- Porsche Wins Race 1
- BMW Victorious in Pro-Am and Am
- Race 1 Provisional Results
The heat was on at Sebring International Raceway as Pirelli GT4 America opened Race 1 with a hard-fought contest across all three classes. RS1 converted pole position into victory in Silver, Random Vandals Racing powered through to claim Pro-Am honors, and BimmerWorld executed a clean run to the top step in Am, closing out a race that featured early full course yellow interruptions, pit lane strategy, penalties, and last-lap battles.
Silver Class
Spencer Pumpelly led the field away from pole in the No. 028 RS1 Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport, getting a strong start and immediately setting the tone at the front. Behind him, Westin Workman lost second place in the No. 68 RAFA Racing Team Toyota Gazoo Racing GR Supra GT4 EVO2 to Kevin Boehm in the No. 51 AutoTechnic Racing BMW M4 GT4 just before a brief full course yellow, setting up an intense fight as the Toyota looked to reclaim the position.
Pumpelly steadily pulled out a two-second gap over Boehm before bringing the RS1 Porsche down pit lane shortly after the pit window opened. Following the driver changes, Luca Mars maintained the lead for RS1, with AutoTechnic Racing’s Francis Selldorff close behind and RAFA Racing Team’s Tyler Gonzalez holding third. Gonzalez came under heavy pressure in the closing minutes from Josh Green in the No. 98 Random Vandals Racing BMW M4 GT4, with Green making the move on the final lap, but made contact in the process. However, Green was later handed a post-race drive-through penalty, converted into a 44-second time penalty for incident responsibility with Gonzalez, restoring Gonzalez to the final step of the Silver podium.
“This is what we expected coming into it,” said Luca Mars. “Going to COTA, we knew we needed to make changes. We made the necessary changes, and I think we have really been attacking these last two weekends, and it has shown with our speed and our pace. Huge shout-out to RS1, Justin, the whole team, and Charlie. They had this car on rails this weekend. Once I got out there, I just had to push a little bit, then I was able to cruise, save the car, and make sure I didn’t do anything that would ruin the race. Spencer did a great job handing it off to me in the lead.”
“I think it says that we’re here to contend for this championship,” added Pumpelly. “I have a really good co-driver this year, so everybody needs to watch out for Luca. Great job by RS1. Everyone put a lot of effort in. We’ve gotten better every weekend, and I feel like we’re going to peak at the right time.”
Pro-Am Class
Allen Patten was dominant in the early stages of the Pro-Am race, commanding the No. 39 Dome Motorsport Mercedes-AMG GT4 while running fourth overall and mixing it up with the Silver class leaders. Twenty minutes into the race, Sam Craven began closing the gap in the No. 94 Random Vandals Racing BMW M4 GT4, running nose-to-tail with Patten as the pair battled for class control.
An incident between Matt Travis in the No. 47 NOLASPORT Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport and Am class leader Michael Garcia in the No. 21 ACI Motorsports BMW M4 GT4 shuffled the order as the pit stop window opened. Once the stops and driver changes cycled through, Kenton Koch emerged in the Pro-Am lead for Random Vandals Racing, ahead of Dome Motorsport’s Marc Miller.
Michael Cooper held firm in third in the No. 33 Blackdog Racing McLaren Artura GT4, securing the final podium position with teammate Tony Gaples while Miller was drawn into a dramatic last-lap fight that ultimately did not affect his second-place result in class. Meanwhile, Random Vandals Racing scored another victory in class, further cementing their dominance in the field.
“It was a good one to watch, that’s for sure,” said Kenton Koch. “Sam, my co-driver, did a crazy good job at the beginning to put me in contention, and then we jumped them in the stop. It must have been close, because on my timer, it was really close. We had a great time this weekend.”
“Winning never gets old,” added Sam Craven. “Great race today. Kenton drove incredibly. I had a lot of fun out there fighting with the guys in our half of the race. The team did so well. Love the Vandals.”
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Am Class
Michael Garcia opened the Am class battle in control in the No. 21 ACI Motorsports BMW M4 GT4, with several out-of-class cars providing a buffer between himself and the chasing field. James Walker Jr. quickly began making progress in the No. 36 BimmerWorld BMW M4 GT4, closing the gap and keeping the pressure on throughout the opening stint.
As the pit window opened, contact between Garcia and Pro-Am competitor Matt Travis resulted in a drive-through penalty for the ACI Motorsports driver, handing the advantage to BimmerWorld. James Clay took over the class lead after the driver change and controlled the second half of the race and went on to secure the Am class victory for BimmerWorld, continuing their strong run from COTA.
Kenny Schmied initially ran second in the No. 72 RAFA Racing Team Toyota Gazoo Racing GR Supra GT4 EVO2, but Kris Wilson mounted a late charge in the No. 413 Flying Lizard Motorsports BMW M4 GT4 to take over the runner-up position in the final laps. However, a 5-second time penalty for a pit stop infraction dropped them back to fourth, thus promoting RAFA Racing Team back up to second place, with Judson Holt and Denny Stripling joining them on the podium in third for Random Vandals Racing.
“It must have been crazy in James Walker’s stint, because for me it was just riding around,” said Clay. “There was some Pro-Am traffic behind me, but I didn’t really interact with any cars except for my Pro-Am teammate Tyler McQuarrie, who gave me a little good luck bump. Otherwise, it was just about putting my head down and getting it done. He did the work.”
“It was a lot of ‘follow-the-leader’ once the start sorted itself out, and we found ourselves in a very good place,” said Walker. “I picked up two or three positions right away, then put my head down and clicked off laps. We stayed within a stone’s throw of the P1 car, and that’s all Clay needed to finish the job. The crew gave us an incredible car today.”
Let’s Get Racing
The Pirelli GT4 America field will return to the track for Race 2 on Saturday afternoon, May 9th at 12:45 PM ET.
If you can’t make it to Sebring International Raceway, be sure to tune-in to SRO’s free live streams all weekend long on SRO RaceControl, YouTube (GTWorld) and Twitch (SROMotorsports) and follow all the action through our social media channels and the event hashtag #GTSebring.