Random Vandals and Regulator win in GTWC America weekend at COTA

Most of the usual frontrunners took turns in the lead of the GT World Challenge America races at the Circuit of the Americas, but the No. 99 Random Vandals BMW M4 GT3 Evo of Kenton Koch and Connor de Phillippi prevailed on Saturday due to a penalty applied to the No. 34 JMF Mercedes AMG GT3 Evo, while the No. 91 Regulator Racing Mercedes AMG GT3 Evo of Jeff Burton and Philip Ellis nailed the strategy under a full course yellow to outsmart the Pro Cup entries and put a Pro-Am Cup car on top.
 
The No. 91 Regulator Mercedes was in the Race 1 pole position, and while the No. 27 CRP Mercedes and other three cars were left behind due to contact, Philip Ellis was committed to his mission by closing the door on all Pro Cup entries before the full course yellow was called.
 
Michai Stephens’ race wasn’t against Ellis, though, as the No. 18  RS1 Porsche and the No. 51 Random Vandals BMW were hot in his diffuser, all while the No. 99 Random Vandals BMW was climbing up the field from a last place start due to a technical infringement in the Qualifying session. It took less than 15 minutes to have all Pro Cup cars bunched up behind the No. 91, but Stephens was safe for the moment as the Random Vandals BMWs would plan a tactic to pass the No. 18 first to then take care of the class leaders ahead.
 
Eventually, Kenton Koch had better pace than Bill Auberlen, so the No. 99 swapped places with the No. 51, one of the Random Vandals’ perks of being the only team with two cars in the same class, and once Koch was allowed to push, he quickly closed down on Sedgwick to fight for position, though the move wasn’t completed before the pit stop.
 
Doing an overcut compensated for the No. 99, but Connor de Phillippi had to cope with a Jan Heylen in a No. 18 car that had a few laps in its tires, which would offer a more compatible tire temperature than the stone cold Pirellis in the No. 99, but once the BMW got the heat in the tires, it fought back immediately.
 
Further ahead, the No. 34 had a time penalty due to minimum pit time infringement, so for Mikael Grenier, the earlier he could close down and pass the No. 91, the better, as Grenier could use Jeff Burton as a brief shield from the other Pro Cup cars, in special the No. 99.
 
Later on, the No. 91 also got a time penalty due to not committing to the pit line, and if Burton couldn’t find a few more seconds in the next 35 minutes, the No. 11 DXDT Corvette would inherit the Pro-Am Cup win despite never having threatened the No. 91 during the race, but things were getting more complicated for Burton as the gap on track was getting smaller.
 
It would take 10 minutes for Matt Bell to completely squash the gap and overtake Burton, so the No. 11 was the new Pro-Am Cup leader. In the Pro Cup, the No. 99 was all over the No. 34, but de Phillippi wouldn’t need to get in a hurry as the No. 34 had the post race time penalty hanging on it.
 
Pace was even between the top two cars, so the back and forth gap changes continued until the final lap, and while the No. 34 JMF Mercedes crossed the line in first, the No. 99 Random Vandals BMW took the overall and Pro Cup wins by staying within 1.5 seconds, which was converted in a 0.141 seconds gap with the penalty being counted.
 
GTWC America - COTA Race 1 results
 
Behind the Pro Cup top three, the No. 11 DXDT Corvette had a lone run to the Pro-Am Cup win as it wasn’t threatened during the rest of the race, while the No. 163 AF Corse USA Ferrari commanded the Am Cup after the No. 6 Dollahite Ford retired due to crash damage on Lap 1.
 

The second race had a Pro-Am Cup front row with the No. 34 JMF Mercedes right behind, and Mikael Grenier was quick to dispatch the No. 32 GMG Porsche from second place and prepare the attack on the No. 29 Turner BMW.
 
Contrary to the respect shown on Saturday, Random Vandals had a big blunder with its BMWs as the No. 99 dove on the inside of the No. 51 and gave it a massive hit on the front left corner in the process. While the No. 99 served a drive through, the No. 51 left the race as the suspension wouldn’t be repairable in time.
 
With Grenier not closing down on Robby Foley, he became prey for Tom Sargeant instead, while Michael Cooper was just watching the action unfold in front with his No. 2 Racers Edge Aston Martin. Sargeant eventually made the move for second place, and Grenier at least was safe as the No. 2 had the No. 11 DXDT Corvette all over it, with the No. 88 Archangel McLaren in close pursuit, though Aaron Telitz’ chase ended with a front left puncture after contact with the No. 18 RS1 Porsche.
 
During the pit window, a full course yellow was called as the No. 50 Chouest Povoledo Corvette was knocked out with suspension damage due when it passed over a sausage kerb, so those who stopped before the neutralization would need to wait for the frontrunners to pit when it gets allowed again to take over the top spots. With the cycle being complete, the No. 34 took the lead and the No. 18 was second, restablishing the Pro Cup cars on the top of the pile.
 
Behind them, the Pro-Am Cup lead changed drastically as the No. 91 Regulator Mercedes had all cards played in their favor, in special as Philip Ellis was immediately on the offensive, taking the second place from Alex Sedgwick and setting his sights on Michai Stephens and the overall lead. Ellis just had to stay alongside Stephens in the final sector and the move was made with 15 minutes to go.
 
In the final minutes, Ellis opened a decent gap to Stephens, so the No. 91 Regulator Mercedes had all bases covered, with no threats to their overall win and with their Pro-Am Cup win well protected. The No. 34 JMF Mercedes won the Pro Cup from the second place overall by defending from the No. 18 RS1 Porsche, and way behind them, the No. 6 Dollahite Ford scored an Am Cup after a disastrous Saturday.
 
GTWC America - COTA Race 2 results
 
The Pro Cup standings still show Grenier and Stephens (No. 34) on top with 83 points while de Phillippi and Koch (No. 99) have 80 and Heylen and Sedgwick (No. 18) lose terrain with 63 points.
 
The Pro-Am Cup table has Foley and Rothberg (No. 29) in first with 68 points, with Burton and Ellis (No. 91) appear in a close second place with 62 points. Negri and Schreibman (No. 163) lead the Am Cup with 93 points as they have two races more than Dollahite and Lazzaro (No. 6) with their Sunday win also representing the first race where they scored points this season.
 
On May 17 and 18, GTWC America visits the bumps of the Sebring International Raceway to host the third double header of the 2025 season.
 
PHOTOS: SRO/Fabian Lagunas