It’s been a few years, but Blackdog Racing is back at Barber Motorsports Park this weekend in the next-to-last event in this year’s Pirelli GT4 America championship.
One of the longest-running teams in GT4/GTS-style racing, Blackdog Racing is the only team in the Pirelli GT4 series that competed at Barber the last time that SRO Motorsports America – then Pirelli World Challenge – had the 2.38-mile, 16-turn road course on its schedule.
Even more remarkable is that this year’s driver lineup also raced in Blackdog entries at Barber in the past: Michael Cooper in 2015 and Tony Gaples from 2014-16. This time around, they are driving the Nissan Z NISMO GT4 and are in search of the team’s second Pro-Am victory of the season.
Blackdog Racing has a runner-up finish (2016) and third-place showing (2013) to its credit in its Barber past, and Cooper was a GT-class winner in 2016. Posting similar results this year would be an impressive feat given the number of GT4 cars – 28 total in an extremely deep field of Silver, Pro-Am and Am entries – fighting around the tight and twisty track.
The pairing is coming off an up-and-down weekend at Road America: a DNF due to getting caught up in an opening-lap crash in Race One but a positive result and a top-five finish in Race Two.
Blackdog Racing and the No. 9 Nissan Z NISMO GT4 will race in the first of two Pirelli GT4 America races around Barber Motorsports Park at 5 p.m. CT on Saturday, followed by Sunday’s second race at 10:45 a.m. CT. Live coverage of both races plus timing & scoring will be available at gt4-america.com and SRO’s GT World YouTube channel.
MICHAEL COOPER, NO. 9 BLACKDOG RACING NISSAN Z NISMO GT4: “It’s been a long time since the series visited Barber Motorsports Park – 2016 to be exact. The last time I raced at Barber was that same weekend eight years ago, which resulted in my first GT3 pole and win. I’ve always enjoyed driving at the natural terrain road course in Alabama, and it is a special place to me because of that victory. I’m looking forward to going back in our Blackdog NISMO GT4 and fighting for another pole and win for this team.”
TONY GAPLES, NO. 9 BLACKDOG RACING NISSAN Z NISMO GT4: “I expect Barber to be pretty unpredictable. It wouldn’t surprise me to see multiple yellows in each race. Hopefully we aren’t part of any of those this time around. We’ll be aggressive on track when we can and need to be, but I can see this being a weekend where there will be a lot of contact. If we can find that balance between being forceful and careful, we should be in good shape come the end of these two races.”