For the first time in 2022, the #34 Conquest Racing with JMF Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT4 of Gavin Sanders and Michai Stephens have taken the overall and Silver Cup victory in Pirelli GT4 America. Sanders and Stephens won Race 2 at VIRginia International Raceway, ending the five-race undefeated streak of the #18 RS1 Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 Clubsport RS of Eric Filgueiras and Stevan McAleer.
37 cars took the green flag for the race just past 11 AM local time, but less than 24 hours after an incident-packed Race 1, there was a serious crash on the opening lap. Matt Plumb in the #016 Hattori Racing Toyota GR Supra GT4 crashed head-on into the barriers under the pedestrian bridge between the Snake and the Climbing Esses. Plumb was then was hit a second time by the #19 NOLASPORT Cayman of Seth Thomas. Despite the violence of the crash, both Plumb and Thomas were able to walk away without significant injury.
Simultaneously, the #32 Capstone Motorsports AMG GT4 of Cole Ciraulo spun out at turn five and crashed into the tyre barriers, but he was able to bring the car back to the pits before retiring.
But the impact of Plumb and Lucas’ accident forced the deployment of the first Safety Car. When it became apparent that the barriers were too damaged to continue running any time soon, the red flag was thrown with 55 minutes, 41 seconds left. It took over an hour to repair the tyre barriers and the adjacent guardrail.
At ten minutes past noon, the race resumed with 15 minutes taken off the clock. The remaining runners circulated under the Safety Car for two more laps, before polesitter McAleer led the field back to green. Behind them, there was a hot battle for the Pro-Am class lead as Kenton Koch in the #15 BSport Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT4 overtook Elliott Skeer in the #120 Premier Racing Cayman for second overall.
McAleer already had over a second’s advantage over Koch, and if all went according to plan, he was due to hand the green and white #18 RS1 Porsche off to co-driver Filgueiras and secure another victory.
But just as the compulsory pit window opened with 25 minutes left on the clock, the #66 TRG Cayman of Derek DeBoer stopped at the entrance of pit lane. This led to a Full Course Yellow and a second Safety Car, with several teams already diving into the pits before the Safety Car was deployed.
Not among them was the #18 RS1 Porsche of McAleer, who had to wait until the next lap to pit under yellow because of a communication issue between him and the team. Their race was effectively compromised at this moment. A lap after they planned to, the pit stop was made and Filgueras took over from a lowly 26th position overall.
The end result of the shuffle brought the #34 Conquest/JMF AMG GT4 of Sanders up to the overall and Silver Cup lead, ahead of the Pro-Am #47 NOLASPORT Cayman of Scott Noble – who had been in a first-lap accident in Race 1, driving a patched-up Porsche. Sanders led away after the ensuing restart.
Minutes later, the #72 KRUGSPORT GR Supra (Anthony Geraci/Jaden Lander) went off after contact with the #930 CarBahn with Peregrine Racing Audi R8 LMS GT4 (Steve Dinan/Tom Dyer), and the #55 Accelerating Performance Vantage GT4 (Moisey Uretsky/Justin Piscitell) went off into the tyre barriers at the Roller Coaster complex (turn 15). This led to a third Safety Car with eight minutes left.
There was no time left to repair the barriers, and after just eight green flag laps out of 18 completed, Conquest Racing, JMF Motorsports, Sanders and Stephens got their first win in 2022.
With Jason Hart getting the starting duties, Noble took the white and yellow #47 NOLASPORT Cayman to the chequered flag, winners of the Pro-Am Cup category and second overall on the day. After three podium finishes in the first four races, this is the first win of 2022 for the reigning Pro-Am champion team.
The win also ensures that NOLASPORT will exit VIR with the lead in the Pro-Am Teams’ Championship.
Third overall and second in Silver Cup was the #68 Smooge Racing GR Supra (Kevin Conway/John Geesbreght), followed by the second-placed Pro-Am car, the #24 Heart of Racing Vantage GT4 (Gray Newell/Ian James) – capping off a big weekend that also included confirmation of their intentions to compete in the Spa 24 Hours with TF Sport. Fifth overall and third in Pro-Am was the #8 Flying Lizard Motorsports Vantage GT4 (Elias Sabo/Andy Lee), followed by the #39 Cagnazzi Motorsports AMG GT4 (Chris Cagnazzi/Guy Cosmo) and the #52 AutoTechnic Racing BMW M4 GT4 (Tom Capizzi/John Capestro-Dubets).
Ninth overall and third in Silver cup was the #51 AutoTechnic M4 GT4 (Austen Smith/Zac Andersen) with the #79 RENNtech Motorsports AMG GT4 (Chris Gumprecht/Kyle Marcelli) completing the overall top ten.
BimmerWorld completed a sweep of the Am Cup with the #36 BMW M4 GT4 of Charlie Postins and James Clay finishing in 11th overall, same as in Race 1. It’s their fourth win of the season, further cementing their championship lead.
The #80 Rooster Hall Racing M4 GT4 (Todd Brown/Johan Schwartz) was second and the #7 NOLASPORT Cayman (Sam Owen/Sean Gibbons) was third in its class.
Images © Brian Cleary, James Lietz / SRO Motorsports Group America
