It had been a tough Saturday for two-thirds of Random Vandals Racing at Road America, but the #97 BMW M4 GT4 of Kevin Boehm and Kenton Koch at least salvaged victory in Race 1 of GT4 America – the team’s second overall win of 2024.
From sixth on the grid, Boehm put himself and his co-driver in position to win early on, working his way into the top five. A good pit stop put Koch in third place, and he began driving his way to the front. With 21 minutes left, he passed the #28 RS1 Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 of Eric Filgueiras for second, and then with 14 minutes left, he overtook the leading #68 Smooge Racing Toyota GR Supra GT4 of Corey Lewis to grab the lead on track.
It was their first win since the Lone Star Enduro at COTA in May, and it slashed their deficit in the Silver class championship to just 11 points behind the third-placed #28 RS1 Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 of John Capestro-Dubets and Eric Filgueiras.
The #51 AutoTechnic Racing BMW M4 GT3 (Colin Garrett/Zac Anderson) battled hard with the winning #97 car – banging wheels on multiple occasions, and in one instance, Koch and Anderson bumped twice coming out of the last corner.
Garrett and Anderson would finish second overall and in class.
Lewis and Tyler Gonzalez finished fourth in a race where Gonzalez led the entirety of his opening stint from pole position. Unfortunately, Smooge Racing’s bid for the win fell apart when the car lurched forward during the pit stop and driver change, resulting in a five-second time penalty tacked on after the race – which dropped the #68 Toyota from third to fourth.
On the opening lap, the #82 BimmerWorld BMW of James Walker Jnr hit and spun the #43 P1 Groupe Mercedes-AMG GT4 of Matt Elwin Bell, and the #9 Blackdog Speed Shop Nissan Z NISMO GT4 of Tony Gaples. Bell’s stationary car then was hit by the #98 Random Vandals BMW of Paul Sparta.
All four cars were taken out of the race in that first-lap pile-up, and the Safety Car was deployed to clean up the debris.
Taking fifth place overall and the victory in Pro-Am was the #7 ACI Motorsports Porsche of Curt Swearingin and Kay van Berlo – the third win of the year for the ACI duo, and Swearingin’s second class win of the day following his last-lap pass to win in GT America earlier in the afternoon.
Van Berlo grabbed the lead from the #24 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage GT4 of Gray Newell shortly after pit stops had ended – and the Dutchman drove away from the rest of the Pro-Am runners. With their win and the retirement of the #82 BMW of Walker Jnr and Tyler McQuarrie, ACI Motorsports now leads the Pro-Am standings by a whopping 63 points.
The #5 Flying Lizard Motorsports Nissan (Damir Hot/Andy Lee) came home in sixth, ahead of the #24 Aston Martin of Newell and Roman de Angelis, who completed the Pro-Am podium.
Hannah Grisham and Hannah Greenemeier were eighth in the #26 Heart of Racing Aston Martin, followed by the #23 TechSport Racing Nissan (Johan Schwartz/Jonathan Neudorf) in ninth. Neudorf was fighting for Pro-Am podium honours, but had to drop three places on track after overtaking Greenemeier beyond track limits late in the race.
The #89 RENNtech Motorsports Mercedes-AMG (Michael Auriemma/Matheus Leist) completed the overall top ten.
Finishing 14th and winning the Am class was the #099 Rotek Racing Porsche of Robb Holland and Jaden Lander, their second straight win in the class and one that moves them within 38 points of Random Vandals’ Sparta and Kris Wilson.
Holland and Lander finished behind the #36 BimmerWorld BMW (James Clay/Charlie Postins) on the road, but the #36 BMW picked up a three-second post-race penalty for speeding in the pit lane, which dropped them to 15th overall and second in class.
Completing the Pro-Am podium was the #20 Carrus Callas Raceteam BMW (Nicholas Shanny/Chris Walsh) in 18th.
The #34 JMF Motorsports Mercedes-AMG (Demi Chalkias/Jake Cowden) was the only other retirement of the race, dropping out after contact with the #7 ACI Porsche resulted in terminal damage.
Images © Fred Hardy III / SRO Motorsports America
