Pirelli GT4 America made its first-ever visit to Barber Motorsports Park this past weekend, for the penultimate race meeting of the 2024 season.
In Qualifying on Saturday morning, Corey Lewis won the pole for Race 1 aboard the #68 Smooge Racing Toyota GR Supra GT4. Lewis’ second appearance for Smooge Racing was a last-minute arrangement after plans to install 16-year-old, Toyota-backed stock car prospect Brent Crews fell through before the weekend. For Race 2, Matheus Leist – who’d driven around Barber in his past career as an IndyCar driver – won the pole in the #89 RENNtech Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT4.
But in both Qualifying sessions, it was a close fight. Lewis only won the pole for Race 1 by two milliseconds from the new #24 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage GT4. The 2024-spec model finally made its debut, and at the start of Saturday evening’s first race, Roman de Angelis drove around the outside of Lewis at turn one to take the lead in the first 60-minute sprint.
De Angelis led until the #23 TechSport Nissan Z NISMO GT4 (Johan Schwartz/Jonathan Neudorf) broke down just over the crest at turn four. This brought out a Safety Car, just as the race reached half-distance – the perfect time for almost every team to make pit stops and change drivers.
Only the #43 P1 Groupe Mercedes of Matt Elwin Bell stayed out, but before he could come down to the pits, Silver class championship leader John Capestro-Dubets drove the #28 RS1 Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 to the head of the field, with Zac Anderson in the #51 AutoTechnic Racing BMW M4 GT4 right behind him. Gray Newell, now in the #24 Heart of Racing Aston Martin, dropped several positions off the restart.
With about 20 minutes left, Kris Wilson in the #98 Random Vandals Racing BMW went in too deep at turn five and bounced off the #89 RENNtech Mercedes of Leist, and then the #36 BimmerWorld BMW of James Clay. Wilson’s damaged car stopped at turn 14 to bring out another Safety Car.
It was to be the start of another frustrating weekend for the #98 car of Wilson and his new co-driver, Michael Kanisczak – taking the place of the injured Paul Sparta.
The final restart came with less than nine minutes left. Capestro-Dubets led them back to the green flag but Anderson in the #51 BMW would muscle his way past coming out of the Carousel complex and took the lead. The #97 Random Vandals BMW of Kenton Koch and the #68 Smooge Racing Toyota of Tyler Gonzalez would also get past the #28 Porsche.
For the first time since Race 2 at Barber Motorsports Park, Anderson and Colin Garrett won overall for AutoTechnic Racing, but only by half a second from the #97 Random Vandals BMW of Koch and Kevin Boehm – with the #68 Toyota of Lewis and Gonzalez in third.
The #28 RS1 Porsche of Capestro-Dubets and Eric Filgueiras dropped to fourth place. Heart of Racing Team’s previous-spec #26 Aston Martin, driven by Hannahs Grisham and Greenemeier, broke down on the last lap while running fifth overall.
That gave fifth place, and the Pro-Am class win, to a returning power: For at least one weekend, Matt Travis and Jason Hart were back in GT4 America, driving their #47 NOLASPORT Porsche to the class win. Hart, who’s been dedicating most of his season to racing in the 24H Series with Herberth Motorsport, took the lead after Leist made contact with the #82 BimmerWorld BMW of Tyler McQuarrie in a battle for the class lead.
McQuarrie and James Walker Jnr dropped to 17th overall (ninth in Pro-Am) after the spin, while Leist and Michael Auriemma’s car was given a post-race time penalty that took the #89 Mercedes from fifth down to 22nd. After the chequered flag, McQuarrie drove up to Leist and nudged his car a couple of times, expressing his frustration with the Brazilian’s lunge – but it would invoke the ire of the Stewards who gave McQuarrie a suspended fine and four points on his license.
A new entry, the #77 VPX Motorsports Porsche (Alex Ellis/Danny Dyszelski), made a strong first impression with a sixth-place finish. The #7 ACI Motorsports Porsche (Curt Swearingin/Kay van Berlo) took second in Pro-Am, just ahead of the #5 Flying Lizard Motorsports Nissan (Damir Hot/Rodrigo Baptista) in third.
They finished seventh and eighth overall, ahead of the new #94 Random Vandals BMW (Sam Craven/Josh Green), and the #9 Blackdog Speed Shop Nissan (Tony Gaples/Michael Cooper), in ninth and tenth.
Despite the earlier incident, the #36 BimmerWorld BMW of Clay and Charlie Postins was able to come away with its second Am class win of the year, in 11th place. The #099 Rotek Racing Porsche (Robb Holland/Jaden Lander) was second in Am, followed by the #20 Carrus Callas Raceteam BMW (Nicholas Shanny/Chris Walsh).
Race 2 was marred by a nine-car pileup on the opening lap that began when Zac Anderson turned Kay van Berlo around at the exit of turn 12. Josh Green, Michael Cooper, Jaden Lander, Dario Capitiano, Austin Krainz, James Clay, and Rodrigo Baptista were also collected in the melee.
Thankfully, all drivers were okay after some particularly heavy impacts for the likes of Lander and Clay.
The ensuing Safety Car did consume half of the race. Most of the remaining field came in for pit stops and driver changes, except the #98 Random Vandals BMW of Kris Wilson. Wilson, however, sustained damage in the crash and had to come in once the Safety Car withdrew.
From 26th on the grid, the #24 Heart of Racing Aston Martin was now up to third on the ensuing restart, and it took little time for De Angelis to get past the #72 KRUGSPEED Toyota of Lance Bergstein to move up to second.
Lewis in the #68 Smooge Racing Toyota moved into the lead but was given a drive-through penalty for a short pit stop, handing the lead to De Angelis. Meanwhile, the #51 AutoTechnic BMW was given a 90-second penalty stop for causing the accident at the start of the race, taking Anderson and Garrett out of contention.
The stranded #98 Random Vandals BMW brought out a second Safety Car, and when the race resumed with 15 minutes left, De Angelis held off Kevin Boehm’s #97 Random Vandals BMW for the race lead.
Boehm would keep it somewhat close, but Roman de Angelis and Gray Newell would give the new-for-2024 Heart of Racing Vantage GT4 its first victory in its debut weekend. It was the duo’s second Pro-Am class win of the year, in the last three races.
Second place overall and the Silver class win went to Boehm and Koch in the #97 BMW.
And in third place, the female-forward #26 Heart of Racing Aston Martin of Grisham and Greenemeier – a duo that started the year in the Am class, and is now in Silver – scored its best overall finish of the season, two places behind the car that will be used for this project in 2025.
In fourth place was the #43 P1 Groupe Mercedes of Bell and Alex Vogel, who benefitted from the long Safety Car period. The #68 Smooge Racing Toyota of Lewis and Gonzalez was fifth, followed by the #77 VPX Porsche of Ellis and Dyszelski.
Getting some measure of redemption in Race 2 were the #23 TechSport Nissan of Schwartz and Jonathan Neudorf in seventh, and the #82 BimmerWorld BMW of Walker and McQuarrie in eighth.
Rounding out the top ten overall were the #53 AutoTechnic BMW (Tyler Stone/Matt Million) and the #22 TechSport Nissan (Colin Harrison/Elivan Goulart).
The #72 KRUGSPEED Toyota of Bergstein and Anthony Geraci finished 12th and won in the Am class, KRUGSPEED’s first class win of the season. Carrus Callas Raceteam’s #20 BMW of Shanny and Walsh picked up another Am podium in second, followed by the #52 NOLASPORT Porsche (David Peterman/Lee Carpentier).
There was also a late incident between the Porsches of Matt Travis and Eric Filgueiras. Travis got turned around while running sixth overall, spun by Filgueiras. The #28 RS1 Porsche was given a drive-through penalty and dropped to 19th overall, three places behind the #47 NOLASPORT Porsche of Travis and Hart.
All of this sets up three championship battles going into the final double-header weekend at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Just five points separate the top two teams in the Silver championship – RS1’s Filgueiras/Capestro-Dubets still lead ahead of Random Vandals’ Boehm/Koch. Defending Silver champion Anderson and his co-driver Garrett sit 39 points back in third, and the AutoTechnic team needs significant help to have any chance at repeating as the champion.
In Pro-Am, ACI Motorsports’ Swearingin and Van Berlo lead the standings by 30 points over Heart of Racing’s Newell/De Angelis.
And in Am, five teams still have a mathematical chance at the championship. Rotek Racing’s Holland/Lander took the points lead after Race 1 but couldn’t extend it, and lead Random Vandals’ Wilson (and Sparta) by just five points. Carrus Callas’ Shanny is just 18 points out and has a decent chance at the title, while BimmerWorld’s Clay/Postins and KRUGSPEED’s Geraci are outsiders.
GT4 America wraps up its 2024 season on 5-6 October at Indianapolis, before and after the Indianapolis 8 Hour race.
Images © Fred Hardy III / SRO Motorsports America
