Random Vandals Racing didn’t have full control of any of the two races of the GT World Challenge America weekend at Sebring, but the No. 99 BMW M4 GT3 Evo of Kenton Koch and Connor de Phillippi took control at the exact moments to complete the full sweep at the bumps.
Once the field was free to race on Saturday, the No. 91 Regulator Mercedes kept the top spot while the No. 99 Random Vandals BMW nearly lost second place to the No. 34 JMF Mercedes, and considering Philip Ellis’ mission of building as much gap as possible, having the Pro Cup cars fighting behind him would help his cause.
Behind the top two, the No. 18 RS1 Porsche was on a charge, passing the No. 34 for fourth and almost dispatching the No. 51 Random Vandals BMW for third, though with the pressure from Michai Stephens, Alex Sedgwick had to back off from his attacks on Bill Auberlen.
Ellis drove the No. 91 until the last moment possible, and with 40 minutes to go he went to the pits and delivered it to Jeff Burton, though it wouldn’t need 10 minutes for Connor de Phillippi to overtake the No. 91, putting the No. 99 in the so deserved overall lead, with Jan Heylen passing Burton for second place just after de Phillippi, pushing hard to reduce the gap between the No. 99 and the No. 18.
The final minutes saw open battle in both the Pro Cup and Pro-Am Cup, with Matt Bell deciding it for the No. 11 DXDT Corvette as he easily passed the No. 91 with less than 10 minutes, going away with the Pro-Am Cup lead, while in the Pro Cup, Heylen’s progress eventually stalled, so the No. 99 Random Vandals BMW kept the top spot until the finish line, with 1.759 seconds to the No. 18 RS1 Porsche.
GTWC America - Sebring Race 1 results
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Race 2 had the BMWs strafing the No. 11 DXDT Corvette to third place, with the No. 29 Turner BMW leading the No. 99 Random Vandals car, with the first stint positions remaining stable in favor of the No. 29.
With the mandatory pits out of the way, the No. 99 Random Vandals BMW got the lead, but Kenton Koch wasn’t totally safe as Alex Sedgwick was keeping the No. 18 RS1 Porsche at a close distance, and behind them, the Pro-Am Cup battle was hotting up as the No. 29 Turner BMW wasn’t shielded by other classes, which meant that it was within striking distance of the No. 11 DXDT Corvette, and with their battle, the No. 34 JMF Mercedes, which passed both cars and took third position, and with a full course yellow caused by the No. 92 LAB Porsche, Michai Stephens would even have a shot at the win.
With a brief Safety Car period, the four Pro Cup cars took the top 4 overall, with the gap between them staying within 5 second, but the action was at the Pro-Am Cup, where the No. 91 Regulator Mercedes chased down the class top 2 and passed the No. 11, and while the No. 99 Random Vandals BMW crossed the line to win overall, the No. 91 tried a final move but Philip Ellis wasn’t able to shake off Justin Rothberg and the No. 29 Turner BMW from the Pro-Am Cup win.
GTWC America - Sebring Race 2 results
The American series returns to activity on 19 and 20 July when the competitors will battle at the Virginia International Raceway. With some teams and drivers taking part of the 24 Hours of Spa, they will follow the European sprint series and will only return after the endurance triple header with the Endurance Cup races at Monza and Spa and the 24 Hours of Nürburgring for the Intercontinental GT Challenge.
PHOTOS: SRO/Fabian Lagunas
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