GT Mania Season Recap: Gong, Hudson, and Banfield Crowned Champion Motorsports Class Champions

Champion Motorsports has officially crowned its GT Mania champions after a thrilling 10-round Wednesday night campaign that delivered big grids, changing conditions, multi-class traffic, and championship battles that rewarded much more than raw speed alone.

Across a season that visited Le Mans, Road America, Silverstone, Monza, Watkins Glen, the Nürburgring, Sebring, Suzuka, Road Atlanta, and Spa, GT Mania brought together GTE, GT3 PRO, and GT3 AM competitors for one-hour races featuring required pit strategy, traffic management, and the added pressure of CMS’s safety bonus and penalty system.

When the final checkered flag fell at Spa, three drivers stood above the rest.

Season in Numbers

The final standings tell the championship story, but the race data shows just how competitive this GT Mania season truly was.

• 10 points races
• 283 total race entries
• 28.3 average starters per round
• 38 starters at Road America, the largest field of the season
• 5 different GTE winners
• 5 different GT3 PRO winners
• 6 different GT3 AM winners
• Sebring was the cleanest race by incident average, at 4.16x per starter
• Suzuka was the toughest race by incident average, at 9.30x per starter
• James Gong led the season with 157 laps led
• Kris Hudson was the cleanest regular championship contender, averaging just 1.67 incidents per start
• Andy Banfield gained 21 class positions across the season while winning the GT3 AM title

Three Champions, Three Different Championship Stories

One of the most interesting parts of the GT Mania season was that each champion won their title in a very different way.

James Gong won the GTE championship through outright dominance. His season included five class wins, nine podiums, 10 starts, no DNFs, 157 laps led, six class fastest laps, and four class poles. Gong was the benchmark for pace and execution across the GTE field.

Kris Hudson won GT3 PRO through efficiency, consistency, and clean racecraft. Hudson won twice, finished on the podium seven times, and averaged only 1.67 incidents per start. His championship became even more impressive when JT Tami launched a late-season charge that briefly made the raw-points battle look very different.

Andy Banfield won GT3 AM through classic championship craft. He had one class win, but he also had no DNFs, seven top-five finishes, and one of the lowest incident averages in the entire series. In a class where several drivers had race-winning pace, Banfield’s consistency proved decisive.

GTE Champion: James Gong

James Gong’s GTE championship was the most dominant statistical performance of the GT Mania season.

Gong finished the season with 394 official championship points, defeating Kevin Ayers by 34 points. But the final margin only tells part of the story. Across the full campaign, Gong started all 10 rounds, won five races, finished on the podium nine times, completed every race, led 157 laps, and recorded six class fastest laps.

The turning point of the GTE season came during the middle stretch of the championship. After Marc Johnson opened the year with a win at Le Mans and James Franznick took Road America, Gong began to take control. He won at Silverstone, followed it with another victory at Monza, then added wins at Sebring, Suzuka, and Road Atlanta.

Kevin Ayers kept the pressure on throughout the season and delivered an excellent championship run of his own. Ayers started every round, won twice, finished on the podium six times, and closed the year strongly with victories at the Nürburgring and Spa. But Gong’s mid-season run gave him enough control to secure the championship.

Final GTE Championship Top Three

Position	Driver	Points
1st	James Gong	394
2nd	Kevin Ayers	360
3rd	Richard McClure	172

GT3 PRO Champion: Kris Hudson

Kris Hudson’s GT3 PRO championship may have been the most technically impressive title of the season.

Hudson finished with 382 official championship points, 22 points ahead of JT Tami. His season was built on finishing quality, clean execution, and maximizing nearly every appearance. In nine starts, Hudson earned two wins, seven podiums, eight top-five finishes, and one of the best incident records in the entire championship.

The GT3 PRO title fight also had one of the best hidden storylines of the season. JT Tami actually finished with more raw points across all rounds, 397 to Hudson’s 392. But GT Mania’s two-drop-week format rewarded each driver’s best eight scoring rounds, and Hudson’s consistency gave him the official championship edge.

Tami’s late-season run was one of the best charges of the year. He won at Sebring, Suzuka, and Road Atlanta, turning the GT3 PRO championship into a serious fight. Zach Sternhagen was also a major factor, winning three races and finishing third in the final standings.

But in the end, Hudson’s title was won by limiting the bad nights. He only had 15 incidents across the season, averaged just 1.67 incidents per start, and produced the kind of week-to-week consistency that championships are built on.

Final GT3 PRO Championship Top Three

Position	Driver	Points
1st	Kris Hudson	382
2nd	JT Tami	360
3rd	Zach Sternhagen	329

GT3 AM Champion: Andy Banfield

Andy Banfield’s GT3 AM championship was a textbook example of how to win a title in a deep and unpredictable field.

Banfield finished with 347 official championship points, 18 points ahead of Douglas Hintze and 24 points ahead of Larry Ford. His season started perfectly with a victory at Le Mans, but the championship was not won by dominance alone. It was won through consistency, low incidents, and staying in the fight even when others had the race-winning pace.

The GT3 AM class was one of the strongest stories of the season because the win column was spread across several drivers. Douglas Hintze won three races. Rafa Sosa also won three races and showed tremendous pace late in the season. Arthur Jaworski, James Sauceman, and Keith Updike also visited victory lane.

Banfield, however, kept collecting points. He finished the season with one win, three podiums, seven top-five finishes, no DNFs, and only 17 total incidents across nine starts. His 1.89 incident average was one of the best marks in the field, and his ability to gain positions while staying clean made the difference in the championship.

Final GT3 AM Championship Top Three

Position	Driver	Points
1st	Andy Banfield	347
2nd	Douglas Hintze	329
3rd	Larry Ford	323

Class Winners by Round

Round	Track	GTE Winner	GT3 PRO Winner	GT3 AM Winner
Round 1	Le Mans	Marc Johnson	Zach Sternhagen	Andy Banfield
Round 2	Road America	James Franznick	Kris Hudson	Douglas Hintze
Round 3	Silverstone	James Gong	Kris Hudson	Arthur Jaworski
Round 4	Monza	James Gong	Zach Sternhagen	Douglas Hintze
Round 5	Watkins Glen	C. Michael Parker	John Marjoribanks	Rafa Sosa
Round 6	Nürburgring	Kevin Ayers	Zach Sternhagen	James Sauceman
Round 7	Sebring	James Gong	JT Tami	Keith Updike
Round 8	Suzuka	James Gong	JT Tami	Douglas Hintze
Round 9	Road Atlanta	James Gong	JT Tami	Rafa Sosa
Round 10	Spa	Kevin Ayers	Tarcisio Carvalho	Rafa Sosa

Momentum Shifts That Shaped the Season

Every championship had a defining stretch.

In GTE, the championship turned when James Gong went on his mid-season run. After three rounds, Gong and James Franznick were tied on raw points. From there, Gong began to separate himself, winning at Monza and then adding victories at Sebring, Suzuka, and Road Atlanta. By the time the field reached Spa, he had built enough of a cushion to secure the title.

In GT3 PRO, Kris Hudson controlled much of the early and middle portion of the season. Hudson led the raw points after Road America and extended the advantage through Watkins Glen and Sebring. But JT Tami’s late charge changed the tone of the title fight. Tami won three straight races from Sebring through Road Atlanta, and by the end of the regular scoring totals, he had edged ahead in raw points. The two-drop format, however, rewarded Hudson’s stronger best-eight result set.

In GT3 AM, Andy Banfield led early, briefly saw the championship momentum swing toward Jeff Yeager after Watkins Glen, then reclaimed control and held it through the second half of the season. Douglas Hintze and Larry Ford kept the pressure on, but Banfield’s clean and steady scoring was enough to keep him on top.

Season Awards

Driver of the Season: James Gong

Five wins, nine podiums, 157 laps led, six class fastest laps, and the GTE championship. Gong was the most complete statistical performer of the season.

Cleanest Regular Driver: Kris Hudson

Hudson averaged only 1.67 incidents per start while winning the GT3 PRO championship. That combination of pace and discipline was one of the defining features of his title run.

Championship Craft Award: Andy Banfield

Banfield did not need to dominate the win column to win GT3 AM. He did it with consistency, no DNFs, strong position gains, and one of the best incident averages in the field.

Late-Season Charger: JT Tami

Tami’s wins at Sebring, Suzuka, and Road Atlanta made the GT3 PRO championship one of the most interesting battles of the season.

GT3 AM Pace Award: Rafa Sosa

Sosa’s three class wins and late-season form made him one of the fastest AM drivers in the field, especially as the championship moved into its final rounds.

Hard Charger Mention: David Anderson

David Anderson gained 28 class positions across the season and finished sixth in GT3 AM points, making him one of the strongest movers in the field.

Ironman Mentions

James Gong, Kevin Ayers, Paul Hamilton, and John Rowland each appeared in all 10 GT Mania rounds, helping anchor the championship from start to finish.

Final Thoughts

GT Mania delivered exactly what the Champion Motorsports Wednesday night platform is designed to produce: large mixed-class fields, fierce but friendly competition, changing track conditions, and championship battles that rewarded preparation, speed, patience, and racecraft.

The season was not decided by one type of driver. It rewarded three different championship approaches. James Gong won GTE with dominance. Kris Hudson won GT3 PRO with precision and consistency. Andy Banfield won GT3 AM with clean execution and smart championship management.

Congratulations to James Gong, Kris Hudson, and Andy Banfield on their class championships, and congratulations to every driver who helped make this GT Mania season another memorable chapter for Champion Motorsports.