They may not have won the series championship, but the #99 JO Motorsports BMW team got the job done at Road Atlanta, capturing their third victory of the season in dominant fashion, putting the competition at bay by over a whole lap.
Irishman Sheamus Power with American team-mates Jonathan Oshalim and Eric Sibla led 208 laps to take the checkered flag over second-place finishers and new series champions #7 Grizzly Motorsports.
JO Motorsports’ first season in the VSCA SportsCar Championship was worthy of a championship. But a disqualification in the season-opening 24 Hours of Daytona ultimately meant the team came up short in the hunt for the overall championship.
However, their win at Road Atlanta capped off a season that can only be described as amazing, including wins at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park in May and Virginia International Raceway in August.
On Saturday, the #99 BMW once again was at the front or near the front for the majority of the race. Starting from fifth position, the team first took the lead on lap 63 during pit stops. But on lap 184 the entry out of Galt, California took the lead for an extended period, for the first time - through lap 353 in fact.
Eventually, the lead changed hands again on lap 437 and the #99 JO Motorsports BMW never looked back, taking the checkered flag in dominant fashion by one lap over new series champions #7 Grizzly Motorsports.
Last year’s top class Endurance Cup champions, #79 Champion Motorsports took third place, albeit eight laps down, in a race that saw tremendous amounts of adversity and attrition in LMDh class competition.
New Endurance Cup champions #3 Mayer Simspeed Performance were involved in yet another huge accident with #51 World Of SimRacing Team, setting both teams back and leading to the eventual retirement of the latter.
The two teams had tangled multiple times this season already at CTMP and Watkins Glen.
Grizzly Motorsports loses battle but wins the war
They were gunning for their third win of the season and second in a row, but #7 Grizzly Motorsports ultimately had to settle for second place after serving a one lap stop & hold penalty from race control for contact with a GTD class car.
But despite losing the battle on the day, the Portland, Oregon team won the war by winning their first VSCA SportsCar Championship. The #7 BMW ends the season in first place in the championship standings, 115 points over #3 Mayer Simspeed Performance and with an incredible eleven top-ten finishes in eleven starts, combined with an even more impressive nine top-five finishes.
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