Eric Filgueiras and Stevan McAleer won the opening round of the 2022 Pirelli GT4 America series at Sonoma Raceway, after a race filled with early incidents, multiple safety car interventions, and a red flag.
In the opening lap, Gavin Sanders held the lead in his #34 Conquest Racing/JWF Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT4, followed by Ryan Dexter in the #112 Dexter Racing Toyota GR Supra GT4, and Eric Filgueiras in the #18 RS1 Cayman in third. Behind them, Ross Chouest in the #50 Chouest Povoledo Racing Mercedes-AMG GT4 grabbed fourth overall and the Pro-Am Cup lead from Tim Horrell in the #10 Fast Track Racing BMW M4 GT4.
On lap two, a Full Course Yellow was declared after a multi-car incident in turn four involving Kevin Conway (#68 Smooge Racing GR Supra), Ben Anderson (#60 Dexter Racing Ginetta G55 GT4), Kyle Washington (#032 GMG Racing Cayman), and Chris Cagnazzi (#39 Cameron Racing AMG GT4). Anderson was spun around after being clipped by the former NASCAR Rookie of the Year Conway, who drove through the grass and pitted, eventually retiring from the race.
Simultaneously, Washington and Cagnazzi made contact, sending Cagnazzi’s car spinning off into a ditch on the right-hand side, and leaving Washington’s car stranded at the exit of the Carousel Corner (turn six). The #888 Zelus Motorsports Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT4 of Matt Guiver, which had just been patched up after co-driver Sean Whalen’s GT America crash earlier in the day, also took damage in a separate incident and had to pit for repairs, and they too would retire from the race.
That Full Course Yellow was changed to a Safety Car as crews worked to remove the stranded vehicles of Washington and Cagnazzi. Eventually, the race was resumed on the seventh lap, with 40 minutes left in the race.
But then a second Full Course Yellow was declared just a lap later, as Pro-Am Cup leaders Chouest and Horrell crashed into one another, sending both cars crashing against the left-hand concrete barrier, and taking their cars out of the race.
Eventually the Safety Car was brought out for a second time. Then, with 33 minutes, 32 seconds left on the clock, the race was red-flagged, as crews worked to carefully assist Horrell out of his car, and remove his stricken BMW along with Chouest’s Aston Martin. Both drivers were okay.
The red flag lasted for eleven minutes. Before the incident, Filgueiras overtook Dexter for second place overall. The #32 Snow Brothers Racing AMG GT4 of Kris Wilson moved up to fourth, ahead of Powerball winner Manny Franco’s #35 Conquest Racing AMG GT4 in fifth, and Anderson Tanoto in the #899 Absolute Racing Cayman, now the Pro-Am Cup leader in sixth overall, ahead of Gray Newell in the #25 Heart of Racing Team Vantage and Edgar Lau in the #124 ARG/Rotek Racing Ford Mustang GT4.
The race resumed from lap 13, with 30 minutes and change left on the clock. The pit window for routine service and driver changes opened at the end of the lap. Filgueiras pitted from second place immediately, handing over to Stevan McAleer, along with the top three in Pro-Am Cup – but not before Tanoto tagged Wilson going into the chicane, sending the #32 Snow Brothers AMG GT4 spinning and dropping out of contention.
The #899 Absolute Racing Cayman would be slapped with a drive-through penalty for incident responsibility, to be served by Lars Kern.
On lap 15, race leader Sanders made his routine stop and handed over to Michai Stephens. But the undercut worked out for McAleer, who took the net lead from Stephens as he exited the pits. That became the true lead after Dexter pitted on lap 18, and outside the pit window, leading to a drive-through to be served by Dominic Starkweather.
When the pit cycle ended, McAleer was now leading Stephens by over three seconds. Kenton Koch had jumped up to the Pro-Am lead after taking over the #15 BSPort Racing Vantage from Bryan Putt, and was third overall – just ahead of Ian James (#25 Heart of Racing Vantage) and Josh Hurley (#35 Conquest AMG GT4).
But then the #35 Conquest AMG GT4 was also hit with a drive-through penalty for exceeding the minimum pit time, which handed fifth overall and third in Pro-Am to Andy Lee in the #8 Flying Lizard Motorsports Vantage.
While the gap between McAleer and Stephens remained stable, Koch and James were running tail-to-nose for the Pro-Am victory in the last ten minutes of the race.
James seized his opportunity going into turns four and five, racing side-by-side with Koch until James, with a cheeky little kiss on the fender, took the position through turns eight and nine, with three minutes left in the race!
That looked to be job done, until Koch took the lead right back from James, and as they exited turn eleven, Jason Hart in the #47 NOLASPORT Cayman had also gotten past James!
McAleer took the chequered flag by 1.647 seconds, giving him and Filgueiras the first win of a 2022 GT4 America season bound to be competitive. Sanders and Stephens finished second overall, two Silver Cup entries leading the pack.
The #15 BSPort Vantage of Putt and Koch finished third overall, taking the Pro-Am Class win by less than a second over the #47 NOLASPORT Cayman of Hart and Scott Noble.
Lee and Elias Sabo in the #8 Flying Lizard Vantage completed the Pro-Am podium in fifth overall, followed closely by the #124 ARG/Rotek Mustang of Lau and Billy Johnson Jnr in sixth, the #930 CarBahn with Peregrine Racing Audi R8 LMS GT4 (Mark Siegel/Tom Dyer) in seventh, #2 GMG Racing Vantage (Jason Bell/Andrew Davis) eighth, #69 Smooge Racing GR Supra (Todd Coleman/Aaron Telitz) ninth, with James falling all the way down to tenth in the #25 Heart of Racing Vantage on the final lap.
Third in Silver Cup and 13th overall was the #51 Auto Technic Racing M4 (Austen Smith/Zac Anderson).
BimmerWorld’s #36 M4 GT4 of James Clay and Charlie Postins held off the #19 NOLASPORT Cayman of Alain Stad and Thomas Merrill by less than two-tenths of a second to secure the Am Cup victory, finishing 16th and 17th overall respectively.
And third in Am Cup (19th overall) was local heroes The Racers Group with their #66 TRG Cayman driven by Jason Alexandridis and Derek DeBoer!
Images © Fabian Lagunas, Brian Cleary / SRO
