Austin, TX – The NOLASPORT Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 team of Jason Hart and Matt Travis capped off a dominating weekend at Circuit of The Americas with a second straight Pirelli GT4 America SprintX Pro/Am division victory Sunday morning. The Flying Lizard Motorsports Aston Martin Vantage GT4 Pro/Am team of Robby Foley and Michael Dinan finished second, while ST Racing’s Nick Wittmer and Harry Gottsacker drove their BMW M4 GT4 to a third-place finish, first in the Silver category.
GMG Racing’s Andrew Davis led the field to the green in his #2 Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 and powered into the lead through turn 1. Hart in the Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 launched successfully and moved up into second from his third-on-the-grid starting position. RS1’s Jan Heylen in the #37 Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 moved into third, while #15 BSport Aston Martin Vantage GT4 driver Kenton Koch slotted into fourth after starting second.
In the Silver class, Mads Siljehaug in the Marco Polo Motorsports #71 KTM Xbox led the class, 9th overall, while NOLASPORTS’ Zac Anderson in the #7 Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 led the Am class, 15th overall.
On lap 3, Hart would pass Davis for the lead, while Koch moved around Heylen up into 3rd. A full-course yellow was issued to remove debris on track on lap 4, and an intermittent power issue in Davis’ Porsche dropped him back in the field. The GMG driver was able to recycle the car and get back on power in 6th for the restart. Hart led the field back to the restart a lap later
Through lap 7, Hart led Heylen and hard charging Jeroen Bleekemolen who had moved up into third into his #54 Black Swan Racing Porsche Cayman GT4. Davis slotted back into fourth, while Flying Lizard’s Foley slotted into 5th. By lap 8, Hart set the fast lap of the race and stretched his lead to 1.3 seconds over Heylen and just before the pit window opened held a 3.7 second advantage.
At the 25-minute mark of the 60-minute contest, the pit window opened, and Travis took over for Hart. At the pit window close, Travis held a 6.2 second led over Tim Pappas who took over for Bleekemolen.
By Lap 15, Pappas’ Porsche appeared to suffer a mechanical issue dropping him back and Bryan Putt, who had taken over for Koch slotted into second. In the Silver category, Wittmer in the #28 BMW M4 GT4 was on a charge up into 5th overall and first in class, the team started the day in 17th. Gibbons who had taken over the reins of the #7 NOLASPORT machine continued to lead in Am.
Dinan who had taken over for Foley began a push to get around Putt and executed a pass for second on lap 16. Travis held a 12-second lead over Dinan, while Wittmer continued his charge up into third.
At the checkered, Hart crossed the line nine seconds ahead of Dinan, and Wittmer. Gibbons held off a late race charge from GMG Racing’s Alex Welch in the #14 Audi R8 LMS GT4.
"The secret is just the whole package - we have a great crew, great car, great engineers, great program,” said Travis. “Our car was really, really good, it's an amazing race car, I can't thank the guys enough. Now we just gotta see if we can bring it home the rest of the season."
"I love COTA, every time I come here it's fun, but I couldn't have done it without Harry Gottsacker and the ST Racing crew,” said Wittmer. “We're a real family, I can't say more than that.” "I just want to thank all of my family here watching. Nick drove the wheels off the car, and it was a great day," said Gottsacker.
"Alex (Welch) did an amazing job and we had a great battle,” said Gibbons. “The team gave me an awesome car, great job from team, thank you to our sponsors. We've been working so hard and working with the team to get the car up front we're very happy."
Pirelli GT4 America SprintX competitors next head to Long Beach, California April 17-19. Follow all the action at gt4-america.com and across social channels Facebook, Instagram & Twitter: @gt4america.