For the first time in 2022, a Pro-Am team has won overall in Pirelli GT4 America: Bryan Putt and Kenton Koch took the chequered flag first in their #15 BSport Racing Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT4, winners of Race 2 at Road America circuit.
The race turned completely in the opening laps of the race, on a cloudy Sunday morning in Wisconsin. A slightly depleted field of 31 cars took the start of the race after multiple incidents earlier in the day, the most serious of which involved Gray Newell of The Heart of Racing Team. Newell and Ian James were scratched from tenth on the grid.
Polesitter Eric Filgueiras led the field into turn one, but his #18 RS1 Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 Clubsport RS had fierce competition – Aaron Telitz in the #69 Smooge Racing Toyota GR Supra GT4 was putting early pressure on Filgueiras.
Then, on lap six, Telitz got past Filgueiras to take the overall lead at turn one. But seconds later, Filgueiras began limping slowly around the circuit, with a broken left front suspension. He couldn’t steer, making an agonising crawl into the gravel trap at turn nine. This brought out a Safety Car, which lasted for upwards of ten minutes.
It was the first retirement of the season for Filgueiras and Stevan McAleer, who had won eight of the first nine races in 2022. Their streak of consecutive finishes in the Silver category came to an end.
Telitz inherited the overall lead in front of Koch. Both leaders waited until the end of the ten-minute compulsory pit window to make their driver changes, entrusting the second half of the race to their amateur co-drivers.
Todd Coleman emerged from the pits with the lead aboard the #69 Toyota, followed closely by Bryan Putt in the #15 Aston Martin. But it didn’t take long for Putt to find his way through, overtaking Coleman for the overall and class lead in turn one.
A lap later, the #8 Flying Lizard Motorsports Vantage GT4 of Elias Sabo overtook Coleman for second, and then the lap after that, Adam Adelson in the #120 Premier Racing Cayman RS was through into third.
Sabo then caught Putt, and the two Aston Martins ran tail to nose. Seeing an opportunity to grab the lead, Sabo went for a late lunge up the inside of Putt at turn one. However, Sabo missed his braking point, overshot the corner into the tarmac runoff, and settled in right in front of Adelson.
Seconds later, the race was halted for an accident out of The Kink (turn 11), for the second day in a row. The #4 Lone Star Racing Mercedes-AMG GT4 of Zane Hodgen crashed head-on into the barriers after losing control at the exit of the corner. Hodgen, thankfully, was uninjured – after a collision that ended what had been a solid run for he and co-driver Cameron Lawrence.
The Safety Car was deployed, before Race Control elected to call the race with five minutes remaining, with Putt and Koch declared the winners. It was their first win and first podium since sweeping the opening weekend at Sonoma Raceway all the way back in April. This was also the first win for a Pro-Am entry since Race 1 at Watkins Glen last year.
Sabo and co-driver Andy Lee shook off a slow start to the race, and finished a season-best second place in the tan #8 Flying Lizard Aston Martin.
And in third place, Adelson and Elliott Skeer took followed up their win in Race 1 with their sixth podium of the season. Most importantly, they were able to extend their lead in the Pro-Am drivers’ championship, as Adelson and Skeer (144) now lead the NOLASPORT duo of Scott Noble and Jason Hart (136) by eight points with four races left.
With RS1’s McAleer and Filgueiras out of the race, the #68 Smooge Racing GR Supra of Kevin Conway and John Geesbreght secured redemption after Conway’s unforced error in Race 1, by finishing fourth overall and winning the Silver class. It’s the first Silver class win for Conway and Geesbreght, last year’s Am Cup champions stepping up to the higher category.
The #34 Conquest Racing/JMF Motorsports AMG GT4 (Gavin Sanders/Michai Stephens) finished fifth overall and second in class, gaining 18 points on McAleer and Filgueiras and cutting the deficit to 47 points heading into Sebring. The Pro-Am #69 Smooge Racing GR Supra of Coleman and Telitz eventually finished in sixth, followed by the #51 AutoTechnic Racing BMW M4 GT4 (Austen Smith/Zac Anderson) and the #47 NOLASPORT Cayman GT4 Clubsport MR of Noble and Hart.
Rob Walker and Alex Filsinger scored the Am Cup win in their #53 AutoTechnic M4 GT4, with an 11th overall finish. It’s their first win of the season.
The #36 BimmerWorld Racing M4 GT4 (Charlie Postins/James Clay) finished second in class, to extend their lead in the championship to an almost unassailable 81 points. Race 1 class winners, the #72 KRUGSPEED GR Supra (Anthony Geraci/Jaden Lander), finished a great weekend in third.
Images © Fred Hardy, Regis Lefebure / SRO Motorsports Group America
