No. 393 Mercedes goes back-to-back, wins at Road America

SportsCar Championship

MAD SimRacing and the No. 393 Mercedes AMG GT3 team go back-to-back and win again! This time, they take the top spot on the podium in GTD class competition at Road America.

August 6, 202310:44 PM GMT 616 Views

The No. 67 Kinetic Racing Porsche and Vincent L’Herbier took pole in VR7UAL Pole Qualifying with a lap of 2:05.273, edging MAD Sim Racing and their No. 393 Mercedes for the top spot on the starting grid.

For Kinetic Racing, who have been looking to return to victory lane since winning three straight races at the start of the season, it was the third pole of the year.

At the start of the race, everybody got away clean, unlike was the case at Detroit Belle Isle two weeks prior.

L’Herbier was able to retain the lead on the opening lap, but on lap two, Patrick Fogel in the No. 393 MAD Sim Racing Mercedes put the move on the five-time VSCA SportsCar Championship race winner going into turn six and completing the pass for the lead.

On lap 13, L’Herbier retook the lead when Fogel suddenly lost control and spun out on his own in turn five. It was a tough deal for the No. 393 Mercedes, dropping all the way from the lead to P11.

On lap 23, the No. 5 Mercedes of the GTD championship leaders Screeching Moose Motorsports and driver Phillip Forrester came to pit road, for a pit stop.

The team decided to complete its driver swap and completed service in just over 37 seconds - good enough to take the lead just three laps later.

Kinetic Racing and the No. 67 Porsche meanwhile suffered heartbreak on lap 26, when series debutant, the No. 39 BMW of Sapphire SimSport hit the right rear wheelhouse of the Porsche, resulting in severe damage to the latter that forced the GTD class race leader to take repairs under green.

The repairs dropped the three-time season race winners from the lead to P15 and three laps down, putting an effective end to the New Zealand’s team race at Road America. In the end the No. 67 Porsche finished P15.

On lap 47, while under full-course yellow, the No. 5 Mercedes lost the lead to the No. 84 Fischer Motorsport Porsche and Jay Van Meppelen, when the German team decided to gamble on fuel for the remainder of the race.

So it was Van Meppelen in the GTD lead on the restart on lap 52, with just over 30 minutes remaining in the race, followed by a pack of four BMW M4 GT3s, the No. 54 and No. 32 of MoneyHouse Racing, the No. 94 of Full Send Racing and two-time race winner No. 151 of World Of SimRacing Team.

Fogel puts on show, slices through field to retake lead

While it could have been natural to focus on the battle at the front of the class, it was Patrick Fogel in the No. 393 MAD Sim Racing Mercedes catching all the attention, quickly picking off positions following the restart.

Within two laps, the Detroit Belle winners from two weeks prior were in second place and Fogel set his eyes on the No. 84 Porsche and No. 94 BMW directly ahead.

The most spectacular incident of the race occurred with only few minutes remaining in the race, when the No. 67 Kinetic Racing Porsche, hit from behind, lost control and crashed hard into the unsuspecting No. 111 HAC Lamborghini - © 2023 VSCAracing.com / Benjamin Fischer

Racing fans at the 4-mile Wisconsin track were in for an exciting finish, as the clock kept winding down.

Fuel mileage deciding factor in closing stages

As the race entered the closing stages, several teams realized that fuel mileage was going to come into play in determining who would get a good finish and who would fall behind.

On lap 57, David Sluiter in the No. 94 Full Send Racing BMW took the lead away from Van Meppelen, with a butter smooth pass going through turn three.

But on lap 61 the 29-year old Grand Junction, Colorado native had to bring his car down to pit road to serve a drive-through penalty for an incident earlier in the race, which handed the lead back to the No. 84 Fischer Motorsport Porsche.

But not for long. Six laps before the finish, Van Meppelen had to surrender the lad to Fogel and his No. 393 Mercedes and Fogel never looked back, taking the checkered flag and bringing home a second straight victory for MAD Sim Racing. The win moves the No. 393 Mercedes into fourth place in the championship standings and cuts the points deficit down to 255 points with three more races to go.

“What a race!”, said MAD Sim Racing driver Daniel Keane in victory lane.

“I feel like we have a flair for the dramatic with half of our races coming down to the final few laps. I wouldn’t mind a nice cruise into the sunset one of these days (laughing). ”

“Patrick started off strong again this week but clipped the dirt and spun about halfway through his opening stint. The good news is that we were able to avoid any contact, so it wasn’t an insurmountable mistake. We knew there was a good chance of there being a caution later in the race, and, since we were already further back in the field, we opted to adjust our strategy and swap drivers at pit stops.”

“My stint was uneventful, holding a steady gap to the #6 (Torque Freak Racing) behind us. The caution gods smiled on us this week though, coming out just late enough for it to be a non-issue with drive time and it put us back in the race.”

“Patrick got back in the car and we ended up restarting right behind the #5 and #151. We couldn’t afford to get in a battle with them if we wanted any chance at the win, so Patrick was in full focus-mode. With a little help from a lapped car, he was able to get past them both by the exit of turn 5. After that, I had full faith in him to run down the leaders.”

“We finally get to the lead with about 10 minutes left. Then, of course, with about 5 minutes to go, Patrick gets on the radio and asks where the overall leader is on track because he’s running low on fuel. The #78 must have smelled blood because, while Patrick’s trying to save enough to hit our number, I noticed them put down their fastest lap of the race coming to the white flag. Thankfully, we did not have a repeat of Daytona and Patrick

made it to the line mere seconds before the car started to sputter.”, Keane continued.

Celebrating with his team-mates in victory lane, Kean finished:

“Back-to-back! We’ll still need a bit more luck to have a real shot at the title, but we’re going to give it our all!”

For the No. 84 Fischer Motorsport Porsche, the race was one lap too long and the fuel gamble did not pay off, as the team was forced to pit for a splash and dash on the final lap of the race, resulting in a P6 finish.

The No. 78 Champion Motorsports BMW M4 GT3 of Marc Johnson and Brett Stephens took second place, and almost got the win, because Fogel was forced to slow down dramatically in the final laps as well, to make it to the end on fuel.

Firestorm Motorsport finally broke their string of three straight finishes of 20th or worse and took third place on the podium in their No. 29 Porsche 911 GT3 R with drivers Sean Hatfield, Erik Haag and series newcomer Erol Ureksoy.

Championship leaders No. 5 Mercedes of Screeching Moose Motorsports with drivers Lukas Santos and Phillip Forrester did not win their first VSCA race, but left Road America with a smile after another solid points day and leading 21 laps, putting them one step closer to a possible first championship.

Series veterans Neil Middleton and John Goodwin, who suffered brutal heartbreak at this race one year ago, that ultimately ended up costing their team, Torque Freak Racing the 2022 championship, rounded out the top-five finishers as the No. 6 Lamborghini took P5.

For the No. 84 Fischer Motorsport Porsche and Manuel Mayer and Jay Van Meppelen meanwhile, it was a bleak end to a very competitive and promising race.

“I feel like P6 does not represent what we were capable of today. It’s tough. We gambled and unfortunately it didn’t go our way. It’s kind of the way this season has gone for us, I guess.”, said a dejected Manuel Mayer.

Real Pixel Motorsport and their No. 312 BMW M4 GT3 bounce back with a P7 top-ten finish at Road America, following a violent crash at Detroit Belle Isle two weeks ago.

Leading as late as ten laps before the checkered flag, before coming to pit lane for a drive through penalty, must be one of the less fun ways of losing a race. But at the end, it was still a solid P8 finish for the No. 94 Full Send Racing BMW and David Sluiter and Carl Felver, who put the competition on notice, that they are capable of leading laps and winning races, too.

Joseph Stafford and Bennett Allen took P9 in the No. 54 MoneyHouse Racing BMW, 53 seconds behind the race winners.

The No. 85 Fischer Motorsport Porsche 911 GT3 R meanwhile closed out the top ten in the official results, one lap down.

No win, no problem for Screeching Moose Motorsports

Racing isn’t just about winning. It is also about consistency. Especially so when it comes to endurance racing and winning championships. Case in point: The No. 5 Mercedes of Screeching Moose Motorsports continues to lead the championship standings table after Road America.

With just 138 points behind, the No. 78 Champion Motorsports BMW is in prime position to take full advantage of any potential mishaps or unexpected developments in the remaining three races and could give the Denton, Texas organization yet another championship, after winning the VSCA Endurance Cup in LMP2 class in 2022.

Torque Freak Racing took the VSCA Sprint Cup championship last season and are also right in the mix, sitting third in the championship, only 154 points out of the lead.

Now two-time race winners No. 393 MAD Sim Racing Mercedes AMG GT3 are fourth, 255 points back and with three races to go, still have a legitimate shot to play a role in the championship fight.

Kinetic Racing and their No. 67 Porsche 911 GT3 R meanwhile suffered a huge setback at Road America. Everything looked so promising, starting from VR7UAL Pole Position. But a P15 finish puts the team at risk, of losing out at a chance to defend their 2022 series championship.

Virginia International Raceway up next

With summer entering the final stretch, the series next visits the beautiful landscape of Virginia. On August 26th, the third-to-last round, the Sports Car Challenge at Virginia International Raceway will serve as a precursor, which teams will and will not have a chance to battle for the championship in the final weeks of the season.

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