GT4 America. Turner’s Justin Rothberg drove an incredible final lap to hold off a charging Philip Ellis in Pro-Am. Dollahite Racing doubled up in Am.

Pro Class

Connor De Phillippi enjoyed a strong opening start in his No. 99 Random Vandals Racing BMW M4 GT3 EVO and had two Pro-Am cars between himself and the No. 18 RS1 Porsche 992 GT3 R started by Jan Heylen and the No. 34 JMF Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT3 started by Mikaël Grenier. Heylen got past one of them to move into fourth overall, and roughly 1.3 seconds behind De Phillippi before the pit stop. De Phillippi, Grenier and Varun Choksey in the No. 51 Random Vandals Racing BMW M4 GT3 EVO all pitted immediately when the pit window opened with 50 minutes remaining, and left in the same order with Kenton Koch, Michai Stephens and Bill Auberlen now on board those cars. Heylen stayed out four minutes, two laps, longer to build the gap on an overcut attempt before handing off to Alex Sedgwick.

Sedgwick emerged marginally ahead at pit exit, but Koch’s pace on track with warmer tires was enough to get the lead back exiting Turn 1. Koch posted back-to-back fastest laps and built a three-second lead over Sedgwick on his out lap. Koch held off Sedgwick after a restart to an eventual winning margin of 2.104 seconds, while Stephens held Auberlen at bay for the final podium position.

“It’s been a fantastic weekend all around for the Vandals, honestly, a dream weekend,” said Connor Di Philippi. “ We made no mistakes, the car was great to drive, and we executed perfectly without exposing our weaknesses. Kenton did an excellent job after the restart. I was a little concerned since they’ve generally had better long-run pace than us all week, but we fired off well on the restart and managed to hold the gap. I’m super proud to get this double win, the first of the season for us, and hopefully the first of many!”

“It’s definitely not all me, having great teammates like Kevin in GT4, Connor in GT3, and being partnered with Random Vandals makes a huge difference,” shared Kenton Koch. “ We had fast race cars this weekend, and when you have good equipment, life just gets a lot easier.

“I’m really happy to be in a BMW with Random Vandals, and I know I’ve been saying that a lot, but I truly mean it. It’s a pretty incredible position to be in, and I think a lot of people would love to have this opportunity. I’m just thankful for every moment I get to live out days like this. I have to cherish it… and probably pinch myself when I get home.”

Pro-Am Class

From overall pole, Robby Foley maintained the gap in his No. 29 Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT3 EVO ahead of Pro class leader Connor De Phillippi and then the next two Pro-Am contenders, Matt Bell in the No. 11 DXDT Racing Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R and Aaron Telitz in the No. 88 Archangel Motorsports McLaren 720S GT3 EVO. Foley led Bell by just over half a second before the top seven cars in the Pro-Am field headed into the pit lane towards the end of the pit window with just over 40 minutes remaining to switch drivers and change Pirelli tires.

Justin Rothberg and Blake McDonald took over the No. 29 Turner BMW and No. 11 DXDT Corvette, respectively, and emerged out of the pits in the same order they came in with the Turner crew gaining several seconds over DXDT on the pit stop sequence. On-track though, McDonald and Rothberg engaged in a fantastic battle for the lead as McDonald closed back the few seconds to within a few tenths. With 25 minutes remaining, the pair ran side-by-side for a lap, all while running slightly ahead of Michai Stephens’ Pro class car. As Stephens got past both of them, that brought Rothberg and McDonald back together.

There was one fly in the ointment in the rest of the Pro-Am class, though, and that came in the form of Philip Ellis once he took over the No. 91 Regulator Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 from Jeff Burton as the team utilized its now-regular alternate driver strategy. After a restart that allowed the Mercedes-AMG factory driver to close the gap and start in line formation, Ellis was seventh and set sail on a charge through the field.

After several passes, he made it past McDonald courtesy of a wild outside-inside, crossover move into Turn 3 on the final lap for second, catching the car over the treacherous bumps. Ellis made one final attempt on Rothberg into Turn 16 in the final lap to try to secure the win, but he came up just 0.417 of a second shy of the victory. The McDonald/Bell car finished third. 

“Robby told me, ‘run the lap of your life and don’t look in the mirrors.’” explained Justin Rothberg. “ So that’s exactly what I tried to do, because every time I looked, McDonald was right there, charging hard! It was a great race, and I’m really happy with the result. Robby did an amazing job putting it on pole and managing his stint. He handed me the car in a great position, and we pulled through. All in all, it’s been an incredible teammate pairing this year.”

“ The car was awesome, especially over one lap in qualifying to grab pole,” said Robby Foley. “ That gave us a bit of an advantage, and having clear air really helps in these cars. From there, I just focused on running a good pace, avoiding mistakes, and handing Justin a clean car, which he did an awesome job finishing. We didn’t really want that late yellow; we were in a good spot. But hats off to everyone for a great race. Phillip was charging hard at the end and really kept us on our toes. Super happy to grab our second win of the year!”

The No. 6 Dollahite Racing Ford Mustang GT3 of Scott Dollahite and Stefano Gattuso added their second straight Am class victory.

“It’s huge for us,” said Scott Dollahite. “ We’ve been getting better every time we hit the track, and Sebring is the ultimate test of toughness. Toward the end, I was starting to feel a bit tired, and we found ourselves in a battle with the Aston Martins. So, I made the call to turn the AC off and just go for it. It’s a blessing to be here, and I’m really thankful to the crew. Stefano did an amazing job as well.”

“I’m very happy to be here, it’s been a pleasure to discover this new championship,” echoed Stefano Gattuso. “ This is my first time racing in the U.S., and it’s been a great experience with such a fantastic team. We did a really good job, and I managed to run a clean race. Then Scott fought hard all the way to the end. It’s great to be here and score some important points for the championship.”

Results are HERE