Every year, Road America seems to serve up something memorable — and this year, it served up absolute bedlam. Round 10 of the 2025 VSCA SportsCar Championship, the JRT Road America 160, began with optimism and ended with a sigh of relief for anyone who made it to the finish line unscathed.
For Erik van Spijker, starting on pole for the first time in his VSCA career was more than a personal milestone — it was a lifeline. When the green flag dropped, his #183 Blocco Motore Simsport Porsche 911 GT3 R launched cleanly, pulling three car lengths clear before chaos engulfed the rest of the GT PRO field.
The trouble began in Turn 3, where Thomas D’Ambrosio’s #69 North Sim Racing McLaren got tangled up. But that was just the appetizer. Moments later, Turn 6 turned into a scrapyard. No fewer than 18 cars were caught in a chain reaction that blocked the track and reshaped the entire race.
The Lap 1 incident in the JRT Road Americ 160 involved 18 cars total, including many GT PRO class cars
Among those caught were the championship-leading #71 Sim City Racing Porsche of Peter Spijkman, the #917 PULSAR eSports McLaren, and both Fischer Motorsport Porsches, the #84 and #44. “It was chaos to say the least,” said Manuel Mayer after the race — and that might have been an understatement. For those who started mid-pack, it was less about racing and more about survival.
Climbing Out of the Rubble
By the time the dust settled, van Spijker had escaped the opening lap madness and built a four-second lead — a rare moment of calm on an otherwise turbulent afternoon. Behind him, Jan Zilliacus in the #112 Rusty Spatulas Racing Corvette emerged as the early surprise, slicing through the field from eighth to second. Joao Vitor Delgado in the #12 Delta Racing BMW also stormed forward, moving from tenth to fourth — though his charge would soon hit turbulence of its own.
Delgado’s aggressive opening laps caught the attention of race control. First came a 60-second post-race penalty for contact with the #917 McLaren; half an hour later, another 30-second penalty for a Turn 1 incident involving multiple cars, including the #93 Digital Chicane Acura. It was the kind of afternoon where ambition met attrition — and attrition usually won.
Even those who stayed out of trouble had to keep their wits about them. The #151 World Of SimRacing Porsche of Adrian Alonso spun and rejoined unsafely just past the 90-minute mark, drawing yet another penalty and nearly triggering another pileup. The phrase “keeping it clean” clearly didn’t apply to Road America this weekend.
Strategy and Survival
A Full-Course Yellow was finally deployed one hour and 34 minutes in — a chance for teams to reset and catch their breath. But as is often the case, strategy under caution became the turning point. While most GT PRO contenders pitted, the #112 Rusty Spatulas Corvette and #12 Delta Racing BMW rolled the dice and stayed out, inheriting first and second place.
Just before the yellow, van Spijker had handed over the #183 Porsche to Marco Silva, setting up the second half of the race. On the restart, Silva found himself in prime position with fresher tires, but immediately faced a heart-stopping moment as a GTP prototype spun between Turns 2 and 3 — right in the middle of the track.
Silva and the pack behind had to scatter. Benjamin Fischer, running sixth in the #84 Fischer Motorsport Porsche, barely missed the stricken prototype by inches, only to lose control himself moments later in Turn 3. The resulting off dropped him from sixth to thirteenth — a brutal blow to Fischer Motorsport’s championship ambitions.
Silva Strikes, Häkkänen Spins
Once the track cleared, Silva set his sights on the cars ahead. With 37 minutes remaining, he made a clean, decisive move on Higo Oliveira’s #12 BMW into Turn 5 to take second. The hunt was on.
The leader, Hena Häkkänen, had been driving the race of his life in the #112 Corvette. But Road America can be unforgiving — and Turn 5 proved it once again. On lap 57, Häkkänen braked too deep, clipped the curb, and looped the car into the wall. In a flash, the lead that had looked secure was gone. Silva swept past and never looked back.
From there, it was about composure and consistency. The #183 Porsche led the closing laps without drama, taking the checkered flag after 2 hours and 40 minutes of high tension and higher attrition. The margin of victory was 5.861 seconds — enough to breathe, but not relax. It was Blocco Motore Simsport’s first-ever VSCA win and the eighth-closest GT PRO finish in series history.
A Rollercoaster for the Rest
Behind the winners, the #68 TwoLemmaTree Racing McLaren of Niklas Solle and Travis Linscome-Hatfield fought through their own rollercoaster. After surviving the opening lap chaos, they climbed methodically to second — though fuel anxiety nearly derailed their run. “We crossed the line with the car completely out of fuel,” said Linscome-Hatfield afterward. “Honestly, it was cataclysmic-level fuel saving.”
Third went to the ever-consistent #157 iRacing Today Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT3 of Eric Intili and Sam Gunstone, whose clever strategy call under caution sealed another podium in what has quietly become one of the team’s best seasons.
Fourth place went to Vincent L’Herbier and Aedan Campbell in the #67 Kinetic Racing Acura, while the #84 Fischer Motorsport Porsche of Benjamin Fischer and Manuel Mayer recovered from early damage and an off-track scare to finish fifth — a testament to resilience if nothing else.
The remainder of the top ten was filled by familiar names: the #917 PULSAR eSports McLaren in sixth, the #44 Fischer Motorsport Porsche in seventh, the #151 World Of SimRacing Porsche in eighth, the #71 Sim City Racing Porsche in ninth after a post-race penalty, and the #554 RedLab Motorsport Corvette rounding out the top ten.
Post-Race Reactions
Peter Nodwell, #71 Sim City Racing Porsche:
“It certainly was an interesting start. We went into this race with a conservative plan, keeping the championship in mind — and unfortunately, that’s usually when things go a bit sideways, literally. Thankfully, we avoided mandatory repairs. Jason did a great job as Crew Chief with a perfect strategy to minimize the impact, and Peter had a great first stint.”
“Winning the Sprint Cup is amazing. Jason and Peter did most of the heavy lifting for this. Kevin did an incredible job at VIR with great pace in the monsoon conditions. It’s been a great team effort all season. If I had to describe this race in one word, it would be ‘ROLLERCOASTER!’”
“My role during the middle stint was to keep clean and hope for a Full-Course Yellow. Jason handled the strategy and it worked perfectly, getting us back on the lead lap so Peter could show his true pace in a fully repaired car — at least for a few laps. The key today was managing both the damage and the disappointment of the early and late setbacks. Unfortunately, I won’t be around for the final race, but I hope the guys just send it and put an exclamation point on our championship run!”
Peter Spijkman, #71 Sim City Racing Porsche:
“I don’t really care about where we finished, to be honest, because the race didn’t go the way we expected. We aimed to keep it 100% clean, but right at Turn 3 we were bumped from behind by a car that wasn’t paying attention. The incident in Turn 6 made things even worse, and we lost our front bumper there.”
“I feel incredibly frustrated that I received a penalty for that, and I’m still puzzled by how the officials decided it was my fault. Winning the Sprint Cup is something we should be celebrating right now, but it’s hard to do so after this result. The race outcome — and especially the penalty — really spoiled the mood for us. Hopefully we can celebrate properly after the season is over.”
“The lap one incidents set us back big time. We had to take a drive-through early in the race to clear incident points and repair the car. A big shoutout to our strategy team, though — their plan brought us back into contention. Unfortunately, we were hit again in the final stint, otherwise I believe we could’ve fought for a podium. The biggest challenge today was simply staying out of trouble. It felt like we had a magnet on the car. For now, we just need to process this result before thinking about Road Atlanta.”
Erik van Spijker, #183 Blocco Motore Simsport Porsche:
“I was very happy to get pole for our team — honestly, I wasn’t really expecting it. Starting from pole made a huge difference, especially with so many cars getting caught in trouble on lap one. During my stints, I focused on managing pace and staying safe, but Jan Zilliacus was keeping me honest throughout.”
“Watching Marco finish the race was exciting and a bit stressful, but he handled the pressure perfectly. The safety car period turned out to be key, setting us up for a full stint to the finish. It wasn’t easy to spot at first, but I’m glad we made the call to pit and fill up under caution. Marco did a great job getting us back to the front afterward since a few teams stayed out during the yellow.”
“The biggest challenge for me was holding on to track position while leading. I’m not used to running from the front, so it was a bit different, but I just focused on hitting my marks. As for Petit Le Mans, it’d be easy to say we’ll try to go for pole and lead most laps again, but that’s not entirely realistic. The main lesson from today is that staying safe throughout the race is the biggest ingredient for a strong result.”
Travis Linscome-Hatfield, #68 TwoLemmaTree Racing McLaren:
“Ah man, we’re hyped! We’ve spent the season finding new and interesting ways to metaphorically shoot ourselves in the foot — and nearly did it again today. But somehow, we pulled it out! The first lap incident was real spicy. I still can’t believe we made it through without damage.”
“Fighting for the win toward the end was great, but realizing we needed three laps of fuel with only 2.3 laps in the tank was a serious wake-up call. We had to go into cataclysmic levels of fuel saving. Honestly, thank goodness we didn’t make it past Marco on that last stint — there’s no way we would have finished! We crossed the line completely out of fuel, with P3 just half a second behind.”
“This race felt nice because we didn’t overthink it. We just stayed calm and enjoyed the ride after the chaos on lap one. We definitely need to have a talk about reading our fuel estimates, though! With most of the championships already locked up going into Petit Le Mans, we just want to have fun and keep it clean at Road Atlanta. I love this series and can’t wait to make another championship push next year.”
Eric Intili, #157 iRacing Today Motorsports Mercedes:
“We felt like we had strong pace, and to come away with a podium is a great result for the team. After narrowly avoiding the lap one chaos, our first half of the race was pretty straightforward — just clean, competitive racing with some great battles.”
“What stood out most was the decision to pit and top off under the FCY. We’re glad the timing worked out so we could make it to the end. The key was Sam’s pace while fuel saving. Kinetic were right on our heels, but Sam managed the gap perfectly.”
“The biggest challenge was deciding what to do after the caution. A few strategies could’ve worked depending on the number of laps and time left. Thankfully, the math worked in our favor. We’re proud of the team’s consistency this season. Hopefully we can carry that momentum into Petit Le Mans — you never know what can happen after ten hours around there.”
Sprint Cup settled, Petit Le Mans up next
Despite a frustrating day, Sim City Racing left Wisconsin with reason to celebrate. The #71 Porsche clinched the GT PRO Sprint Cup title with 1583 points, ahead of Fischer Motorsport’s #44 and #84 entries. “Rollercoaster is the word,” said Peter Nodwell, summing up both his race and his season.
In the overall SportsCar Championship standings, Sim City Racing maintains a comfortable lead with 3154 points, followed by iRacing Today Motorsports in second and Fischer Motorsport in third.
Now, all roads lead to Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta on October 18 — the grand finale of the 2025 VSCA season. If Road America taught us anything, it’s that no lead is ever truly safe, and that chaos has a way of finding the spotlight.
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