Well, well. A good Sunday morning to everyone as we once again prepare to worship upon the altar of speed, at "the cathedral", Indianapolis Motor Speedway, in Speedway, Indiana. Here we are for day two of the action, after a thriller of an Indianapolis 8 Hour, last night! We saw a wild and fantastic GT America race one from Indianapolis on Friday. Now, it is time for the finale. For one final time in 2024, it is time to go racing in GT America powered by AWS. We say hello and good morning, once again, to our pals Ryan Myrehn and Calvin Fish in the broadcast booth, and Amanda Busick in the pit lane, ready to tell the story of the finale of the SRO GT America season.
We have a fabulous grid of GT3, GT2, and GT4 cars. Now, remember something before we get started. The GT4 title was signed, sealed, and delivered, by Isaac Sherman a while ago, when he wrapped up the whole deal and locked it up in his pocket at Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, Alabama, in September. Any one of three drivers can claim the SRO3 title. Justin Rothberg is the pole man for today's race. He has the longest shot of the three title contenders who are going for that championship trophy today. Jason Daskalos in third and Johnny O'Connell in sixth are his rivals who want to snatch the title opportunity away from Rothberg. It is going to be another exciting episode of the Jason, Justin, and Johnny Show today, ladies and gentlemen.
Bear with us. We are going to be setting the calculator and the computer keyboard on fire here in the next 40 minutes. OK. Johnny O'Connell failed to score fastest lap in race one on Friday, but he did score a big points swing to Jason Daskalos, and he sits merely six points behind the Mercedes driver. Now, typically, in one of these races, the Audi R8 LMS GT3. These are short, sharp races. O'Connell knows he must finish ahead of Jason Daskalos. For Daskalos, trying to earn a title in this series has been a Sisyphean task, rolling the boulder up the hill only for that darn boulder to roll right back down. He has been so close before but this could be the breakthrough year.
Of course we have this fabled venue, Indianapolis Motor Speedway, it is such a special place, opening in 1909 with the road course debuting for Formula 1 in 2000. It is a calm, warm morning, as the GT3 and GT4 cars' engines come to life. Justin Rothberg just has to run his own race, according to his father. Rothberg said, "I know what I am doing", echoing the famed quote during a race said by the Formula 1 legend, Kimi Raikkonen. Rothberg was elated to be a champion in Fanatec GT World Challenge America in his class. Now he has to refocus and get back into another race.
The first order of business for everyone, on this chilly morning at Indianapolis, is to get temperature into the Pirelli tires because GT America does not use tire warmers. Before we get started, let's have a brief Captain Cook at the points table scenario among the contenders.
1. #27 Jason Daskalos CRP Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo 247 points
2. #3 Johnny O'Connell SKI Autosports Audi R8 LMS GT3 241 points -6
3. #29 Justin Rothberg Turner Motorsports BMW M4 GT3 233 points -14
All three of these drivers have a mathematical shot at the title. We are going to be looking at the running positions of these three drivers. O'Connell starting deep in the field might be good news for Daskalos, but O'Connell is going to fight. Typically, he is a very clean driver. This is the final race of the current guise of GT America as we will see the championship undergo changes for the future starting next year in 2025. C.J. Moses in his Audi is the lone GT2 car in the field today. Dan Knox in his Mercedes-AMG GT2 is sitting out the finale after racing in race number one of the weekend on Friday.
Isaac Sherman has the pole in the GT4 class aboard the #098 Porsche Cayman. He is the champion elect and won on Friday, looking to break out the broom and sweep. We do hope to see Tim Savage start this motor race switching over from SRO3 (GT3) to GT4 with a GT4 spec Aston Martin Vantage. He may or may not be in this race. We'll keep you updated here before the start. There was a fire with their primary GT3 car. Now, we have word, and a note from one of the other teams. Alan Teo may not be starting this final race of the year either. We are told that the #085 Orlando Motorsports Services McLaren Artura GT4 may be going through gearbox issues.
I don't think he started the Friday race either. Safety Car lights off. The field is going to come into alignment shortly and we'll get the finale underway. Justin Rothberg trying to go two for two, He has the Pro-Am title in GT World Challenge America courtesy of his result with Robby Foley and Patrick Gallagher in the Indianapolis 8 Hours last night. If he is going to win in GT America, he is going to need luck to be on his side for the next 40 minutes. It is not out of the realm of possibility.
Here comes the field into the VP acceleration zone, BMW and Porsche on the front row. Justin Rothberg and Kyle Washington. Green flag! For the last time in 2024 in GT America, let's go! Rothberg makes a great getaway and down the frontstretch headed for turn one there's a little contact between Washington and Daskalos already! Man, oh man! Washington in front but here comes Johnny O'Connell, on the charge! He is poking his nose into this fight as we speak! Blimey! It's all action right from the start! Again, fellas, the championship is at stake. Elbows out early doors! Wow! O'Connell zooms into second place!
Oh no! Jason Daskalos has spun and collected the Audi #14 of James Sofronas! Ahhhh! No way! Boom! Daskalos, buried in the tires! Oh! That was cold tires, a classic case of cold tires! Here comes the GT4 field ready for a start. We'll have to collect ourselves after all this shemozzle. Hang on a second. Green flag for the GT4 field. Oy yoy yoy yoy! There will be waved local yellows in turn one with Daskalos all crossed up down there. Sherman gets the jump and Damir Hot and Gray Newell are already fighting for second. Newell aggressive under braking into the first corner. You know he wants it.
Thank heavens, Gray Newell saw the yellow and so did everyone else. No further shemozzle, look. Daskalos is moving again, but how much damage was done to that Mercedes? Let's have a Captain Cook. Eagle eyed viewers out there at the track or on the stream, what do you see? Daskalos is on the back foot, and this might put Johnny O'Connell in the pound seats to score a championship. O'Connell second on the road, might be home and hosed in terms of the title, because Rothberg, even with his early lead, won't have enough points to leapfrog or battle him. Second place will be enough.
O'Connell leads Rothberg by eight points. Now, we seem to have another slow GT4 car someplace on track. Never mind. That was a distraction. Daskalos is carving his way through the field and the Mercedes is up to speed again. If you are Nick Short and CRP Racing, you are telling Daskalos just two words. Focus forward. Again, here's the points.
1. #3 Johnny O'Connell SKI Autosports Audi R8 LMS GT3 259 points
2. #29 Justin Rothberg Turner Motorsports BMW M4 GT3 258 points -1
3. #27 Jason Daskalos CRP Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 251 points -8
That is how close it is at the top. A single point separating Johnny O'Connell from Justin Rothberg. Daskalos is way down the order, and he will have to fight through the GT4 field. O'Connell does not have to fight Rothberg for the win. But what he cannot do is begin falling into the clutches of and fighting with either Kyle Washington in the Porsche or Mirco Schultis in the Callaway Corvette. Washington goes deep into turn one, Sofronas rolls speed, Washington in the gray., and Sofronas clatters into Daskalos. Very uncharacteristic for Sofronas to get into that kind of argy bargy. He has been a champion himself, many times, and has been racing in what is now SRO racing, since the days of it being called World Challenge, for 30 years.
Drive through penalty for Sofronas, incident responsibility. No surprise there. Nick Short, checking the damage, he believes the car is OK, but Jason is extremely upset. He will be channeling his anger into a massive drive, going forward. I think he's seeing red because he's seeing the championship slip away from him. This is one way to make a racing driver mad. Nick Short, CRP Racing team owner looking on with a bewildered expression on his face, probably thinking, "what on earth has just happened to us?!"
Daskalos on the charge, clearing his way through the GT4 field as we speak. Mirco Schultis is definitely a possible fly in the ointment for Johnny O'Connell as we speak. The German Corvette ace who is a big General Motors and Chevrolet fan, is reeling in O'Connell in the Audi hand over fist. O'Connell has rocketed from the third row on the grid up to second, affirmatively answering the bell right from the beginning. Hard to believe a veteran racer like James Sofronas would make a big mistake like that. Daskalos is back in the fight having cleared away from the GT4 field. He is working past C.J. Moses' GT2 class Audi. Daskalos must finish ahead of O'Connell and is still 47 seconds behind.
Schultis is booking it and has a head of steam on Johnny O'Connell as Daskalos' lap times are not as fast as those of the leaders. He continues to push. One safety car intervention could turn this motor race on it's head. If O'Connell loses second place to Mirco Schultis, that would automatically put Rothberg in the catbird seat to become the champion and it would be a three-point swing. He has to hang tough, O'Connell does. He has to beat Rothberg to be the winner. Daskalos needs a break with a Full Course Yellow should there be one in the next 33 minutes. O'Connell spent years as a GM factory driver racing a Corvette. How ironic.
That is because of Schultis driving a Corvette. SKI Autosport crunching the numbers. Sofronas is in the lane serving his drive through penalty promoting Dsskalos up another place but not enough to change the points scenario. Sofronas will be kicking himself. Big consequences for the title as Daskalos gains merely a single spot. The leaders have caught the tail of the GT4 field passing by Alan Grossberg in the #102 McLaren Artura GT4 from TPC Racing. 1:26 flat for Daskalos compared to lower 1:26 times for the rest of the lead pack.
The plot thickens in the championship fight with six points now separating the top three.
1. #3 Johnny O'Connell SKI Autosports Audi R8 LMS 259 points
2. #29 Justin Rothberg Turner Motorsports BMW M4 GT3 258 points -1
3. #27 Jason Daskalos CRP Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 253 points -6
This would still be O'Connell's title as they run if he hangs in behind Rothberg. Rothberg started from pole and is controlling this race. If Rothberg stays the leader and wins the race this morning, that means, in order to secure the crown, Jason Daskalos must finish fourth at the very least. The gap between Kyle Washington in the Porsche and Jason Daskalos in the Mercedes, is what we need to study with ten minutes of racing gone. The points calculations take into account that Daskalos must finish at least fourth, and that the #46 car of Scott Dollahite is invisible for points. Dollahite at the wheel of the #46 Dollahite Racing Audi R8 LMS GT3.
Daskalos must pass Dollahite, but the Audi driver is inconsequential because he is making his debut. Isaac Sherman is the champion elect in GT4. This is a joyride for him in GT America and we will see him racing later this morning in the Pirelli GT4 America finale as well. Sherman is 7/10ths of a second clear of Gray Newell in the #25 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT4 where he has been a solid fixture on the podium week in and week out. He has been racing two different cars with the older car in this GT America spec older GT4 Aston, and the newer Evo version of the GT4 Aston Martin in Pirelli GT4 America.
Heart of Racing has spoken a lot about the plan to move Gray Newell up from GT4 into the GT3 ranks on a more regular basis in the very near future. 2025 will be the year that Newell might just do that and maybe get his potential unlocked. The GT2 cars have far less downforce than a GT3 car but they are rocket ships in a straight line and C.J. Moses is using that to his advantage being the sole GT2 car in today's final race of the year. Great to see him back after running a partial schedule due to his work commitments but is passionate about his racing. Meanwhile, pushing hard, Daskalos uncorks a new fastest lap at 1:25.763.
This is comparing to the leaders who are running in the low 1:26 range insofar as lap time. O'Connell just ran a 1:26.9. As fast as Daskalos is, he remains 40 seconds in-arrears of Kyle Washington, and I don't think he will be able to make up the deficit. 27 minutes of racing in the season for 2024 left on the board. Approaching the halfway mark in the race, soon. Daskalos might be told to save his tires, so he has something to fight with if there is a yellow. Lapped traffic in the way, and that was an extremely close shave for Johnny O'Connell who nearly clatters into the side of the #05 Nissan Z NISMO GT4 for Flying Lizard Motorsports in the hands of Canadian Damir Hot!
Hot had no idea the leaders were even there! Johnny O'Connell's championship flashed before his eyes in that truly scary moment! That could have been ugly! Daskalos will keep charging. Forget saving the tires. Washington, too, has to keep the pace up because the Porsche man is losing time. Jason Bell is in fifth place aboard the #2 Flying Lizard Motorsports Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 Evo. Daskalos must finish fifth to stop Rothberg, but O'Connell is still ahead. We might have some math to work out here, but we'll see about that.
P4 is what Daskalos needs and Washington will be his target. O'Connell beginning to push as he has dropped Mirco Schultis and has run down Rothberg. The Audi is coming into its own with 25 minutes to go in the 2024 season. GMG apologizes to Turner Motorsports. Good move. Good sportsmanship. A veteran like Sofronas does not make those mistakes often. Daskalos needs to be gaining at minimum, two seconds a lap, on Washington. Right now, he is not gaining enough time. He is gaining a second and a bit. He needs more. CRP Racing looking for a safety car. Does Daskalos have enough raw pace? He has to pass C.J. Moses in the GT2 Audi and then to get to Kyle Washington in fourth spot.
The hits that Daskalos took earlier to the tail and into the wall with the nose, have not affected the race car. But the frustration is there, because he was dealing with understeer in Free Practice and the car was not looking happy in race one on Friday as Daskalos passes C.J. Moses. This season began back in April in Sonoma, California. It has been incredibly fun to watch GT America just as much as anything within the SRO America umbrella. At the halfway mark, O'Connell can still steal a title away but the race isn't over yet. We've got half of it remaining. Stay tuned.
Justin Rothberg ran a handful of years in Ferrari Challenge and then jumped right into the deep end of the pool in GT3 racing and won the Fanatec GT Pro-Am title last night alongside Robby Foley and Patrick Gallagher stealing the title from ST Racing. Lots of rubber down on the road after the Indianapolis 8 Hours yesterday. Lots of downforce, cool morning conditions and so on. Daskalos has his head down uncorking personal best laps. Lots of traffic for Daskalos to contend with passing by Nick Shanny in the #21 Carrus Callas Raceteam BMW M4 GT4 (G82) in 13th overall, five seconds down on Damir Hot in the #05 Flying Lizard Motorsports Nissan Z NISMO GT4.
Who will avoid the pitfalls? Kyle Washington remains in fourth place. It is a race against time for Jason Daskalos. How much do other drivers like Jason Bell and Scott Dollahite fight? How much will that hold up Jason Daskalos? We have now reached halfway and gone past it. 18 minutes remaining in the race, 18 minutes remaining in the season for SRO GT America 2024. Daskalos' target remains Kyle Washington in the Porsche. He could take the title back on countback after tying Johnny O'Connell but will have the tiebreaker for most wins in the season compared to O'Connell.
Daskalos has caught Dollahite and breezes past Damir Hot. He has been held up by traffic, not helping his cause. Hot had a solid weekend in race one on Friday in GT4. Daskalos is chasing Scott Dollahite who has his eyes on a full season effort for next year. The Audi R8 that Dollahite is driving was found in New Braunfels, Texas. It did some racing in Europe and then was purchased by a movie company for the "Gran Turismo" movies. Now it was found and reworked back into a race car. It will be a great platform for Scott Dollahite to get back into racing. He is a good driver. He lets Daskalos go, wisely. Unfortunately, Daskalos is not moving up the way he wants to yet.
Johnny O'Connell has now dropped behind Rothberg by 2.2 seconds. 15 minutes to go. Both Jason Daskalos and Johnny O'Connell are pitted right next to each other. O'Connell is happy with the car and the lap times. They do not want a Full Course Yellow, but it would be life giving succor for Jason Daskalos and CRP Racing. If Daskalos gets to fourth, he will win the title on a tiebreaker. There isn't enough time on the board if Washington maintains his pace, that Daskalos can win. The math isn't checking out for Jason Daskalos with ten laps to go. Washington has had great pace and he started on the outside of the front row of today's race.
SKI Autosport has run older spec GT3 cars with drivers such as Johnny O'Connell and Andy Pilgrim, but they have updated to the Evo spec Audi, and everything has gone very well with O'Connell's experience. They've turned that car around for getting the energy into the tires. He could not turn on the tires last time out at Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, Alabama. But this weekend at Indianapolis, kudos to SKI Autosport and their engineering team led by Rosella Manfrenado and company to get the handling into it's sweet spot. Especially impressive in the cool temperatures this morning in the low 60s.
O'Connell, a multiple Pirelli World Challenge champion looking for yet another title. Justin Rothberg has driven extremely well, and he knew he had to go out and sweep the weekend. He is ultimately going to come up short but he has a bright future ahead. James Sofronas' retirement from the race, he is completely beside himself about making a mistake. The emotion must be absolutely overwhelming. Ten minutes to go. You never want to ruin someone else's championship hopes. I cannot afford to get into someone else's way. Races are rarely lost at turn one lap one, and championships even more rarely so.
It is more than the contact for Daskalos, O'Connell started sixth and had to get up to at least second to have a shot at it. Daskalos is 40 seconds down on Kyle Washington. He is only a few tenths ahead of Washington and with just eight minutes on the board, a safety car will chew away too much time and Jason Bell is really going for it as well readying for 2025. Daskalos will be two positions shy to sneak it in the tiebreaker situation. Jason Bell is a multiple GT4 championship winner in SRO America and elected to step up to SRO3 in 2024. It has been a learning year but he will be armed with experience for next year and he has great people in his camp to assist him. What will 2025 bring to him? He mastered his craft in GT4 and is now a GT3 driver.
He and his wife Danielle had a new baby girl on September 16th, named Louisa. Jason Daskalos had the best lap of the race before the troubles began. Here's the list of overall best laps.
1. #27 Jason Daskalos CRP Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 1:25.583
2. #14 James Sofronas GMG Racing Audi R8 LMS GT3 1:25.843
3. #29 Justin Rothberg Turner Motorsports BMW M4 GT3 1:25.896
4. #70 Mirco Schultis MISHUMOTORS Callaway Corvette Z06 GT3.R 1:26.203
5. #3 Johnny O'Connell SKI Autosports Audi R8 LMS GT3 1:26.324
Daskalos could have won the race and the title but through no fault of his own he is mired in sixth and will be no higher than third in the points. Rothberg can win the race but will not have a shot at the title, one point shy of O'Connell who provisionally would be the champion with six minutes of racing left in this race and the 2024 season. Isaac Sherman has run away and hid in the GT4 class with a massive lead over Gray Newell. Isaac Sherman is ten seconds ahead.
It is a great mix of young talent like Justin Rothberg, and veterans like Memo Gidley and Johnny O'Connell closer to the end of their careers. Kyle Washington has the hammer down closing in on Daskalos going for the podium, gaining on Mirco Schultis. Washington goes in deep and into the ABS, the antilock brakes. Oh boy. He can sense the podium right in front of him with three minutes and change to go. Washington has shaved off the rough edges and has done very well. James Sofronas in conversation with Nick Short, Jason Daskalos' car owner.
It is the proper thing to do. Sofronas, a sportsman, explaining and apologizing for what went on. Rothberg leads over O'Connell by 6.3 seconds as C.J. Moses will win GT2 unopposed with the only GT2 spec car in the field today, his #58 GMG Racing Audi R8 LMS GT2. The GT2 cars are speedy down the straight but they have nowhere near the downforce of a GT3 entry. James Sofronas tells us, "I am absolutely mortified. I have been racing for 30+ years and I've only turned one car around like that in 400 races. So, I came over to the pits for Daskalos and apologized profusely. That's not how I drive. He knows that."
"I don't know what happened, because the contact was so hard, that either something happened with my car, or maybe he was checking up where I didn't expect him to. But I'm mortified. I'm beside myself upset. Jason is a friend and a fellow racer. I would hate to cost the championship. Jason deserves the championship. For it to end like this, this will hurt me but not as much as it will hurt him. I don't drive like that. I don't teach my son to drive like that. I don't preach it at all with my clients. I'm really upset because it shouldn't happen that way, and Jason deserves better." Those are his words of frustration and disappointment.
One lap to go. White flag. SKI Autosport and Johnny O'Connell have earned this, with only two finishes outside the top three, and by a single point, O'Connell and SKI Autosport will win the SRO3 championship. Justin Rothberg will be a Pro-Am champion in GT World Challenge America. Two poles, and two race wins for Justin Rothberg, but he comes up short, and now, Johnny O'Connell, a four-time World Challenge champion, and by one point is now the 2024 GT America champion!" Ken and Melissa Hussey, owners of SKI Autosport, will be ecstatic! CRP, Jason Daskalos, rallied around their crew chief, Sheldon Miller, dealing with cancer, he will settle for sixth today and third in the final standings. GT4 champion, Isaac Sherman! He wraps it up with another win, here at Indianapolis Motor Speedway!
What an emotional race this has been. Justin Rothberg and Isaac Sherman, stars of the future. O'Connell and Sherman, two champions, as we cue the dance music for the results for a final time for GT America in 2024.
Overall/SRO3: #29 Justin Rothberg Turner Motorsports BMW M4 GT3
GT2: #58 C.J. Moses GMG Racing Audi R8 LMS GT2
GT4: #098 Isaac Sherman Rotek Racing Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport
Mirco Schultis is third. Johnny O'Connell and Isaac Sherman are champions in SRO3 and GT4 in 2024! It would be wonderful to see Isaac Sherman get a chance to race a GT3 car. He is testing the waters in GT4 America with Myles Rowe, and we'll see the two of them race in the finale in a wee while. Justin Rothberg did everything he could. A championship, a pair of wins, and a second place points finish. Only four points separating the top three. O'Connell, Rothberg, Daskalos, 259-258-255.
Rothberg says he has learned a ton from a veteran like Johnny O'Connell, who calls him "the kid".
Isaac Sherman tells us that this season means everything and a better team with Rotek Racing and Porsche. A dream season. C.J. Moses gets congratulated and has won in GT2! No better place than Indianapolis to enjoy the car. A great season for him. Congratulations! O'Connell says SKI Autosports is a show up and race team and the driver is just the quarterback like on a football team. Great work by everyone. At age 62, O'Connell still has the fire in the belly to keep racing. He has won countless races and championships in his career.
We thank you so much, for being with us, all year, to witness and to read about these SRO GT America races and we'll see you for more action in 2025. For now, goodbye from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, also known as "The Brickyard," as Justin Rothberg sweeps the weekend but Johnny O'Connell and Isaac Sherman are the champions. So long, for 2024. See you in 2025. Goodbye for now.
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