Conquest Racing Mercedes-AMG GT4 Captures First Win of the Season

Conquest Racing Mercedes-AMG GT4 Captures First Win of the Season
  • Conquest Racing Posts Overall and Silver Class Win
  • NOLASPORT wins Pro-Am Class
  • BimmerWorld atop Am Class podium
  • Provisional Results

Alton, Virginia - On a sunny and balmy Father’s Day Sunday at the VIRginia International Raceway, the Pirelli GT4 America teams hoped to rebound from a tumultuous Race 1 on Saturday that was plagued by multiple yellow flags and only eight green flag laps. 37 cars started on the grid when the green flag waved with the championship-leading #18 RS1 Porsche Cayman 718 GT4 RS Clubsport driven by Stevan McAleer on pole position. 

As the peloton of cars moved through the lower portion of the esses, the #32 Capstone Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT4 got pushed off into the dirt and into the tires, with the #016 Hattori Motorsports Toyota GR Supra GT4 and #19 NOLASPORT Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport getting caught in the aftermath. Due to extensive track repairs, the race was red-flagged and resumed after a 40-minute hiatus. 

At the restart, McAleer pulled away from the field, Kenton Koch in the #15 BSport Racing Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT4 went to the inside of Elliot Skeer in the #129 Premier Racing Porsche 718 Cayman RS Clubsport taking the second position overall, and first in the Pro-Am class. Meanwhile, battles for position in the middle of the pack were taking place between the Aston Martins of #24 Heart of Racing (Gray Newell/Ian James) and the #8 Flying Lizard Motorsports (Elias Sabo/Andy Lee).

Just before the pit window opened the #66 Racers Group Porsche Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport driven by Derek DeBoer lost drive just before pit lane, leading to a full course yellow. The RS1 team stayed out due to miscommunication that ultimately cost them position forcing Eric Filgueiras to make his way through traffic in an effort to earn championship points for the day instead of a sixth consecutive win. The RS1 team just missed the podium finishing in fourth place in class.

Another full course yellow came out when the #55 Accelerating Performance Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT4 driven by Moisey Uretsky went into the tire wall. With about eight minutes left on the clock, and insufficient time to reset the tire barrier, the checkered flag came out under yellow to conclude the race.

Running a clean race and executing a great pitstop the #34 Conquest Racing/JMF Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT4 team of Gavin Sanders and Michai Stephens got their first win of the 2022 season.  The team had scored previous podium finishes at Sonoma. Coming home in second was the #68 Smooge Racing Toyota GR Supra GT4 (Kevin Conway/John Geesbreght) with the #51 Auto Technic Racing BMW M4 GT4 (Austen Smith/Zac Anderson) third among the Silver entries.

The #47 NOLASPORT Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport duo of Scott Noble and Jason Hart made a fantastic return to the podium finishing second overall and winning the Pro-Am class. NOLASPORT will stay atop the leaderboard in Pro-Am team class points on the season with the win. Taking the second step on the Pro-Am podium was the #24 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT4 (Gray Newell/Ian James), with the #8 Flying Lizard Motorsports Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT4 (Elias Sabo/Andy Lee) in third.

In Am class action, Charlie Postins and James Clay in the #36 BimmerWorld BMW M4 GT4 took top honors and swept the podium for the weekend followed by the #80 Rooster Hall Racing BMW M4 GT4 (Todd Brown/Johan Schwartz). Third was the #82 BimmerWorld BMW M4 GT4 (James Walker Jr/Devin Jones). With multiple podium finishes on the weekend, BimmerWorld retains the Am team class points overall.

Tom Dyer in the #930 CarBahn with Peregrine Racing Audi R8 LMS GT4 recorded the CrowdStrike fastest lap at 1:53.632.

The Pirelli GT4 America series moves to Watkins Glens International on July 22-24.

Connect with us on our GT4 social channels on Facebook @gt4america, Instagram @gt4america, and Twitter @GT4America.