After a championship-altering incident at the first corner, two safety car periods and a restart with just under three minutes to go, the #18 RS1 Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport (Eric Filgueiras/Stevan McAleer), the #50 Chouest Povoledo Racing Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT4 (Ross Chouest/Aaron Povoledo, and the #53 AutoTechnic Racing BMW M4 GT4 (Alex Filsinger/Rob Walker) survived to win their respective classes in Sunday’s GT4 America race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course to close out the 2022 season.
The hour-long race had a messy start as third place starter and yesterday’s hero in Race 1, Andy Lee missed his braking point for turn one in the #8 Flying Lizard Motorsports Vantage GT4. Lee jumped over the apex kerb and the momentum caused the Colorado native to hit Pro-Am title leader Jason Hart in the #47 NOLASPORT Cayman RS. That contact sent Hart into the side of polesitter Aaron Telitz in the #69 Smooge Racing Toyota GR Supra GT4, with Hart and Telitz spinning as a result.
While Telitz’s car spun around, the Toyota hit Elliott Skeer in the #120 Premier Racing Cayman RS, sending him spinning. Skeer brought the damaged Porsche to pit road, now out of the race.
Hart and co-driver Scott Noble managed to continue in the race, effectively settling the Pro-Am class championship battle in their favour as they entered the final race with a four point lead over Skeer and his co-driver Adam Adelson. Race control assessed Lee and Telitz with drive-through penalties for their roles in the first turn incident.
With Flying Lizard and Premier Racing both out of contention, the #47 NOLASPORT Cayman RS recovered to finish 16th overall and sixth in Pro-Am to clinch their second straight Pro-Am Championship Titles in GT4 America. For Hart, it is his second consecutive Pro-Am Championship won as the Pro driver of the #47 NOLASPORT crew.
And for Noble, the former motocross racer turned amateur GT4 driver, it is his first – succeeding right where his predecessor Matt Travis left off in 2021.
Gavin Sanders survived the first turn melee to grab the lead after starting fifth in the #34 Conquest Racing/JMF Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT4, but Zac Anderson in the #51 Auto Technic BMW M4 GT4 grabbed the overall and Silver class lead at the start of the race’s third lap.
The mandatory pit window between the 25th and 35th minutes opened with the first four drivers pitting as soon as the window opened. As the pit window neared its conclusion, McAleer in the #18 RS1 Porsche passed the #51 BMW with Austen Smith now behind the wheel for the effective race lead, even though they were competing for sixth place with just over 26 minutes to go in the race.
McAleer had taken over from Eric Filgueiras who had brought the Porsche up to third place after starting ninth on the grid.
With just under 22 and a half minutes to go, race control called for a full course yellow to move the stranded No. 72 KRUGSPEED Toyota GR Supra GT4 to safety – despite the car having sat off track for nearly ten minutes.
After an eight-minute safety car period, Smith had to bring the No. 51 BMW to pit road as the Auto Technic Racing crew did not meet the minimum pit stop time of 97 seconds on their pit stop.
There was still more drama as Nick Shanny in the #20 Carrus Callas RaceTeam Toyota GR Supra GT4 spun after contact with Gray Newell in the #24 Aston Martin (with Ian James) as the pair went through Turn 11. Shanny turned in on Newell and the GR Supra spun, hitting the wall and causing a safety car with just under nine and a half minutes remaining in the race.
The green flag came out with just under three minutes to go and there was still more drama with Tom Capizzi in the #52 AutoTechnic M4 spinning James Walker Jr. in the #82 BimmerWorld M4. Capizzi had restarted third overall and was leading the Pro-Am class, but the Massachusetts native ran wide at Turn 7, allowing Chouest in the #50 Aston Martin through to the Pro-Am class lead. Race control assessed Capizzi a drive-through penalty for the contact, undoing the efforts done by John Capestro-Dubets in the first half of the race.
Up front, McAleer had to fend off advances from Michai Stephens, now in the #34 Conquest/JMF Mercedes as the pair navigated the 3.925 kilometre, 14-turn road course for the final lap and a half.
Try as he might, Stevens could not get by McAleer as the Silver class champions picked up their tenth overall win, and 11th class victory of the 2022 season.
Chouest’s pass on Capizzi gave the Louisiana native his second class win of the day after winning the GT4 class of the GT America race earlier in the morning, clinching the GT4 class championship for that series as well.
In the Am class, Filsinger in the #53 Auto Technic Racing M4 picked up the class lead with a last lap pass on Charlie Postins in the #36 BimmerWorld M4 (with James Clay) to grab his and Rob Walker’s second class win of the season.
Images © Regis Lefebure, Fabian Lagunas / SRO Motorsports America; Karl Zemlin / Penske Entertainment Group
