Turner Motorsport’s Justin Rothberg led nearly flag-to-flag in GT America powered by AWS Race No. 1 Saturday (July 20) at VIRginia International Raceway. However, a battle between Rothberg and SKI Autosports’ Johnny O’Connell for the lead ended with contact and O’Connell spinning.
From there, Rothberg held on to take the win on the track. As of this writing, the incident is under investigation by the stewards. If any penalty is applied that would change the result of the race, this article will be updated.
Rothberg’s margin of victory was 4.299 seconds over Flying Lizard Motorsports’ Jason Bell. O’Connell settled for third, then Chouest-Povoledo Racing’s Ross Chouest and GMG Racing’s Kyle Washington.
It seemed like the race was going to be held in the dry. However, 10 minutes before the start, a deluge showed up and dumped heavy rain on the 3.27-mile road course.
That resulted in the race starting behind the safety car. The move was necessary not only due to the rain but also due to standing water. Ultimately, 60% of the 40-minute distance was run behind the safety car before the field was let loose on the tricky course.
Rothberg claimed the pole in much drier conditions Saturday morning in his BMW. That gave Rothberg the all-important clear vision, allowing him to pull away.
It did not take long for trouble to strike. CRP Racing’s Jason Daskalos locked up and slid off into the tire curtain at the Oak Tree complex. Elsewhere on the track, Tim Savage also went off-course in his Aston Martin. Dasaklos was ok and was able to drive his Mercedes back to the pits. Regardless, the crash brought the safety car out again.
Since Daskalos drove back on his own, the neutralization was brief. The green came back out with a little more than nine minutes to go.
Here, Rothberg came under pressure from O’Connell. The rookie racer was able to hold on the veteran presence until the final lap.
Coming to the white flag, O’Connell got a run on Rothberg, but was unable to get to Rothberg’s inside. Another good run out of turn 1 allowed O’Connell to get alongside. He then took the outside of NASCAR turn (turn 3) to take the advantage.
At the next turn, Rothberg was able to get back to O’Connell’s inside. The aforementioned contact was made and O’Connell spun out. Rothberg took the lead back and held on to win.
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