Cooper Claims Podium in Blackdog Speed Shop’s Long Beach Return

Cooper Claims Podium in Blackdog Speed Shop’s Long Beach Return
Blackdog Speed Shop made good on its return to racing at the Grand Prix of Long Beach with a third-place finish for Michael Cooper in Sunday’s Pirelli GT4 America Sprint championship.
 
Cooper, in the No. 10 Blackdog Speed Shop McLaren 570S GT4, raced his way to his first overall podium at Long Beach and first as a full-time driver for the team since 2015. This is his first full season back with Blackdog Speed Shop in its inaugural season with McLaren.


 
Teammate Tony Gaples, in the No. 11 Blackdog Speed Shop McLaren, did his best to replicate his runs in the season-opening weekend at St. Petersburg on Sunday. A return to the GT4 Am podium wasn’t in the cards, however, as he finished seventh in his category and 15th overall.

The first half of the race featured more caution laps than green ones. But Cooper took advantage of what little race running he had early by picking up four spots to third before the first full-course yellow only a couple laps in. 
 
A second FCY after a restart with 30 minutes later gave him a chance to challenge for the lead again. It looked promising right after the green but Cooper was unable to gain ground in the long run. His effort was good enough to win the race’s Hard Charger award for the most positions gained in the race.
 
Blackdog Speed Shop’s next event in the GT4 America Sprint championship is April 26-28 at Virginia International Raceway.

MICHAEL COOPER, NO. 10 BLACKDOG SPEED SHOP McLAREN 570S GT4: “I was able to make some moves on the opening lap to get up to third early, so it was a good start. But after that I couldn’t run with the two leaders at all. I was pushing really hard to stick with them early on, which I was able to do. After that second caution, I felt like I could run with them for a couple laps but got left in the dust. After that, I just ran my own race and checked my mirrors to make sure no one was coming. We can take some positives out of today with our Blackdog Speed Shop McLaren. It would have been nice to be able to challenge for the win, so hopefully the pace and performance will come.”
 
TONY GAPLES, NO. 11 BLACKDOG SPEED SHOP McLAREN 570S GT4: “That wasn’t the return to this race I wanted. I had hoped to make a good charge and maybe sneak on the podium. I’m not sure why we struggled so much. I don’t know how much of it is performance or something else, but we need to find out. Hopefully we can get things sorted out before the next round at VIR. Overall it was good to be back at Long Beach and I hope we’re here again next year. If so, I know we’ll have both Blackdog cars up at the sharp end.”

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About Blackdog Speed Shop
Blackdog Speed Shop Blackdog Speed Shop is a high-performance, custom car builder in the northern suburbs of Chicago specializing in ground-up car builds, high-performance upgrades for engines, transmissions, suspension and exhaust including computer and dyno tuning. Whether you have a modern muscle car, vintage muscle, 1930s hot rod or a foreign exotic, you will enjoy the Blackdog experience.
 
Ever dreamed of piloting a real World Challenge race car? Blackdog offers rental and “arrive and drive” racing in addition to purpose-built cars. Call Blackdog today at (855) 4-BLACKDOG to schedule an appointment or discuss the best way to put you in the driver’s seat!