- Pro-Am’s Cooper and Gaples Win Overall with McLaren
- RS1 Extends Silver Class Lead
- ACI Motorsports Goes Back-to-Back in Am Class
- Race 1 Provisional Results
A thrilling opening race for Pirelli GT4 America at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta delivered action throughout the field, with late-race drama, dynamic driving through the field, and intense battles in all three classes defining the opening 60-minute sprint of the weekend.
The No. 028 RS1 Porsche of Spencer Pumpelly and Luca Mars secured Silver class honors, while Blackdog Racing’s Tony Gaples and Michael Cooper captured the overall and Pro-Am victory in a milestone weekend for Gaples. In the Am class, Alex and Michael Garcia continued their winning streak, claiming consecutive victories aboard the No. 21 BMW M4 GT4 EVO.
Silver Class
Starting from pole position, Spencer Pumpelly made the perfect getaway and quickly established a comfortable advantage over Westin Workman in second in the No. 68 RAFA Racing Toyota Supra. The order at the front remained unchanged through the opening stint as Pumpelly steadily controlled the pace and built his gap.
As the race approached the halfway mark, the leading contenders made their mandatory pit stops. Luca Mars took over the No. 28 RS1 Porsche, while Tyler Gonzalez climbed aboard the No. 68 RAFA Racing Toyota GR Supra GT4 EVO2. RS1 executed a flawless stop to maintain the lead, while Kevin Boehm and the No. 51 Auto Technic Racing BMW remained firmly in contention in third.
A full course caution emerged in the second half, and following the restart, Gonzalez attempted to pressure Mars for the lead, but the RS1 driver defended effectively. Traffic soon became a major factor, creating opportunities throughout the field and putting the final podium spots up for grabs. Boehm capitalized to move into second place as RAFA Racing Team were handed a post-race time penalty, while Josh Green in the No. 98 Random Vandals Racing BMW also advanced through the congestion as Gonzalez was dropped backward.
Mars held on to secure the Silver class victory and valuable championship points, now earning RS1’s fourth consecutive victory this season.
"Tough race out there, especially that caution at the end,” said Luca Mars. “Spencer did a great job getting the car to me in a good spot and we had a great lead. Unfortunately, that caution brought everything together, but it was loose and greasy out there at the end. I thought I had a good car. A little disappointed I gave up that spot there the last lap. I would've liked the overall win, but nonetheless, great week for the points, great for the championship, and huge thanks to RS1 and Spencer for their job today."
"This guy just does a phenomenal job,” said Spencer Pumpelly of his teammate. “I was a little nervous at that restart, but he handled it like a pro. This car has been great all year. These guys have really put a lot of work into it, and I appreciate all that they do. They give us a car that can compete for wins, and when you've got a guy like Luca finishing, it's just a matter of sitting back and watching."
Pro-Am Class
NOLASPORT’s Matt Travis lost positions during the opening lap, elevating Sam Craven into the class lead in the No. 94 Random Vandals BMW. However, the team was later assessed a 30-second pit stop penalty after unauthorized work was performed on the car while addressing a slow puncture on the grid prior to the race start.
The penalty reshuffled the order during the driver change sequence. Marc Miller emerged in the class lead aboard the No. 39 Dome Motorsport Mercedes-AMG GT4, but Michael Cooper was rapidly closing in after taking over the No. 33 Blackdog Racing McLaren Artura GT4 from Tony Gaples, who set the all-time record for most race starts in SRO America competition.
With less than 20 minutes remaining, Cooper completed a decisive move for the class lead just moments before a full-course caution neutralized the race.
The caution also provided an opportunity for Kenton Koch to recover after the No. 98 BMW’s earlier setback. Once racing resumed, Koch carved through the field, climbing into third with just over five minutes remaining before advancing to second shortly thereafter.
Out front, however, Cooper was untouchable. The Blackdog Racing driver powered to both the overall and Pro-Am victories, delivering a storybook result on a historic day for Gaples. Koch and Craven secured second, while Matheus Leist helped the No. 47 NOLASPORT Porsche recover to a third-place finish after an eventful race.
“I’ve been very motivated all weekend,” Michael Cooper shared. “That’s partially to do with this milestone for Tony and also proving what I can do over and over. I’m super happy and grateful for everyone at Blackdog Performance Cars that have enabled me to have so many starts as well and win so many races. I can’t do it without them.”
“This is just fantastic,” Tony Gaples beamed. “To win overall… wow! I wasn’t expecting that. Michael had a little bit of a pad there with two Silvers behind him but he just kept charging forward. It’s just incredible and I’m so proud of Michael and the team. This is a very special place. I haven’t raced here in 15 years and it’s really good to be back. It’s a blast to keep racing this long. I hope I can keep continuing on and extending the record for the next couple of years!”
Am Class
The Am class remained relatively stable throughout the opening half of the race as Michael Garcia converted his strong qualifying performance into an equally impressive opening stint in the No. 21 ACI Motorsports BMW. Garcia led comfortably ahead of Laura Hayes in the No. 37 Dome Motorsport Mercedes and James Walker Jr. in the No. 36 BimmerWorld BMW, with the front-runners maintaining position through the first phase of the contest.
Pit strategy ultimately reshaped the battle. Garcia was the first of the leaders to stop, while Hayes maximized her available drive time by pitting at the end of the driver change window. During the cycle, James Clay moved the No. 36 BimmerWorld BMW into the lead, while a slow stop for the No. 21 BMW dropped Alex Garcia behind both Clay and Eddie Killeen.
The setback proved only temporary, as Garcia immediately began charging forward and benefited from an excellent restart following the late caution period. With less than 10 minutes remaining, he reclaimed the class lead and never looked back.
The victory marked back-to-back wins for the Garcia brothers after their triumph at Sebring. Clay and Walker Jr. added another podium finish with second place, while Judson Holt and Denny Stripling completed the podium in the No. 188 Random Vandals Racing BMW after a determined late-race charge through the field.
"After that pit stop, handing the car off, I got out of the car and thought everything was normal,” explained Michael Garcia. “He goes to start the car and it doesn't turn on. We tried again and it still didn't turn on. We just took a breath, tried again, and it finally fired up. We lost that huge gap we had from qualifying, but we got it done. This guy's an animal."
“I put my head down,” added Alex Garcia. “I know we've got a good car and I know my brother left it in a good position, so it was all about recovering from there. The team put together a great car, we had good strategy, and this group has helped us tremendously. We put together a fantastic race and here we are."
Let’s Get Racing
The Pirelli GT4 America field will return to the track for Race 2 on Saturday afternoon, June 13th at 12:25 PM ET.
If you can’t make it to Road Atlanta, 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 #GTRoadAtlanta.