SEBRING, FL (Sunday, May 5, 2024) – It was a weekend of accolades for SKI Autosports at Sebring Raceway for the SRO GT America powered by AWS, with Johnny O’Connell taking two podium finishes to continue a perfect six-for-six run to start the season.
O’Connell stood on the podium with third in Race 1 on Saturday and a second in today’s Race 2.
Additionally, O’Connell grabbed the Super Fuel Hard Charger Award in Saturday’s race and posted the fastest lap in today’s 40-minute sprint.
“Johnny made the move of the race, maybe the move of the year, yesterday getting around Rothberg for third and then again today passing Daskalos, proving why he’s dubbed Mr. Sebring,” said team owner Kent Hussey.
“We struggled a bit with set-up and were not able to give Johnny the best opportunity for qualifying but he made the most of it and was able to finish on the podium.
“Today he was a man on a mission and although George (Kurtz) gained a huge lead in the early laps, Johnny getting around Jason (Daskalos) was the goal.
“We’ve moved within four points of the championship lead going into Rounds 7 and 8 at Circuit of the Americas in a couple of weeks.
“It’s going to be a tight championship battle to the end and Kurtz gained valuable points this weekend, making up for missing the Long Beach event.
“We all know that consistency will be key, and being on the podium time and again will pay off.”
Next up for SKI Autosports, Circuit of the Americas, Austin, TX, May 17-19.
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JOHNNY O’CONNELL
“Race 2 at Sebring and another podium. We’re going to get that next win pretty soon, the team is just doing a great job.
“Today was a fight. We started out with a car which had a lot of oversteer, very difficult charging into Turns 1 and 17 and I got a lot of pressure from the BMW. Rothberg was doing an amazing job, that kid is going to be good.
“In the last 15 minutes we finally started making a little ground, I started changing a few things. We caught up to second and I was able to overtake him in Turn 10.
“By that time the other Mercedes (in the lead)…man those Mercedes were quick… he started coming back to me but I would have needed another 5-10 laps. Everyone did a great job.
“I can’t tell you how proud I am of the entire team, Ross, Phil, Kent, Melissa, everybody did a great job. Now it’s onto Austin.”