The #68 RAFA Racing Team Toyota GR Supra GT4 EVO2 of Gresham Wagner and Tyler Gonzalez won Race 1 of the Pirelli GT4 America season finale at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, held prior to the Indianapolis 8 Hour.
Wagner and Gonzalez took the chequered flag, but Kevin Boehm and Kenton Koch only needed to take the green flag in their #97 Random Vandals Racing BMW M4 GT4 EVO to clinch the GT4 America Silver class championship for the first time, the first part of a potentially historic season for Koch in SRO America competition.
Polesitter Michael Cooper led the field to the green flag in the #33 Blackdog Racing McLaren Artura GT4, but behind him in the middle of the pack, a five-car incident at turn one took four cars out of the race. Contact between the #37 Dome Motorsport Mercedes-AMG GT4 of Edward Killeen and the #94 Random Vandals BMW of Josh Green sent Killeen spinning around. The #47 NOLASPORT Porsche 718 GT4 RS Clubsport of Matt Travis and the #98 Random Vandals BMW of Darius Trinka were taken out along with Killeen.
But so too was the #82 BimmerWorld Racing BMW of James Walker Jnr, who sustained terminal damage to the left front. Walker and Tyler McQuarrie were eliminated from Pro-Am title contention on the opening lap of the race.
Most of the opening stint of the race was spent under the Safety Car before resuming with 38 minutes left. Cooper stayed out until the end of the mid-race pit window before handing the #33 McLaren off to co-driver Tony Gaples. But the Blackdog Racing team’s pit stop exceeded the minimum allowed time, resulting in a ten-second time penalty for Gaples at the end.
Wagner pitted the #68 Toyota at the first opportunity, Gonzalez fought past the #39 Van der Steur Racing Aston Martin of Max Hewitt and the #3 JMF Motorsports Aston Martin of Jonathan Neudorf on track, then assumed second behind Gaples.
Gonzalez attempted a late lunge on Gaples for the overall lead at turn 10, but was given a five-second time penalty for avoidable contact. But Neudorf also had to take a five-second time penalty for overtaking Hewitt outside of track limits.
Despite the penalty, Gonzalez held on to take the win, ahead of the #4 JMF Motorsports Aston Martin of Mike David Ortmann and Braydon Arthur in second place. The time penalty for the #3 car of Neudorf and Jesse Webb only dropped them one position down to third.
Cooper and Gaples still won the Pro-Am class in their #33 Blackdog McLaren despite their pit stop penalty, but sank to eighth in the overall order, behind most of the Silver class field. The #12 Riley Motorsports Porsche (Eric Filgueiras/Spencer Pumpelly) and #39 VDSR Aston Martin of Hewitt and Luca Mars rounded out the top five, followed by the #77 VPX Motorsport Porsche (Alex Ellis/Danny Dyszelski) and the #26 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin (Hannah Greenemeier/Hannah Grisham).
The #94 Random Vandals BMW of Green and Sam Craven finished ninth overall and second in Pro-Am, with the #97 BMW of Silver champions Boehm and Koch in tenth, despite having to make an unscheduled pit stop early in the race for a puncture.
Third in Pro-Am was the #53 Auto Technic Racing BMW (Tyler Stone/Matt Million), and in fourth was the #7 ACI Motorsports Porsche (Jan Heylen/Curt Swearingin). Swearingin now trails the Craven/Green duo by ten points heading into Sunday’s final race – though the #94 BMW holds the tiebreaker advantage with five class wins to Swearingin’s two.
Am class victory went to the #188 Fast Track Racing BMW of Judson Holt and Denny Stripling after time penalties were handed to the #07 Skip Barber Racing BMW of Alex and Michael Garcia, and the #17 Rigid Speed Company BMW of Joseph and Lucas Catania, both for short pit stops.
Stripling followed behind Lucas Catania on the road in third, close enough for the yellow #188 BMW to leapfrog both Catania and Alex Garcia to take the class win.
Meanwhile, the #72 RAFA Racing Toyota of Kenny Schmied overtook the #36 BimmerWorld BMW of Charlie Postins on the final lap; that pass proved crucial, as Schmied and Anthony Geraci head into Sunday’s decider just eight points behind Postins and James Clay.
Images © Fred Hardy II / SRO Motorsports America
