DXDT Racing’s Alec Udell took the lead with six minutes to go Sunday (Sept. 8) when Random Vandals Racing’s Conor Daly ran out of fuel and was forced to pit. From there, he held on to take his and Tommy Milner‘s seventh Fanatec GT World Challenge America powered by AWS overall win of the year.
“I think that the Random Vandals car was…super fast today. We were just trying to hitch a line to them,” Udell told SRO America’s Amanda Busick after the race. “It’s a bummer for [Random Vandals Racing], but we picked up the pieces and we’re glad to take the win.”
Milner and Udell’s margin of victory was five seconds over ST Racing’s Bill Auberlen and Varun Choksey. Regulator Racing’s Jeff Burton and Philip Ellis were third, then Turner Motorsport’s Robby Foley and Justin Rothberg. Racers Edge Motorsports’ Luca Mars and Zach Veach were fifth. Daly and Kenton Koch ended up 13th overall.
The top-two finishers were the top finishers in the Pro class. Mars and Veach were third in class ahead of Wright Motorsports’ Adam Adelson and Elliott Skeer.
Foley started on pole in his Pro-Am class BMW. With clear air in front of him, he was able to pull out a two-second lead early on.
In the Pro class, Koch started from pole in fifth overall. On the first lap, he quickly moved forward to third, putting distance between himself and Milner.
Koch was eventually able to run down ST Racing’s Neil Verhagen for second, but simply couldn’t get by him. That allowed AF Corse’s Riccardo Agostini and GMG Racing’s Tom Sargent to catch up.
When the mid-race pit stops came, there was a split strategy. Most of the Pro teams pitted early. Foley stayed out pretty late. Verhagen led a group to the pit lane that went an extra lap beyond Foley before stopping.
The result was that Samantha Tan exited the pits with the overall lead. However, her tires weren’t up to temperature. That allowed Rothberg to snatch the lead half a lap later.
The Pro leaders were much closer to the front after the stops. Daly came out of the pits in front of Udell and was able to run down Tan and Rothberg in a hurry.
While battling with Udell, Daly was able to take the overall lead away from Rothberg with just under 35 minutes to go. Once out front, Daly was able to put a little bit of distance between himself and Udell.
Behind the Pro leaders, Rothberg and Tan were fighting hard for the Pro-Am class lead. Rothberg struggled a bit with grip,…
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