Wright Motorsports claims overall and Pro-Am victory in GT World Challenge America at COTA

GT World Challenge America powered by AWS wrapped up the championship’s action-packed CieloVision GT World Texas powered by Samsung weekend at Circuit of The Americas with a dramatic three-hour contest, where strategy, traffic, penalties, and late-race pressure all played a role in the final outcome. JMF Motorsports continued its strong form in the Pro class, with Michai Stephens and Mikael Grenier securing the class victory, while a post-race time penalty reshuffled the overall order and promoted Pro-Am’s Wright Motorsports’ Dave Musial Jr. and Ryan Yardley to the outright win.

Pro Class

Michai Stephens got away cleanly at the start in the No. 34 JMF Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT3, immediately setting the tone from the front of the field. Photo credit: Fabian Lagunas/SRO Motorsports America

Michai Stephens got away cleanly at the start in the No. 34 JMF Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT3, immediately setting the tone from the front of the field. The race was quickly interrupted when the No. 6 Dollahite Racing Ford Mustang GT3 encountered issues on the opening lap, bringing out a Full Course Yellow in the first five minutes while the car was retrieved.

The caution was brief, and once green flag running resumed, Stephens continued to control the race from the lead. Behind him, the No. 12 AF Corse USA Ferrari 296 GT3 EVO suffered transponder issues, losing significant time in pit lane as the team worked to resolve the issue.

As the race approached the halfway mark, the next round of driver changes began, with Stephens handing the car back over to Grenier while still leading the Pro class. Turner Motorsport capitalized on the developments behind to settle into second in class, with McCann Racing holding third.

Grenier pitted from the lead with one hour remaining and returned to the circuit with a stable buffer, helped by several Pro-Am entries separating him from Robby Foley in the No. 29 Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT3 EVO. However, traffic proved costly. Grenier made contact while navigating through Pro-Am runners, resulting in a 10-second post-race time penalty for incident responsibility, as well as a drive-through penalty for another call.

Despite serving the drive-through, Grenier rejoined still ahead of Foley, though the margin was tight with the additional time penalty looming. He was able to build enough of a gap in the closing stages to retain the Pro class victory, finishing ahead of Turner Motorsport in second and McCann Racing in third.

“I knew I had a drive-through, but we lost the radio and I could only hear ‘drive-through,’ and I saw the board, so I did it,” said Grenier. “Somebody else on the team told me we had a 10-second penalty, which I didn’t understand. At least we got the points for the Pro class, which is the most important. I need to avoid those mistakes, but we got first-place points in Pro.”

“We just keep learning out here,” added Stephens. “It’s certainly a continuation of the humbling aspect of motorsport. Mikaël gave it his absolute all, the team gave it their all, and we’re still excited for the road ahead. It’s all about focusing forward in the championship.”

Pro-Am Class

The Pro-Am class produced its own share of drama early in the race. Thirteen minutes into the contest, Todd Coleman spun in the No. 69 Archangel Motorsports McLaren after earlier contact from the No. 9 TR3 Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3, which left Coleman with a left-rear puncture. TR3 Racing was later handed a drive-through penalty for incident responsibility.

A second Full Course Yellow followed shortly after due to debris on track, resetting the field once again.

At the halfway mark, Tom Sargent in the GMG Racing entry recorded the fastest lap of the race, while Wright Motorsports began to assert itself at the front of Pro-Am. Just past halfway, the team ran first and second in class, with Ryan Yardley leading ahead of Thomas Merrill.

Behind them, Jan Heylen and Lorcan Hanafin engaged in a strong battle for fourth and fifth, but the No. 27 JMF Motorsports entry sustained damage and was forced to return to the garage for repairs.

Wright Motorsports executed clean pit stops with both of its cars. Michael Clark briefly split the two Porsche entries while running an alternate strategy, but Merrill was able to move back ahead and restore the team’s first and second formation.

In the final 10 minutes, Heylen held third for RS1 while Sargent continued to hunt him down in pursuit of the final Pro-Am podium position. RS1 ultimately held firm, completing the class podium.

At the checkered flag, Dave Musial Jr. and Ryan Yardley secured the Pro-Am victory, with Thomas Merrill and Therese Lahlouh completing a Wright Motorsports one-two finish in class. Following Grenier’s 10-second post-race penalty, Musial Jr. and Yardley were also promoted to the overall victory.

Following Grenier’s 10-second post-race penalty, Musial Jr. and Yardley were promoted to the overall victory. Photo credit: Fabian Lagunas/SRO Motorsports America

“I just found out that we won overall,” said Yardley. “I knew we had the class win, but had no idea about the overall win, so that’s pretty awesome. Massive credit to Dave for the first stint and to the team at Wright Motorsports for the awesome strategy. They made my life easy at the end.”

Musial Jr. praised the full team effort after a standout result: “I’ve been trying to work really hard and step it up,” said Musial Jr. “The team did great, everything worked out in our favor, we had a great strategy, good pace, and we did everything we needed to do. You can’t ask for anything more.”

Am Class

The Am class delivered another entertaining fight, with Jay Schreibman and Jay Logan going wheel-to-wheel for the lead one hour into the race. Logan managed to gain the advantage, though he lost a piece of front grille bodywork in the process.

The battle continued after the driver changes, with Oswaldo Negri and Marc Austin taking over and running closely throughout their stints. The positions swapped again as the race unfolded, with both entries staying locked together in a tense class fight.

Negri and Schreibman ultimately came out on top after a well-executed race from start to finish.

“It’s a pretty demanding track, especially if you want to push,” said Negri. “Today was incredible because we executed perfectly. Jay did a great stint, we had great strategy, great pit stops, and we did what we wanted to do. It was a great battle, and we knew it would probably happen with the tire strategy they were playing.”

“What a great day and what a great track,” said Schreibman. “The team was perfect, the pit stop execution was great, and the racing was super fun with the Mercedes. It was great sportsmanship and an amazing win in my first-ever double stint. I was worried about that in this Texas heat, but it all came together today.”

The GT World Challenge America powered by AWS field will return for the third round of the season at Sebring International Raceway from May 8th to 10th, 2026.