JMF’s Grenier, Stephens Break Through for Race 1 Win

Photo: Fabian Lagunas/SRO

Mikael Grenier held off Connor De Phillippi to give JMF Motorsports victory in the team’s GT World Challenge America powered by AWS race debut in Saturday’s season opener at Sonoma Raceway.

The Mercedes-AMG factory driver crossed the line 0.638 seconds ahead of the pole-sitting No. 99 Random Vandals Racing BMW M4 GT3 EVO.

While De Phillippi’s co-driver Kenton Koch led the early laps from pole, Philip Ellis in the Pro-Am class No. 91 Regulator Racing Mercedes-AMG took the lead on Lap 11 and held command through the mid-race round of pit stops.

Grenier emerged as the leader amid Jeff Burton returning on track in the Regulator Mercedes-AMG with double-stinted Pirelli tires, which briefly held up De Phillippi, who had a slow pit stop.

The No. 51 Random Vandals BMW of Bill Auberlen and Varun Choksey completed the Pro class podium with a third place overall finish, despite having been handed a 3.430-second post-race time penalty for not meeting the minimum pit stop time.

It came after a come-from-behind drive by Auberlen, who started from the rear of the field due to a clutch-related issue in qualifying and moved within the top-six.

Choksey ultimately got around the No. 18 RS1 Porsche 911 GT3 R of Jan Heylen in the closing stages of the race for the third place result.

Turner Motorsport got its Pro-Am title defense off to a perfect start with class victory for Robby Foley and Justin Rothberg.

Foley took the No. 29 BMW to a 3.405-second win over the No. 04 CrowdStrike by Riley Mercedes-AMG of Colin Braun, who charged through the field in the closing stages.

Braun passed the No. 16 AF Corse Ferrari of Marcello Hahn for position with seven minutes to go, although came up short on the class win to Foley.

Hahn and fellow Brazilian Allam Khodair completed the Pro-Am class podium, ahead of GT3 debutant Isaac Sherman in the No. 27 CRP Racing Mercedes-AMG, who pressured Hahn in the closing stages.

The No. 88 Archangel Motorsports McLaren 720S GT3 Evo and No. 2 RacersEdge Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo completed the top-ten overall, with Burton fading to 11th overall and seventh in class.

Several cars encountered issues in the 90-minute race, which ran caution-free.

The No. 80 Flying Lizard Motorsports BMW of Elias Sabo spun in Turn 1 early on, although was able to continue, while the No. 11 DXDT Racing Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R of Matt Bell dived into the pits with a suspected issue.

There was a miscommunication for the No. 6 Dollahite Racing Ford Mustang GT3, which attempted to serve a ten-second penalty for pre-race procedures outside of the car’s mandated pit stop.

Scott Dollahite and Anthony Lazzaro finished three laps down in 18th, behind the lone Am class entry, the No. 163 AF Corse Ferrari of Ozz Negri and Jay Schreibman, in 16th and the delated DXDT Corvettes in 18th.

Eighteen of the 19 entered cars took part in Saturday’s opening round, with the No. 92 LAB Motorsport by GT Racing Porsche was withdrawn from the event following Kyle Marcelli’s accident in qualifying.

Race 2 gets underway Sunday at 3 p.m. PST with live coverage on SRO’s GT World YouTube and Twitch channels as well as on MAVTV.

RESULTS: Race 1