Pirelli GT4 America Teams Ready For The Glen

Pirelli GT4 America Teams Ready For The Glen
  • RS1 seeking to extend championship points lead in Silver
  • Pro-Am race wins split between BSport, Premier, NOLASPORT, and AutoTechnic
  • BimmerWorld duo of Postins and Clay lead Am class
  • Entry List | TimetableEvent Tickets 

Watkins Glen, New York - The Pirelli GT4 America championship continues its 2022 season at Watkins Glen International, better known simply as “The Glen”. The Glen has hosted SRO many times in the past, and remains a bucket list track for racers and fans alike.

In 2021 Stevan McAleer teamed up with Toby Grahovec to score an overall and silver class win in their Classic BMW M4. This year, Stevan has a new team, new teammate and new car, but will be looking for another win. The 2021 Pro-Am wins at Watkins Glen were split between Auto Technic Racing and the Heart of Racing team. Both will be looking for similar success this year. Smooge Racing with Kevin Conway and John Geesbrecht took their Toyota Supra GR to a pair of Am wins in 2021.  The team returns, this time in the Silver class.

34 cars and 68 drivers are set for a pair of 60-minute races where pitstops can be a key strategy point.

Three Races Within GT4

Three categories race within the Pirelli GT4 America series. Silver, Pro-Am, and Am. They are differentiated by the drivers and their FIA Driver categories and pairings. Drivers are rated as Bronze - A racer in the early stages of their career, Silver - An accomplished club racer, Gold - a professional racer, and Platinum - The highest level of a professional racer, typically a factory driver.

Silver

The #18 RS1 Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 Clubsport of Eric Filgueiras and Stevan McAleer had been on a roll since Sonoma, winning the first five races of the year, including the first race at VIR. Gavin Sanders and Michai Stephens stopped the streak at VIR race 2 in their #34 Conquest Racing/JMF Motorsports Mercedes-AMG. RS1 leads Conquest in team points 137 to 99.

Nipping at the heels of the early season race winners are AutoTechnic Racing and Smooge Racing. AutoTechnic has been amazingly consistent with five podium finishes.  Could Watkins Glen see them score their first win of the year? Smooge Racing, making the jump from the Am class to Silver, has been impressive with a pair of runner-up positions. Kevin Conway and John Geesbreght will be hoping for their first Silver class win in the #68 Smooge Racing Toyota GR Supra.

Pro-Am

Pro-Am has been the most evenly competitive class so far this season with four different teams taking race wins.

The #47 NOLASPORT Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport (Scott Noble/Jason Hart took the Pro-Am points lead with their VIR Race #2 win.

Second in points is the #120 Premier Racing Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport (Adam Adelson/Elliott Skeer). The team had a podium sweep in New Orleans but had challenging weekends at both Sonoma and VIR.

Sitting Third is the #52 Auto Technic Racing BMW M4 GT4 (Tom Capizzi/John Capestro-Dubets). After a slow start at Sonoma, the team scored four top-four finished highlighted by a win at VIR in race #1. They are the only Pro-Am team to have scored points in all six races.  

Fourth in points, BSport Racing will be looking to make up for hard weekends at both NOLA and VIR. Their #15 Aston Martin Vantage AMR (Kenton Koch/Bryan Putt) swept both races at the Sonoma season opener and will be looking for a podium return at Watkins Glen.

Steve Saleen certainly knows his way around Watkins Glen, having had great success in the early days of World Challenge with his Saleen Mustangs.  He and teammate Eric Curran will be looking for their first points of the year in the #49 Saleen S1.

Am

Charlie Postins and James Clay have scored four wins from the first six races in their #36 BimmerWorld BMW M4 GT4.  Add in a runner-up position, and that means they have a 17-point lead among teams and a 42-point lead among driver coming into Watkins Glen.

Looking to reduce that points gap will be the NOLASPORT team. The #19 NOLASPORT Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport of Alain Stad. Stad has scored one win, two seconds, and a third. Stad is second in diver points and welcomes a new co-driver, former series Champion Matt Travis.  

Sitting third in driver points are Nelson Calle and Juan Martinez in the #83 RS1 Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 Clubsport.  Calle and Martinez are one of only two Am teams to have scored points in all six races so far, highlighted by podium finishes at both NOLA and VIR.  They will be eager to make it to the top step of the podium before the season is over.

New York-based KRUGSPEED, who will be fielding the #72 Toyota GR Supra GT4  for Anthony Geraci and Jaden Lander will be hoping for a local knowledge advantage after rejoining the series at VIR.   

Be a Part of the Action

Tickets are available online for race day tickets, VIP experience, car corrals, premium parking, and more. Kids 12 and under are admitted for Free!

Can’t make it to the track? Tune in for all of the Pirelli GT4 America action on Saturday and Sunday, July 23rd and 24th, on the GTWorld YouTube Channel, as well as on GT4 America’s FacebookInstagram, and Twitter pages.