ELKHART LAKE, W.I. (August 18, 2024) – Turner Motorsport celebrated in victory lane at Road America again earning wins in both GT World Challenge America and GT America. The pair of wins come after a win in IMSA’s WeatherTech SportsCar Championship in GTD earlier this month to make it three in a row.
Justin Rothberg started the weekend taking home the victory in a rain-soaked GT America race. The 40-minute contest started under caution. Rothberg restarted from the pole and led every lap in the No. 29 LATICRETE BMW M4 GT3, ultimately finishing 0.729 seconds ahead of the charging No. 14 car. Rothberg managed the treacherous conditions well, despite limited experience in the rain.
“I’m feeling amazing. It was nice getting the pole. It was a really tough race, and I was the test dummy going into every corner,” said Rothberg regarding the challenging conditions. “The track was evolving every lap so I couldn’t really build up a memory bank of what to do where. I was just experimenting every time, so I had to find a fine balance of going fast and staying on the track, and I we did just that because we stayed out front.”
The No. 29 LATICRETE BMW M4 GT3 in GT World Challenge America followed up with another win for the team after rolling off the grid in third in class. Rothberg got a jump on the first restart and held steady as rain threatened certain areas of the track. Robby Foley took over from second in class and made his way through traffic to put the pressure on the No. 91 car and make the pass for the win in the final minutes. This is the duo’s second win this season – the first in round four at Sebring International Raceway.
“Overall, it was an amazing day at Road America. Justin had a good start, and he ran really fast laps,” said Foley. “We were looking at the radar, hedging our bets on if it was going to rain or not. Fortunately for us, it didn’t, and we welcomed that since our car has been super fast in the dry. Justin’s had a great weekend so far and we’re trying to keep our momentum going.”
On Sunday, Rothberg gave race fans a nail-biter with 40-minutes of green flag racing on the tail of the No. 14 car for all 14 laps. Starting fourth, the Turner BMW leap-frogged into second in the opening lap and spread the gap back to third allowing for a battle for the lead. Rothberg kept it clean but didn’t let up until the checkered when he finished second and earning valuable championship points, fastest lap, and Hard Charger Award.
Foley started the final race of the weekend on pole leading the field to green and built a healthy gap to put together a perfect stint. Unfortunately, after taking over from first, Rothberg suffered a flat in his right front tire forcing him to pit and take the checkered eighth in class.
“Three podiums? What an awesome weekend! These races are super competitive and just finishing anywhere near the podium is tough,” said Will Turner.
The SRO season will continue September 6-8 at Barber Motorsports Park for the second to last race weekend of the season with both GT America World Challenge and GT America.
