Second Place Doubles Mercedes-AMG's GT World Challenge Lead — but a Ferrari Is Now the Threat
The No. 34 JMF Motorsports car finished second to AF Corse at Barber, yet left Alabama nine points clear with only the Indianapolis 8 Hour to go.
Michai Stephens and Mikael Grenier didn't win at Barber Motorsports Park on Sunday, yet they left Alabama in better shape than they arrived. Second place in the three-hour GT World Challenge America race stretched the No. 34 JMF Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT3's Pro class lead from four points to nine, 114 to 105, with only the Indianapolis 8 Hour left on the calendar.
The catch is the name now in second. The No. 12 AF Corse USA Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo of Matías Pérez Companc and Frederik Schandorff took the win by 5.638 seconds, according to the official Barber results, and the 25 points pulled Pérez Companc from 16 back to nine. Turner Motorsport's Robby Foley and Justin Rothberg, who had cut the gap to four at last month's chaotic Road America round, finished fourth. That leaves the top three in the Pro standings within roughly 10 points of each other.
The Mercedes had the pace to win. Stephens chased Pérez Companc through the opening stint, used Pro-Am traffic to get alongside, and took the lead. The race turned at the final round of stops: Grenier rejoined ahead of Schandorff, ran wide on cold tires, and the Ferrari driver went through. Schandorff then caught the McCann Racing Porsche, which had led on an alternate strategy, while the No. 34 passed the same car for second with about 40 minutes left.
It fits a season in which the JMF car has been the most consistent entry rather than the most dominant. Stephens and Grenier opened 2026 with Pro wins at Sonoma and COTA and have scored in every race since, but they haven't won outright after that. A late engine failure ended a run from pole at Sebring, and post-race penalties at Road Atlanta handed that win to the same AF Corse Ferrari.
Mercedes-AMG also leads the manufacturer standings, 114 to 100, the company says. It didn't name the closest rival. The brand's other GT3 entries had a tougher day. Jason Daskalos and Philip Ellis finished fifth in Pro-Am after pit stop problems in the No. 27 JMF car, and the No. 9 TR3 Racing car of Road America winners Brayton Williams and Daniel Morad ran in the class top three for two hours before retiring in the final 30 minutes. Ellis has a busy fortnight: before Indianapolis, he and Winward Racing go for a third straight IMSA GTD title at Petit Le Mans.
In the Pirelli GT4 America support races, the No. 37 Dome Motorsport Mercedes-AMG GT4 of Eddie Killeen and Laura Hayes and the No. 40 Off-Leash Motorsports car of Kevin Clifford and Harry Gottsacker each finished fourth in Saturday's 60-minute race, their best results of the weekend. BSG Motorsports' first GT4 outing ended in 12th place in both races.
The finale runs October 8–11 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, which is close to home for Illinois native Stephens. "This one has a championship title at stake, and we're going to give it all we have," he said.
Nine points is a thin cushion over eight hours, more than twice the length of any other round this year. The team hasn't announced its lineup for the race.
