- Final of Three August Race Weekends at Road America Highlighted by Third Place Pirelli GT4 America Saturday Pro-Am Finish for Damir Hot and Ryan Yardley in the No. 25 ACI Motorsports Cayman GT4 RS
- Muzaffar Gafurov and Ross Poole Finish Sixth Saturday in Debut Drive in the No. 10 ACI Motorsports BMW M4 GT4 Evo
- Porsche Stalwarts Yves Baltas and Jimmy Llibre and the BMW Brother Pairing of Michael and Alex Garcia Quicky Shift Focus to Barber Motorsports Park After Competitive but Challenging Road America Weekend
ACI Motorsports and its four-strong entry of Pirelli GT4 America contenders persevered through a competitive and challenging wet-and-wild weekend of racing at Road America, August 27 - 30, where the highlight was a third-place finish by Damir Hot and Ryan Yardley in the No. 25 ACI Motorsports Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport in Saturday's rain-soaked race.
Hot turned in a wet weather performance on par with his Porsche championship-winning teammate Yardley for the duo's best Pro-Am class finish since its first P3 showing of the year in April in the Circuit of The Americas (COTA) Three-Hour race.
Another solid and promising result from the weekend was a sixth-place Am-class finish on Saturday by Muzaffar Gafurov and Ross Poole, who made their BMW debut after a platform switch to the No. 10 ACI Motorsports BMW M4 GT4 Evo. The team and drivers powered through some early weekend issues to be at their best in Saturday's final 60-minute race in the wet. Gafurov and Poole plan to close out the year in the BMW as they get familiar with the new car in preparation for a full campaign in 2027.
Both of ACI's competing Porsche Cayman GT4 RS entries made it to the podium on Saturday. After a quick but careful run in the rain to open the race by Jimmy Llibre, co-driver Yves Baltas stole the show and almost the race win in the Silver-class No. 7 ACI Motorsports Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport. Charging to the front in the wet after a late restart, Baltas passed five cars to take the fight to the leader.
Time ran out before Baltas could challenge for the win and, unfortunately, what was celebrated as a second-place Silver finish was all for naught when the No. 7 was assessed a drive-through penalty equivalent of 52 seconds for a closely-called false restart.
Meanwhile, brothers Alex and Michael Garcia dealt with not one but two disappointing blows when they were knocked from contention in both weekend races after coming to Road America seeking a fourth and possibly fifth straight Am-class victories in the No. 21 ACI Motorsports BMW M4 GT4 Evo.
The No. 21 suffered a late suspension issue while leading in the closing stages of Friday's first race. Saturday's DNF was more severe when Alex Garcia - again leading the Am class - was caught up in a mutli-car contact incident in the fast run into Road America's Canada corner. Garcia and all other drivers involved were uninjured despite the hard hit that saw the No. 21 BMW nearly roll onto its roof.
Next up for ACI Motorsports in SRO America competition is another full-series weekend of competition - including Pirelli GT4 America - at Barber Motorsports Park, September 25 – 27.
Curt Swearingin, ACI Motorsports Team Principal: "Damir got in the No. 25 car after Ryan had a great opening stint and held on in Pro-Am on Saturday. He did a great job there and really has never driven in the rain, or in this car in the rain. It was just an overall a good job for the Porsche guys, and somewhat unfortunate on the BMW side, but still encouraging. Muzzafar and Ross just switched to the BMW platform, they were learning a new car this weekend, and we are going to take it to the end of the season to be their prep for next year. We are treating every weekend as a test. We really hate it for the Garcias, they had a tough weekend, and the penalty on the No. 7 Cayman is a little hard to take. Yves is a monster in the rain, and with a couple of more laps he and Jimmy would have won this race. It is tough to lose a podium like that but super important to have drivers like Yves, Jimmy and Ryan on the team. Any time you have a pro to show the other guys how to do things, it is always a plus. Having that data, and having their video, having that input and just talking to the guys and saying 'you need to do this, this and this.' It's invaluable and great to have their input."
Damir Hot, Driver - No. 25 ACI Motorsports Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport: "I'm really satisfied with Saturday's race. Ryan did an amazing job. The team did an amazing job, and basically I just got in to not mess it up! And that was enough work for me, just trying not to mess it up, and I got it home. There were a lot of ways to put it wrong out there on Saturday. The competition is super tough in this category this year. We haven't had the best year. We haven't had the best couple of race weekends. So, we came out here just saying, 'hey, look, let's focus on today and let's have fun.' Had good finishes in two out of two, got our podium and had a bunch of fun. It was great. On Friday, we honestly had a car right up until the end. I think we were suffering a little in the heat as the Porsches sometimes do, but, in terms of balance, it was fantastic. On Saturday, the car was just mega in the wet. It was phenomenal to drive, so really, really happy and really grateful."
Ryan Yardley, Driver - No. 25 ACI Motorsports Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport: "It's an awesome result for the team and for Damir. It's been a bit of a trying season this year, so it's nice to get another podium on the board after the COTA 3 hour race. It was pretty sketchy out there Saturday. I had a pretty slow start, a rough first lap. I left some settings on the car that I probably shouldn't have but, other than that, it was fun. I'm super happy with the race and a massive thank you to Porsche Motorsport North America, and a huge thank you to ACI Motorsports, Damir, and the whole team for an awesome car. On Friday we finished fourth in the dry and P3 Saturday in the wet. It was good to have the car in the window all weekend. We narrowly missed out on the podium Friday, but it was pretty cool to get it done Saturday. Massive credit to Damir for finishing it off on Saturday. All right, but we're not done."
Muzaffar Gafurov, Driver - No. 10 ACI Motorsports BMW M4 GT4 Evo: "The challenges were obviously a new car for us at Road America and we had some issues, unfortunately, in Thursday's practice session. We didn't really get to drive it much. So, really my first laps were in qualifying, but we were able to improve from what we started with. We definitely kept improving all weekend, and the car is awesome. We're looking forward to getting faster and faster in it. We're running a couple series with ACI Motorsports, but the GT4 is what eventually is going to make us faster. That's what we're doing here, trying to learn the basics that will translate to any car."
About ACI Motorsports: ACI Motorsports is a professional Porsche racing team and motorsports preparation shop headquartered in Chattanooga, Tennessee, with additional operations at Road Atlanta in Georgia. The team actively competes in several prestigious racing series, including Porsche Carrera Cup North America, SRO Pirelli GT4, GT America Powered by AWS and more. Additional information can be found at www.acimotorsports.com.
