Pirelli GT4 America Race 1 at VIRginia International Raceway finished under Safety Car, but the result was the same as the four previous races this season: Eric Filgueiras and Stevan McAleer remain perfect in 2022, aboard the #18 RS1 Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 Clubsport RS.
Just three corners into the race, the #47 NOLASPORT Cayman of Pro-Am championship leaders Scott Noble and Jason Hart crashed at turn three. Noble, who started the race, was not hurt, but the impact did damage to the tyre barriers at NASCAR Bend. This resulted in a lengthy Safety Car intervention and eventually, a six-minute Red Flag for barrier repairs.
Filgueiras led the field back to green once the race resumed from lap seven, and by the end of lap nine, he’d already built a 2.3 second lead over the #32 Capstone Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT4 of Kris Wilson, who had his hands full battling the #34 Conquest Racing with JMF Motorsports AMG GT4 of Gavin Stephens for second position.
It’s hard to find the words to describe the sequence of events that unfolded during the compulsory ten-minute pit window. On lap nine, the #10 Fast Track Racing BMW M4 GT4, driven by Tim Horrell, came to a stop in the Climbing Esses – off the racing line but still on the tarmac. Horrell, a paraplegic driver, remained strapped into his car.
Rather than declare a quick Full Course Yellow to pull the car off course as was done to retrieve the stranded #98 Random Vandals Racing M4 GT4 during the first Safety Car, it was somehow thought reasonable to leave Horrell and his car on the tarmac with only a local yellow at a fast sequence of corners to ensure that the ten-minute compulsory pit window was not disrupted. Only after the pit window was closed was the Safety Car deployed, and somehow, a catastrophic accident was averted.
The #32 Capstone AMG GT4 finished its pit stop just as the Safety Car was called. Cole Ciraulo rejoined in second behind race leader McAleer, who had hopped into the leading #18 Porsche.
With just over 20 minutes left, the race restarted from lap 14. McAleer got a fantastic jump on the field, while Michai Stephens, now aboard the #34 Conquest/JMF AMG GT4, had overtaken Ciraulo for second position. Behind them, the #2 GMG Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT4 (Jason Bell/Andrew Davis) retired after Davis made contact with the #39 Cagnazzi Racing AMG GT4 of Guy Cosmo on the restart at NASCAR Bend.
McAleer had stretched his lead out to over three seconds over Stephens, when on lap 17, the Safety Car was deployed again. Dominic Starkweather had a heavy crash exiting turn five going into the Snake complex. Starkweather was not injured after the head-on impact with the tyre barriers but his and Ryan Dexter’s #112 Toyota GR Supra GT4 was done for the day, and the weekend.
The extensive damage to the barriers ensured that the race would not resume under green flag conditions. It was not the way Filgueiras and McAleer envisioned taking their fifth consecutive overall and Silver Cup win of the 2022 season, but the effort still paid them maximum points.
“That’s five wins!” exclaimed McAleer. “We didn’t get the fastest lap, but RS1 gave us a great car and we managed to maintain the gap on the restart. We’re excited for tomorrow, we’ll see if we can do this again.”
The #34 Conquest/JMF AMG GT4 of Sanders and Stephens was second, ahead of the #32 Capstone AMG GT4 of Wilson and Ciraulo in third overall. Just off the podium was the #68 Smooge Racing GR Supra (Kevin Conway/John Geesbreght) in fourth.
In Pro-Am, the #52 AutoTechnic Racing M4 GT4 of Tom Capizzi and John Capestro-Dubets took the class win, finishing fifth overall, just ahead of their team mates Austen Smith and Zac Anderson in the #51 car. This was the first Pro-Am Cup win of the year for Capizzi and ‘JCD’.
“Oh man, the reward, I can’t even explain in words how this feels right now,” Capestro-Dubets said. “We had a lot of great drivers coming for it, and we just had to stay up front. Honestly, with the heat through practice, we didn’t think we’d be up here today. When the weather played back into our hand and the car started working again, smiles were on our face, and we took it to the front and did everything we could to stay.”
Seventh and eighth overall were the other Pro-Am podium finishers, the #124 ARG/Rotek Racing Ford Mustang GT4 (Edgar Lau/Mike Skeen), and the #120 Premier Racing Cayman (Adam Adelson/Elliott Skeer). Behind them was the #24 Heart of Racing Team Vantage GT4 (Gray Newell/Ian James) in ninth overall, fourth in class, then the #016 Hattori Racing GR Supra (Seth Lucas/Matt Plumb) completing the overall top ten.
In Am Cup, the #36 Bimmerworld M4 GT4 of Charlie Postins and James Clay scored the class win, their third of the season, and one that especially feels good for the home team based out of Dublin, Virginia.
“BimmerWorld is located about two-and-a-half hours away, we have the whole BimmerWorld family here, a bunch of our coworkers, and to me, it’s about winning the home race and it’s been fantastic to do so today,” Clay said after the victory.
Rounding off the Am Cup podium were the #19 NOLASPORT Cayman (Alain Stad/Seth Thomas), then the #83 RS1 Cayman (Nelson Calle/Juan Martinez). These podium finishers were 11th, 14th, and 15th out of 33 classified/finishing vehicles of the 38 that started.
Images © James Lietz, Brian Cleary / SRO Motorsports Group America
