After severe weather curtailed the NOLA Motorsports Park weekend in Pirelli GT4 America, the series regrouped for two full races around Circuit of the Americas near Austin, Texas.
The #51 Auto Technic Racing BMW M4 GT4 of Zac Anderson and John Capestro-Dubets took a comprehensive overall and Silver class win in Race 1 on Saturday, their second of the season. Anderson and “JCD” won the most recent race at NOLA by millimetres after a video review of the finish.
No such review was needed as they overtook the pole-winning #74 Copeland Motorsports Toyota GR Supra GT4 (Tyler Maxson/Tyler Gonzalez) at the first corner. A multi-car incident behind them, which collected the #54 Black Swan Racing McLaren Artura GT4 of Tim Pappas, brought out an early Safety Car.
Anderson drove away after the restart, and it allowed him to hand the car off to Capestro-Dubets and have the #51 BMW retain the lead after pit stops were completed. JCD continued to extend the margin and won the race by just under nine seconds.
A stellar battle for second position went the way of the #34 Conquest Racing/JMF Motorsport Mercedes-AMG GT4 (Jesse Webb/Michai Stephens), just ahead of the #88 STR38 Motorsports BMW (Jon Miller/Chandler Hull). Stephens and Hull battled wheel-to-wheel for second place and with less than eight minutes remaining, Stephens set up a brilliant move around the outside of Hayden Hill (turns 17-18) to cut back up the inside of turn 19 and take the position.
The #92 Random Vandals Racing BMW (Kevin Boehm/Kenton Koch) finished fourth after Koch made a brave move through turns 14-15 to lunge past Gonzalez, who brought the #74 Toyota home in fifth place overall.
Sixth place overall and victory in the Pro-Am class went to the #68 Smooge Racing Toyota of Kevin Conway and John Geesbreght.
Geesbreght was running third in his class, directly behind the leading #44 Rooster Hall Racing BMW (Johan Schwartz/Colin Garrett) and the #47 NOLASPORT Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport (Matt Travis/Jason Hart). Hart saw an opportunity to pass Garrett into turn 15 but instead the two made contact, enough to slow both cars down and allow Geesbreght to drive past both of them and into the class lead.
Garrett and Hart would continue on to finish second and third in class, and eighth and ninth overall behind the #999 Hanley Motorsports Toyota (Daniel Hanley/Parker Thompson).
New to GT4 America this weekend was Flying Lizard Motorsports’ #2 Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT4, usually driven by Jason Bell in the GT America. This weekend Bell teamed with former RealTime Racing driver Michael Cooper and finished tenth overall, fourth in Pro-Am, on debut – ahead of the #19 ACI Motorsports Porche (Francis Selldorff/Andrew Davis) in 11th.
STR38 Motorsports took its first-ever GT4 America win under its current constitution with Robert Mau and Chris Allen leading a BMW 1-2-3-4 finish in class in the #438 car that finished 12th overall.
Towards the end of a fantastic three-car fight for the class win, Allen got past defending Am class champion James Clay for the class lead in the final 15 minutes of the race. Allen drove off to a four-second margin over the #36 BimmerWorld BMW of Clay and Charlie Postins in 13th, and the #253 Auto Technic Racing BMW (Satakal Khalsa/Rob Walker) which faded from the lead battle but still finished 14th overall and third in class, with the #98 Random Vandals Racing BMW (Paul Sparta/Al Carter) completing the top-four sweep.
With a new day brought the promise of better fortunes for the #54 Black Swan Racing McLaren – especially since Jeroen Bleekemolen had won the pole for Race 2 on Sunday, seemingly unaffected by the additional 25 kilogrammes of mandatory ballast for Gold-rated drivers which became a pain point in the paddock over the weekend.
Thompson in the #999 Toyota grabbed the lead on the opening lap, but Bleekemolen responded and retook the lead at turn one, which he held throughout his opening stint.
After the compulsory pit stops, Johan Schwartz’s #44 Rooster Hall Racing BMW came to a stop at turn two to bring out a Safety Car. The #2 Flying Lizard Aston Martin, which was running third before pit stops, jumped to the lead with Jason Bell out in front and Tim Pappas now second in the #54 McLaren.
Bell led away at the ensuing restart, with Thompson making a move into turn one past Pappas. Further back, Jon Miller in the #88 STR38 BMW restarted the race in 11th overall, but braked way, way too late up the hill into turn one. Miller’s car speared into the left-front of the #92 Random Vandals Racing BMW of Kevin Boehm, and then deflected right into the left-rear of Pappas’ McLaren. All three cars were out of the race.
The last 20 minutes of the race finished behind the Safety Car, and the #2 Flying Lizard Aston Martin of Bell and Cooper scored the overall and Pro-Am class victory.
James Walker Jnr and Tyler McQuarrie finished fourth overall in the #82 BimmerWorld BMW, ahead of the #47 NOLASPORT Porsche of Travis and Hart in fifth. The two were second and third in Pro-Am.
Hanley managed to escape being caught up in the blast radius of the turn one pile-up and, after a few tough-luck outings, Hanley Motorsports took its first Silver class win of 2023 with a second-place overall finish.
The #51 Auto Technic Racing BMW of Anderson and Capestro-Dubets finished third overall and second in Silver class, backing up their great result from the day before.
Pro-Am cars finished sixth through eighth overall: The #7 ACI Motorsports Porsche (Curt Swearingin/Kay van Berlo), the #68 Smooge Racing Toyota of Race 1 winners Conway and Geesbreght, and the #8 Flying Lizard Aston Martin (Elias Sabo/Andy Lee).
The #36 BimmerWorld BMW of Postins and Clay rebounded to take the Am class win in Race 2, overhauling the #20 Carrus Callas Raceteam Toyota (Nicholas Shanny/Terry Borcheller) that led the class during the first half.
BMW cars finished 1-2 in class again with the #438 STR38 car of Mau and Allen in 13th, and the #77 TR3 Racing Aston Martin (Paul Kiebler/Jon Branam) in 14th, mere minutes after Kiebler walked away from a heavy crash in the morning’s GT America race.
As for Miller, he earned a 101-second post-race time penalty for the collision, five penalty points, and the #88 STR38 BMW must start from the pit lane in its next race.
After five races, Anderson and Capestro-Dubets have taken the Silver Drivers’ Championship lead by two points over Webb and Stephens, who were a lowly 33rd overall (fifth in class) in Race 2.
The Pro-Am championship table is interesting at the top, with five crews separated by just 18 points. Travis and Hart from NOLASPORT left with the points lead after two podiums, after a torrid weekend in GT4 America for the #50 Chouest Povoledo Racing Aston Martin (Ross Chouest/Aaron Povoledo). They drop to second, two points in arrears, with Sabo/Lee and Conway/Geesbreght tied on points, and Walker Jnr/McQuarrie not far behind.
In the Am class, Postins and Clay maintain their championship lead. Mau and Allen move to second in the standings, ahead of Shanny and Borcheller in third.
We now know that the cancelled race from NOLA Motorsports Park will be rescheduled as part of a triple-header at Sebring International Raceway in September. But first, GT4 America rolls on to VIRginia International Raceway for two races on 17-18 June, the week after the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Images © SRO Motorsports Group America
