The #18 RS1 Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 Clubsport RS driven by Eric Filgueiras and Stevan McAleer completed another GT4 America weekend sweep by winning Race 2 at NOLA Motorsports Park on Sunday, their fourth victory in as many races.
Despite the threat of heavy rain and thunderstorms which disrupted Race 1 on Saturday, the weather conditions for Sunday morning’s race were, in fact, perfect for a 60-minute race. Temperatures were 29°C ambient, 38°C surface, with cloudy skies but no rain in sight.
McAleer led the 31-car field to the green flag, ahead of Elliott Skeer in the #120 Premier Racing Porsche in second. But in the opening laps, there was a surprise challenger up at the front: The #49 Team Saleen S1 of Eric Curran started third, passed Skeer for second on the first lap, then overtook McAleer for the race lead on lap two. The sight of the rare Saleen automobile at the head of a sports car racing field was special, albeit short-lived: After four laps up front, the Invitational category Saleen ceded the race lead to and dropped down the order after an unscheduled stop. Curran and Steve Saleen would go on to finish 18th overall.
There was drama in the Am Cup ranks early on, when the #36 BimmerWorld BMW M4 GT4 (Charlie Postins/James Clay) – who won Race 1 and held the points lead going into race 2 – broke down with a mechanical failure on lap five. The race was then put under a Safety Car on lap seven, to retrieve the broken down #7 NOLASPORT Porsche (Sam Owen/Sean Gibbons).
The race resumed from lap 11, just before the opening of the scheduled pit window, with McAleer in front, Skeer in second, the #34 Conquest Racing/JMF Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT3 of Michai Stephens in third, and the #15 BSport Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT4 of Kenton Koch in fourth, after starting eighth due to a five-place grid penalty administered to Bryan Putt following the first-lap pile-up in Race 1. Koch would continue his charge through the field by overtaking Stephens on lap 13.
After 25 minutes of racing, the pit window for routine pit work and driver changes opened. When routine pit stops were completed after ten minutes, Adam Adelson in the #120 Premier Racing Porsche was ahead of the #18 RS1 Porsche of Filgueiras on track. Knowing that a Pro-Am Cup lead was secured, however, Adelson made little effort to keep Filgueiras behind as the #18 RS1 Porsche re-took the overall lead.
In the second stanza of the race, Putt would endure another nightmare stint when he was spun out on lap 18, then collided with the #8 Flying Lizard Motorsports Vantage GT4 (Elias Sabo/Andy Lee) while contesting ninth place overall, knocking both cars out of the race on lap 22. It was a double DNF for the BSport team that had swept Pro-Am in the first race meeting at Sonoma Raceway.
Filgueiras would build his advantage lap after lap, to over ten seconds ahead of Adelson. The green and white RS1 Porsche Cayman wouldn’t be denied, ultimately winning by 13.9 seconds over the line after completing 32 laps in an hour of racing.
Filgueiras thanked his RS1 team mates and crew after the race: “We have such a great camaraderie,” he said. “These RS1 guys give us a great car every single weekend, and I have in my opinion the greatest teammate on the grid. He’s a phenomenal mentor, teammate, and friend.”
With four wins in four races, Filgueiras, McAleer, and RS1 lead the Silver Cup championship standings with a perfect 100 points scored, and have a 40-point lead in the standings.
While Filgueiras and McAleer continued their undefeated run in the 2022 Silver Cup, Adelson and Skeer finished second overall to secure a brace of commanding victories in the Pro-Am Cup for Premier Racing.
In the final ten minutes of the race, third place overall and second in Silver Cup seemed assured for the #34 Conquest/JMF Mercedes of Stephens and Gavin Sanders – until they suffered a left front puncture and dropped out of the race!
At the flag, the beneficiary appeared to be the #68 Smooge Racing Toyota GR Supra GT4 (Kevin Conway/John Geesbreght) which had started ninth and finished third on the road. But after the race, Conway was given a 44-second time penalty for avoidable contact with the #51 AutoTechnic M4 GT4 of Austen Smith earlier in the race, dropping them to 12th overall and fourth in class.
That post-race time penalty promoted the #112 Dexter Racing GR Supra (Ryan Dexter/Dominic Starkweather) from fourth to third overall, and second in the Silver Cup category! It was their first podium of the 2022 season. The #51 AutoTechnic M4 GT4 of Smith and Zac Anderson was promoted to sixth overall and third in Silver Cup.
Second in Pro-Am was the #47 NOLASPORT Porsche (Scott Noble/Jason Hart, fourth overall), and third in class was the #82 BimmerWorld M4 GT4 (James Walker Jnr/Devin Jones, sixth overall).
After four races, Noble/Hart lead the Pro-Am drivers’ championship with 63 points, ahead of Adelson/Skeer on 60 points. Putt/Koch drop to third place on 50 points.
NOLASPORT also held on for a close win in the Am Cup, as their #19 Porsche (Alain Stad/Seth Thomas) held off the #888 Zelus Motorsports Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT4 (Matt Guiver/Sean Whalen) by three-tenths of a second. They finished ninth and tenth overall, respectively.
With a home race podium to give Noble and Hart the Pro-Am points lead, and a home race victory in Am Cup, NOLASPORT couldn’t have asked for a better way to close out their first race weekend in front of their local supporters!
“Between the weather and accidents, just staying alive and bringing it home, it’s a great feeling,” remarked Stad, whose co-driver Thomas was a last-minute addition to the entry list this weekend replacing Thomas Merrill.
The #66 TRG Porsche (Derek DeBoer/Jason Alexandridis) completed the Am Cup podium, third in class.
Clay and Postins still lead the Am Cup drivers’ standings despite their DNF in Race 2, but Stad is now five points behind in second place, and both NOLASPORT and BimmerWorld Racing are level in the teams’ championship at 68 points each – with BimmerWorld holding the tiebreaker with two wins to one.
GT4 America returns to action on 17-19 June at VIRginia International Raceway for the third race meeting of 2022.
Images © SRO Motorsports Group America
