SKI Autosports’ Johnny O’Connell led flag-to-flag Sunday morning (July 21) to win GT America powered by AWS Race No. 2 at VIRginia International Raceway. It was the perfect comeback after he was spun out of the lead on the final lap Saturday.
“I thought we were going to get [a win] yesterday. I really wanted this [win] for the team. The weekend has been a struggle to get the car right. Now, we got to get some more [wins].”
O’Connell’s margin of victory was .118 seconds over Turner Motorsport’s Justin Rothberg. CRP Racing’s Jason Daskalos was third, then Chouest-Povoledo Racing’s Ross Chouest and GMG Racing’s Kyle Washington.
By virtue of having the fastest lap during the rainy first race on Saturday, O’Connell started from the pole in his Audi. He spent the early laps fighting off Rothberg.
The man on the move early on was Daskalos, who started at the back of the SRO3 class after his crash on Saturday. In the first couple of laps, Daskalos moved up to fourth from ninth on the grid. Fourth quickly became third after Jason Bell nearly went off the road.
Tim Savage spun his Aston Martin exiting turn 5 and stalled in the runoff 15 minutes into the race. That brought out the race’s first safety car period and bunched the field back up.
The green came back out with 18 minutes to go. Rothberg kept up his pressure on O’Connell and even made a move a lap after the restart in turn 1. O’Connell was able to hold the move off.
The caution also brought Daskalos into the mix in his Mercedes. The lead trio opened a 10-second lead on the rest of the class and settled the race among themselves.
In GT4, Rotek Racing’s Isaac Sherman started from pole after setting the fastest lap in class on the final lap of Race No. 1. Once the green came out, Sherman immediately started to drive away from the rest of the class.
The caution for Savage’s issues wiped out a three-second lead for Sherman. However, he was immediately able to open the advantage back up once the green came out. Ultimately, no one could prevent Sherman from taking his sixth win of the year.
Sherman’s margin of victory was 2.174 seconds over ACI Motorsports’ Curt Swearingin. Flying Lizard Motorsports’ Damir Hot was third in his Nissan, then The Heart of Racing’s Gray Newell and Carrus Callus Raceteam’s Nick Shanny.
The series will take some time off before returning to action at Road America. Race No. 1 will be Aug. 17 at…
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