The Return to Historic Watkins Glen International Brings 33-Car GT4 Field

The Return to Historic Watkins Glen International Brings 33-Car GT4 Field
  • NOLASPORT’s Hart, Travis Hang On to Pro-Am Points Lead
  • Tight Battle Shaping Up Between Murillo Racing, Team CCR/TFB in Silver
  • Smooge, Toyota Hold Comfortable Lead in Am
  • Entry List - PDF Link
  • Event Schedule - PDF Link

WATKINS GLEN, NY - The Finger Lakes Region of Upstate New York will once again echo with the sounds of Pirelli GT4 America, which makes its return to the 3.37-mile, 11-turn road course of Watkins Glen International. Thirty-three cars across three classes and eight manufacturers make up the grid for Rounds 9 and 10 of the championship.

The hotly contested Pro-Am championship battle features familiar faces, led by the #47 Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 Clubsport driven by Matt Travis and Jason Hart for NOLASPORT. The duo heads into the race weekend at Watkins Glen defending their advantage over the #119 BMW M4 driven by Gregory Liefooghe and Sean Quinlan. 

Quinlan and Liefooghe hold second in the championship by just two points over the #15 Aston Martin Vantage AMR driven by Kenton Koch and Bryan Putt for BSport Racing. Spencer Pumpelly and Derek DeBoer quietly sit fourth in the standings in their #66 TRG - The Racers Group Porsche 718 Cayman Clubsport. Just behind them, the WR Racing #59 Aston Martin Vantage AMR of Paul Terry sports a new co-driver for this round with Owen Trinkler behind the wheel.

BMW is well represented in the field with the AutoTechnic Racing duo of Tom Capazzi and John Capestro-Dubets sitting sixth in the standings just ahead of BimmerWorld’s Bill Auberlen and James Walker. Both have been featured at the pointy end of the field, especially at Road America where Auberlen and Walker took an overall win. 

GMG Racing’s Jason Bell and Andrew Davis are looking to better their finishing position, seeking a podium at Watkins Glen for Aston Martin. CarBahn’s #930 Audi R8 LMS GT4 of Sameer Gandhi and Tom Dyer returns for Rounds 9 and 10 at Watkins Glen. 

In the Silver category, the championship leaders in the #72 Mercedes-AMG GT4 of Kenny Murillo and Christian Szymczak return for battle in their metallic orange Murillo Racing machine. Murillo Racing leads the #22 BMW M4 GT4 driven by Tim Barber and Cole Ciraulo for CCR Racing/Team TFB by 32 points. 

Behind them, the battle for third in the championship rages on as the #062 Aston Martin Vantage AMR of Ryan and Warren Dexter is tied at 80 points with the BimmerWorld Racing #94 BMW M4 GT4 of Chandler Hull and Jon Miller. Just two points behind the third-place tie sits the #11 of Toby Grahovec and Stevan McAleer for Classic BMW who showed speed at Road America.

After missing the last round, the #71 Marco Polo Motorsports KTM X-Bow GT4 driven by Nicolai Elghanayan and Mads Siljehaug returns to the twists and turns of The Glen. The #35 Mercedes-AMG driven by Marco Kacic and Michai Stevens for Conquest Racing West also enters Round 9 after a third-place result at Road America, completing the Silver class field.

The Am category heads into the race weekend with eleven cars set to take the grid. The #5 McLaren 570S driven by Michael McAleenan and Dan Rogers for Motorsport USA will be one of two entries for the British manufacturer. They’ll be up against a duo of Toyota GR Supras, the #18 driven by Matt Forbush and Damon Surzyshyn for Forbush Performance, and the championship-leading #68 Smooge Racing car driven by John Geesbrecht and Kevin Conway. 

Mercedes-AMG pilots John Allen and Kris Wilson sit second place in Am driving the #16 Capstone Motorsports entry. Newcomers Alain Stad and Thomas Merrill made quite the debut at Road America, finding the podium in both rounds. They’ll look to find similar form at Watkins Glen in the #619 Stephen Cameron Racing Porsche 718 Cayman Clubsport MR. 

A handful of other Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 Clubsport MRs will go for glory including the #46 (Russell and David Walker) and #48 (Dominic Starkweather and Jason Alexandridis) NOLASPORT entries. Another Porsche Cayman 718 GT4 Clubsport driven by Sam Owen and Sean Gibbons will defend sixth in the Am standings over the #111 McLaren 570S GT4 of Todd and Ty Clarke, who enter the rounds at Watkins Glen just one point behind Owen and Gibbons. 

Follow the Pirelli GT4 America action on our social channels - @GT4America - and tune-in to the GTWorld YouTube channel for free livestreams of each race. GT4 competitors take to the track on Friday at 12:05pm EDT for their first practice session with Race 1 taking place on Saturday at 11:30AM EDT and Race 2 going green at 11:00AM EDT on Sunday. 

Tickets for the Watkins Glen International race weekend can be purchased at bit.ly/gttheglen.