Leifooghe/Quinlan Take Action-Packed GT4 America SprintX Race 1 Win at WGI

Leifooghe/Quinlan Take Action-Packed GT4 America SprintX Race 1 Win at WGI

Watkins Glen, NY - Vesko Kozarov and his #91 Rearden Racing Audi R8 LMS GT4 (Am) would lead the GT4 America SprintX field to the green flag in the early-evening sun. 

With only 8 minutes into the race, the first safety car would be called as the #27 Krugspeed McLaren 570S GT4 (East Pro-Am) of Anthony Geraci spun at turn 9 hitting the fence, ending the teams weekend.

The race went back to green with 38 minutes remaining with Kozarov leading the #04 GMG Racing Audi R8 LMS GT4 (Am) of James Sofronas and #36 Andretti Autosport McLaren of Colin Mullan. 

After the pit window closed for driver changes with 25 minutes to go, the field ran with the #91 Rearden Audi (Am) of Jeff Burton leading, the #36 Andretti Autosport McLaren (Pro-Am) of Jarrett Andretti second, and #34 Murillo Racing Mercedes AMG GT4 (East Am) of Christian Szymczak third. 

With 21 minutes remaining, the #37 RS1 Porsche (Pro-Am) of Jan Heylen would power past Szymczak for third with the #19 Stephen Cameron Racing BMW M4 GT4 (Pro-Am) of Gregory Leifooghe getting past the #77 Park Place Porsche Cayman 718 CS MR (East Pro-Am) of Trent Hindman for fifth.  Leifooghe was not done yet as he would also sneak past Szymczak to grab fourth.  While this was going on, Jeff Burton was able to build a 7.7 second lead over the rest of the field.

The battles continued to rage on through the field and with 15 minutes left on the clock, Heylen and Andretti would make contact at the entry of turn 9, allowing Leifooghe to slip past both cars and into second position overall with Andretti falling to fifth.  From there Leifooghe would put down fast lap after fast lap in an attempt to chase down the leading #91. 

The contact between the #36 and #37 cars appeared to have cut a tire on the #37 RS1 entry with Heylen pulling over the car with 9 minutes to go to retire.. 

With 8 minutes on the clock, Jarrett Andretti and Tom Dyer in the #190 Stephen Cameron Racing BMW M4 GT4 (Pro-Am) would then make contact going into turn 1, seeing Andretti plummet to the twenty-first position and Dyer sixth. 

On the white flag lap Leifooghe would catch and pass Burton for the lead going into turn 6 to grab the fourth victory of the season for the #19.  Co-driver Sean Quinlan said, “I did not expect this today, but we had a great pitstop and when Greg got in, it was just special!”  

Leifooghe said, “It’s surreal.  The car was so great on the brakes today, the Cameron Racing guys gave us an awesome car and it would not  have happened  without them.”

The top ten cars were as follows:

1)    #19 Stephen Cameron Racing BMW M4 GT4 (Pro-Am)

2)    #91 Rearden Racing Audi R8 LMS GT4 (Am)

3)    #34 Murillo Racing Mercedes AMG GT4 (East Am)

4)    #77 Park Place Motorsports Porsche 718 Cayman CS MR (East Pro-Am)

5)    #190 Stephen Cameron Racing BMW M4 GT4 (Pro-Am)

6)    #63 Dexter Racing Ginetta G55 (Pro-Am)

7)    #47 NOLASPORT Porsche Cayman CS MR (Pro-Am)

8)    #592 Ramsey Racing/EXR-Team by Premat Mercedes AMG GT4 (Pro-Am)

9)    #24 Ian Lacy Racing Ford Mustang GT4 (East Pro-Am)

10)  #46 NOLASPORT Porsche 718 Cayman CS MR (East Pro-Am)

Pirelli GT4 America SprintX Race 2 will go green on Sunday September 1st at 1:00pm ET, streaming live on https://live.sro-america.com/gt4-america.