Mercedes-AMG Motorsport Customer Racing Team JMF Motorsports Secures Third Overall SRO GT World Challenge America Powered by AWS Race Win of the Season Sunday at Barber Motorsports Park

Mercedes-AMG Motorsport Customer Racing teams JMF Motorsports secured a must-win victory they needed Sunday at Barber Motorsports Park to take the SRO GT World Challenge America Pro-Class championship battle down to the wire at next month’s season finale at Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS). Mikael Grenier started the No. 34 JMF Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT3 from the pole in Sunday’s second and final 90-minute GT World Challenge America race of the weekend at Barber and joined closing co-driver Michai Stephens for the team’s second overall series victory in the last two race weekends.

Grenier kicked off JMF’s dominating performance from the start of the race. Other than briefly falling out of the top spot as the field cycled through green-flag pit stops at mid-race, Grenier and Stephens essentially led the race from start to finish.

Comfortably up front as the rest of the field battled behind for the remaining Pro podium positions and other class honors, Stephens took the checkered flag a stout 28.658 seconds clear of the second-place finisher.

The victory was third overall GT World Challenge triumph of the season for the No. 34 team and drivers and fourth Pro-class victory of the season.

The convincing win followed a second-place Pro-class finish by the No. 34 team in Saturday’s first GT World Challenge race. The runner-up result garnered some good championship points for JMF but was tempered by a race win by the Pro-class championship leaders who added to their championship cushion.

On Sunday, however, the bigger championship edge went to JMF as the points leaders, and their Pro-class teammates, fell out of winning contention after a pair of unscheduled pit stops early in the race.

October’s season-ending Indianapolis 8 Hour pays double points which puts JMF in legitimate contention in the finale at IMS for the Pro class championship. Grenier, Stephens and the No. 34 team unofficially head into the Indy finale 15 points out of first place, 233.5 – 218.5.

With the JMF Motorsports team checking out up front at times more than 30 seconds clear of the field, the majority of the race’s action for Mercedes-AMG Motorsport Customer Racing teams came in a multi-car battle for the Pro-Am class podium.

Both the No. 27 CRP Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 of Jason Daskalos and Isaac Sherman, and the No. 91 Regulator Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 of Jeff Burton and Philip Ellis, were in the hunt along with some class rivals and competitors in other divisions.
Ultimately, Daskalos emerged from the scrum to take third-place Pro-Am honors. The hard-earned podium was the second of the season for the first-year pairing of Daskalos and Sherman, who first visited victory lane in April at COTA after a second-place Pro-Am finish.

Dome Motorsport competitively carried the Mercedes-AMG flag in the weekend’s trio of 60-minute Pirelli GT4 America races.  The normal doubleheader lineup at Barber included a makeup race for a rained-out event last month at Road America.

The No. 37 Dome Motorsport Mercedes-AMG GT4 team and co-drivers Eddie Killeen and Marc Miller combined for eighth place finishes in the official Barber rounds Saturday and Sunday and a ninth-place finish in Friday’s makeup round.

In addition to Killeen improving all weekend, another highlight was Miller leading Saturday’s race overall at mid-race during full-field pit stops.

Next up for Mercedes-AMG Motorsport Customer Racing teams in SRO America competition is the season-ending Indianapolis 8 Hour, October 16 – 19, at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Michai Stephens, Driver – No. 34 JMF Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT3: “It's just a privilege beyond words to be able to bring the car across the line as a representation of the entire team's tremendous effort, enthusiasm and really just a love for what they're doing. That's what this organization represents, as a team and individuals, and along with the partnership of Mercedes-AMG, to join together to really enjoy what you're doing from sunup to sundown. We're going to bring the fight to Indy. This whole journey stems from a belief that we can do it. So that's what we are going to do. We're going to bring it to Indy full bore, enjoy the learning that will come with it, and have a great time.”

Mikael Grenier, Driver – No. 34 JMF Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT3: “It was good. On Saturday we also had a good race, but we struggled with the car a bit. So, we made some little changes, and it paid off Sunday. The car was very good on the long run. We had good pace and a very good pit stop. Michai did another amazing stint as well. We have a good car going into Indy. I think we just have to stay clean, run our own race, and stay consistent lap after lap, and then we'll see where we are after eight hours.”

Jason Daskalos, Driver – No. 27 CRP Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3: “That was the hardest I've ever worked, honestly, for a third-place finish. It was an amazing race, amazing pit stops, and Isaac did a great job in the first stint. We had a great pit stop, so we executed as a team, and it's just great to be on the podium, where we belong.”

Isaac Sherman, Driver – No. 27 CRP Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3: “It's so satisfying just to see the team come together today. It's been a little bit of a struggle here and there this season, so it's nice to finally put it together and get a podium again. Jason drove an amazing race and held off Philip Ellis for 20 minutes, which is insane. I'm just so proud of him and the team. It's just been amazing. We will be going for it at Indy. We are going to get the car together and have an amazing race.”

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