The final three hour race of the 2026 GT World Challenge America calendar was a two horse race at the top, and although the No. 34 JMF Motorsports Mercedes AMG GT3 Evo offered some opposition, the Sunday afternoon at Barber saw the No. 12 AF Corse USA Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo of Frederik Schandorff and Matías Perez Companc in control of the situation, with an emphatic win and the lead of the table.
The No. 12 AF Corse Ferrari was the pole sitter and kept the lead from the green flag, despite it and the No. 34 JMF Mercedes trading paint even before the start of the race. While the No. 29 Turner BMW looked like a third contender, the top two were quick to set a gap to the No. 29 while Justin Rothberg was busy dealing with the No. 28 RS1 Porsche as Danny Dyszelski appeared to have more pace.
Traffic appeared early in the race, and with the difficulty to get around it, Matias Perez Companc lost time and was bullied out of the ideal line by Michai Stephens, putting the No. 34 in the lead for the first time, right when a yellow neutralized the actions. While the No. 34 kept the lead for a considerable time, the No. 8 McCann Porsche went for a different strategy and took the lead once Michael McCann Jr. was able to get around the top Pro-Am Cup cars.
The No. 8 hang on to the lead until the early moments of the final hour, and in the meantime, Frederik Schandorff was on the move, bullying Mikael Grenier off the line to take second place, and once Schandorff got rid of Grenier, it was time to attack Zachary Vanier,and with another robust move, the No. 12 was in the lead again. Grenier overtook Vanier too, but there was six seconds between the No. 12 and the No. 34.
Although Grenier made an effort to close the gap, it was simply too late to do something when the gap was actually going down, with the No. 12 AF Corse Ferrari winning by 5.638 seconds. In the Pro-Am Cup, after a fierce over the whole race, the No. 69 Archangel McLaren beat the No. 28 RS1 Porsche in the final moments, making use of the Pro Cup podium contenders to isolate the battle.
GTWC America - Barber race results
The Pro Cup standings put the duo Stephens/Grenier (No. 34) in the lead with 114 points, but with Matias Perez Companc (No. 12) having 105 and the Rothberg/Foley pairing (No. 29) having 104, the Indianapolis 8 Hour will see sparks fly on 10 October, going side by side with the Intercontinental GT Challenge.
PHOTO: SRO/Fabian Lagunas
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