Sebring, Fla. (May 5, 2024) – Turner Motorsport took home the win in Sunday’s GT World Challenge America race at Sebring International Raceway. The taco-loving team enjoyed tacos in honor of Cinco De Mayo, but the post-race lunch was even more deserved after podium finishes in three out of four races this weekend. Justin Rothberg earned a podium finish for his GT America race 2, and he and Robby Foley earned some hardware in the GTWC race 1 with their BMW M4 GT3.
GT World Challenge America
The No. 29 BMW M4 GT3 of Robby Foley and Justin Rothberg had successful qualifying sessions after running P2 in both practice sessions. Rothberg qualified fourth for race one, just six-tenths of a second behind the pole sitter while Foley qualified in second for race two – less than a tenth of a second off from pole.
In race one, Rothberg moved up to third after the No. 04 of George Kurtz was penalized for improper race start. The 22-year-old maintained position and brought in his BMW M4 into pit lane for Foley to take over with 48 minutes to go in the 90-minute contest. The BMW Works driver had an impressive drive closing the 26-second gap to the No. 91 of Jeff Burton, and eventually passing the Mercades on the second to last lap to claim the second step of the podium.
Foley was tapped from behind by the No. 28 of Bill Auberlen as pole sitter, No. 38 of Neil Verhagen, was on the brakes as he led the field to green for race two. The Turner BMW was ok to continue despite diffuser damage and quickly made the pass around the No. 120 Wright Motorsports PRO-class car to chase down Verhagen. Foley inherited the lead when the pole sitter was issued a drive through penalty for pace during the race start. Foley passed the M4 off with over a two second gap from the No. 04 of Colin Braun and George Kurtz with 41 minutes to go. Rothberg took over after a great pit stop by the Turner crew, and he held off Kurtz in a nail-biting finish to get the team’s first win of the season. This is also Rothberg’s first win in GT World Challenge America.
GT America
Justin Rothberg started the weekend in the top three in practice. The No. 29 LATICRETE BMW M4 GT3 started third in class for race one, and after holding position for three-quarters of the race, Rothberg battled for third through GT4 traffic with the No. 3 of veteran Johnny O’Connell. Despite a strong move by Rothberg to hold position, the Audi made the pass in the next corner to claim the final step of the podium, giving Rothberg another solid fourth place finish.
In race two, Rothberg rolled off the grid fourth in class and stayed on the tail of O’Connell for a majority of the race. With less than 10 minutes remaining, O’Connell made the pass on the No. 27 of Jason Daskalos running P2 and the Turner BMW followed suit to claim third place at the checkered.
“We had a great weekend at Sebring with three podiums out of four races, which is great,” said Robby Foley. “Justin has been improving every time he’s in the car, every session. You can see that in how he’s managing races and his pace through the race. He did the hard work today. I tried to give him a little bit of a gap leading the race, and he had to hold off some really tough competitors behind – guys and girls with a lot of experience. It was a great weekend overall for the team, and it should be good for some points, and I’m looking forward to COTA.”
The SRO season continues May 17-19 at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas with both GT World Challenge America and GT America.
