John Edwards prevailed in a terrific battle with Billy Johnson to win the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge race at Road America. The race ended under caution after Nico Rondet crashed hard into a barrier that destroyed the pole-winning No. 18 Insight Racing BMW 328i with 24 minutes remaining and significantly damaged the wall.
Edwards and Matt Bell scored their first victory of the season in the No. 9 Stevenson Auto Group Chevrolet Camaro. It marked the sixth consecutive podium finish for Johnson and Jack Roush Jr. in the No. 61 Roush Performance Ford Mustang Boss 302R.
Bill Auberlen and Paul Dalla Lana placed eighth in the No. 96 Turner Motorsport BMW M3. Their lead in the Grand Sport championship was cut to 15 points, with Roush and Johnson taking over second place in the point standings.
Pole winner Nick Longhi and Matt Plumb took third in the No. 13 Rum Bum Racing BMW M3, followed by Robert Stout and Jeff Bucknum in the No. 6 Lucas Oil/Sunoco Chevrolet Camaro, and Al Carter and Hugh Plumb in the No. 45 BePositive.org BMW M3.
Stout took the lead from Longhi following the green flag, and swapped the point with Mitchum Motorsports Camaro teammate Joey Atterbury and Bell in the early going. Meanwhile, Roush was penalized for contact early in the race and dropped to 13th.
Following driver changes, the race turned into a dogfight between Johnson and Edwards. They ran side by side on several occasions – Bucknum made it three wide at one point – and swapped the lead four times over the final 20 laps. Edwards' winning pass came on a power slide in Turn 1. He managed to keep control and pull ahead in Turn 3. The pair were running nose to tail when the final caution waved.
ST pole winner Tyler McQuarrie led his entire 24-lap shift in the No. 18 i2i Capital/Alpha Group BMW 328i before turning the car over to Rondet. Baas took the lead and led six laps following pit stops, while Jönsson challenged and took the lead nine laps from the finish.
Rondet was running fourth in the class when the Insight Racing BMW crashed heavily nose-first into the barrier in Turn 2. Rondet escaped injury, quickly stepping from the car and walking away; however, the barrier was damaged too heavily for the race to be restarted in the remaining time.