- Pro-Am’s Cooper and Gaples Win Overall with McLaren
- RS1 Extends Silver Class Lead
- TechSport Racing Scores First Am Class Victory
- Race 1 Provisional Results
Race 1 provided plenty of thrills in Pirelli GT4 America at the National Park of Speed, with battles up and down the field across the 60-minute event. It was a thrilling way to mark the return to racing following the summer break, and all three classes showed no shortage of battles.
In the end, it was a mix of familiar faces and new names on the top step of the podium. Blackdog Racing took the overall win, their third in a row in the Pro-Am class. RS1 also further extended their dominance in the Silver class, but in the Am category it was TechSport Racing that claimed first place for their first time this year.
Silver Class
Riley Dickinson got a strong launch from overall pole in the No. 73 Kellymoss Porsche and immediately established himself at the front of the Silver class. Following an early full-course caution, Dickinson and Westin Workman in the No. 68 RAFA Racing Team Toyota Supra elected to stay out on track longer than several of their rivals, looking to create as much of a gap as possible before making their respective driver changes.
As cars began streaming into pit lane, the strategy began to play out, with the Silver class order continuing to shuffle. Westin Workman eventually handed the Supra GT4 over to Tyler Gonzalez, while Dickinson stayed behind the wheel of the Kellymoss Porsche as long as possible, finally making his stop with approximately 25 minutes remaining.
However, that opened the door for Gonzalez to take control of the Silver class, with Jimmy Llibre running second in the No. 7 ACI Motorsports Porsche and Luca Mars third in the No. 028 RS1 Porsche.
Mars began applying pressure to Llibre as the race entered its final stages and made his move with just over 15 minutes remaining, taking over second in class. The battle for the final Silver podium position remained alive until the closing minutes, with Josh Green making his move with just six minutes on the clock to secure third in class.
But the fight at the front was far from finished. Gonzalez and Mars went head-to-head in the closing laps, with Mars refusing to let the class lead slip away. The RS1 driver managed to muscle his way past Gonzalez just before the white flag waved, putting himself in position to lead the Silver class into the final lap and claim the team’s sixth consecutive victory of the season.
“I knew right when I got out there that I was going to have to go and step on it,” said Luca Mars. “The RS1 guys gave me a great car. Spencer did a great job handing the car over to me, and the car was just super good. A few laps to go there I knew I was close enough. We had some good battles. Huge thanks to NOLASPORT for loaning us this car, RS1 for getting it set up. It was an amazing first race for us and huge for the championship. Hopefully we do the same thing tomorrow, but I hope it's a little easier though.”
“Yesterday I made a mistake and set the team back pretty hard, but this team's just stacked up,” added Spencer Pumpelly. “They put a tremendous amount of work in. Thanks to everyone in the paddock that helped. Thanks to all these guys that stayed up and turned what could've been a terrible weekend into a victory.”
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Pro-Am Class
Tony Gaples controlled the early stages of the Pro-Am class from the No. 33 Blackdog Racing McLaren Artura GT4, although the Silver class cars running ahead of him provided a buffer between Gaples and his nearest Pro-Am challengers. That buffer disappeared as the race progressed, leaving Gaples with Michael Tosi and Sam Craven closing in behind.
A full-course caution during the opening 10 minutes brought the field back together, setting up another intense fight when racing resumed with approximately 35 minutes remaining. The restart coincided with a significant wave of pit stops, as teams brought their cars into pit lane to complete driver changes. Blackdog Racing executed its own switch, with Gaples handing the No. 33 McLaren over to Michael Cooper. Cooper returned to the track and immediately went to work, maintaining the Pro-Am class lead while beginning to carve his way through the overall field.
The No. 94 Random Vandals Racing BMW M4 GT4 (G82) EVO also changed hands, with Thomas Merrill stepping in for Kenton Koch this weekend and taking over from Sam Craven. Merrill emerged from the pit sequence running second in Pro-Am, while Matheus Leist moved into third in class aboard the NOLASPORT Porsche.
From there, it was simply a matter of watching Cooper work his way forward. The Blackdog Racing driver continued gaining positions throughout the second half of the race, eventually reaching the overall lead. What had begun as a class-leading run quickly became a fight for the top spot across the entire field.
Behind him, the Pro-Am podium battle continued to evolve. Roland Krainz made a late-race move to get ahead in the No. 19 Auto Technic Racing BMWand claim third in class, adding another change to the Pro-Am order in the closing stages.
As Cooper crossed the finish line, he officially made history as the winningest driver in SRO America competition, standing alone at the top and etching his name into the record books.
“There's so many ups and downs in this sport, so many bad days and so many good days,” said Michael Cooper when reflecting on his journey. “You know, I think that's the quietest it's ever been in a race car for me. Tony Gaples and Ray Sorensen have believed in me all these years, and here I am today.”
Am Class
The Am class produced another constantly changing battle at the front. Kris Wilson moved into the class lead early in the race on board the No. 413 Colorado Motorsport with Flying Lizard BMW, with Frankie Muniz making up positions in the opening laps to slot into second with his No. 30 TechSport Racing Ford Mustang. James Walker Jr. followed in third in his No. 36 BimmerWorld BMW as the field settled into its opening stint.
The driver-change window, however, completely reshaped the Am class battle. As the new drivers emerged onto the track, ACI Motorsport’s Alex Garcia and Colorado Motorsport’s Zach Lumsden found themselves locked in a wheel-to-wheel fight for the class lead. Garcia ultimately prevailed, taking control of the top spot in his No. 21 BMW as the race entered its second half. TechSport Racing’s Tyler Stone remained firmly in the fight as well, recovering from a moment that saw him run wide while still managing to hold onto a podium position in third.
The complexion of the Am class changed dramatically with less than 15 minutes remaining. Disaster struck for Garcia when the class leader went off track and sustained damage, forcing him to pull the car to the side. The incident handed the lead back to Lumsden, who suddenly found himself at the head of the Am field. Stone moved into second, while RAFA Racing Team’s Kenny Schmied inherited third.
Stone came charging back in the closing stages, eventually completing the move to take over the Am class lead. Lumsden remained within striking distance, setting up another tense battle as the final laps ticked away.
The two drivers continued to fight for position all the way to the finish, with Lumsden closing in once again as the checkered flag approached, but Tyler Stone went on to cross the finish line and secure the team’s first victory of the season.
“ Absolutely incredible to experience that here and have to fight like we had at the end to keep it,” exclaimed Tyler Stone.
“You only get one life, and that's one thing I've always lived by,” echoed Frankie Muniz. “There's a lot of things I've wanted to accomplish and I've just tried to dive in, sometimes off the deep end. To be here, Road America, my favorite racetrack ever, and get a win with Tyler, with Ford in the Mustang GT4 car, I'm so beyond thrilled. I love this so much.”
Let’s Get Racing
The Pirelli GT4 America field will return to the track for Race 2 on Saturday afternoon, August 29th at 1:10 PM CT.
If you can’t make it to Road America, 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 #GTRoadAmerica.