In Pirelli GT4 America’s biggest race of the season, Toyota Racing Development young drivers Gresham Wagner and Tyler Gonzalez took a signature win for RAFA Racing Team in the three-hour ‘Lone Star Enduro’ at Circuit of the Americas.
Wagner and Gonzalez came from as far back as 22nd in their #68 Toyota GR Supra GT4 EVO2 to win overall and take the maximum 50 points towards the Silver class championship.
Wagner took the lead on the opening lap of the race, overhauling Anthony McIntosh in the pole-winning #69 JTR Motorsports Engineering Toyota. The reigning GR Cup North America Champion had his charge halted by two early Full Course Yellows which also dictated the strategy in the race.
First, Michael Garcia’s #07 Skip Barber Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage GT4 blew a tyre and the debris forced the Safety Car to be deployed – then, Alex Vogel spun and crashed into the tyre barriers at turn five. Vogel got out of his #43 P1 Groupe McLaren Artura GT4 without any serious injuries, but the time to retrieve the car and repair the barriers forced a longer Safety Car intervention after just 22 minutes of racing.
15 minutes and a handful of laps passed behind the Safety Car, with cars staggering into the pits for routine service and driver changes. With a lap before the green flag came out again, the RAFA Racing crew called Wagner into the pits, sacrificing tons of track position but giving the #68 car time in hand over the others who’d pitted earlier.
Gonzalez went to work, rapidly climbing his way through the field up to seventh place overall by the end of his stint, and once the second round of pit stops was completed, Wagner was in third place, just about ten seconds behind race leader Colin Garrett in the #52 Auto Technic Racing BMW M4 GT3 EVO.
With the BMW struggling with a problem on the right-front tyre, Wagner then ran down the deficit and overtook Garrett for the lead with 56 minutes left – and just in time for the final round of pit stops. Gonzalez got back in the car and built up his lead over the #52 BMW – now in the hands of Zac Anderson.
But Gonzalez’s 5.6-second buffer was erased after fellow MX-5 Cup alumni Nate Cicero’s #28 Fast Track Racing BMW broke down with less than 30 minutes to go, causing a third Full Course Yellow.
In the final 12-minute sprint to the finish, Gonzalez sprinted away with ease as the field behind him went into an absolute frenzy, kicked off by hard racing between Anderson and JMF Motorsports’ Mike David Ortmann for second place.
The beneficiary was the Pro-Am #82 BimmerWorld Racing BMW of Tyler McQuarrie, who took second place overall – and alongside co-driver James Walker Jnr, completed BimmerWorld’s second consecutive Pro-Am win at the Lone Star Enduro.
Completing the overall podium was the #15 Archangel Motorsports Aston Martin Vantage GT4 ‘EVO’ of Adrian Comstock and Thomas Merrill, which had to come back from a slow pit stop that took them out of a comfortable Pro-Am class lead.
Despite a pit work violation and a late drive-through penalty that left them 13th on the final restart, the #33 Blackdog Racing McLaren (Tony Gaples/Michael Cooper) rallied to fourth place overall. Cooper took advantage of very hard racing between Porsche Carrera Cup North America graduates Riley Dickinson and Parker Thompson, overtaking both to secure the position.
But the #69 JTR Motorsports Toyota of McIntosh and Thompson was still able to grab fifth place overall – a good comeback for them after a risky pit call early on – ahead of the #7 ACI Motorsports Porsche Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport of Dickinson and Curt Swearingin.
Ortmann and Braydon Arthur finished seventh overall in the #4 JMF Aston Martin, then it was the #26 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin of Hannahs Grisham and Greenemeier, who took second and third in the Silver class. Anderson and the #52 Auto Technic BMW tumbled out of contention after a collision with the #3 JMF Aston Martin of Jesse Webb and Jonathan Neudorf.
Auto Technic still salvaged some pride as the #53 Pro-Am BMW (Tyler Stone/Matt Million) came home ninth, with the #23 NOLASPORT Porsche (Michael Auriemma/Matheus Leist) completing the overall top ten.
BimmerWorld Racing took Am class honours as well, as the #36 BMW of James Clay and Charlie Postins withstood late pressure from Fast Track Racing’s Judson Holt and Dave Ogburn for the class win (11th overall). The #188 Fast Track BMW was 13th out of 29 starters, and the #72 RAFA Racing Toyota (Anthony Geraci/Kenny Schmied) was 14th.
Random Vandals Racing’s Kevin Boehm and Kenton Koch finished 15th (fifth in Silver) after a tough day for the team in which all three team cars picked up at least one pit-related penalty during the race. The 2024 Lone Star Enduro winners picked up two penalties on the day and lost positions during the final restart, but still finished ahead of the #52 Auto Technic BMW in class and overall.
GT4 America’s teams get a well-deserved Sunday off to travel home before they return to action next month at Sebring International Raceway.
Images © Fred Hardy / SRO Motorsports America
