RS1 Porsche Completes Sonoma Sweep In GT4 America
Two races at Sonoma Raceway, two wins in the Pirelli GT4 America series for the #18 RS1 Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport of Eric Filgueiras and Stevan McAleer – who led from pole and never surrendered the net lead of the race en route to a weekend sweep.
Under beautiful sunny skies on Easter Sunday, 39 cars took the green flag for Sunday’s race. With commiserations to the #79 RENNtech Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT4 of Chris Gumprecht and Kyle Marcelli, which did not start yesterday due to a string of mechanical issues stemming from a qualifying incident, and was also scratched today.
Also scratched from the Race 2 grid were the #25 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT4 (Gray Newell/Ian James) and the #930 CarBahn with Peregrine Racing Audi R8 LMS GT4 (Mark Siegel/Tom Dyer) after both cars had incidents in the morning’s GT America race. Siegel and Dyer were due to start seventh.
Race 1 winner McAleer led the field to green, ahead of Michai Stephens in the #34 Conquest Racing/JWF Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT4 and Pro-Am leader Kenton Koch in the #15 BSPort Racing Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT4. Aaron Povoledo in the #50 Chouest Povoledo Racing Vantage and Jason Hart in the #47 NOLASPORT Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport. After two laps, Koch muscled his way past Stevens through the turn nine chicane, and moved into second place. James Sofronas in the Am Cup #032 GMG Racing Cayman was able to move up to sixth overall.
Thomas Merrill in the #19 NOLASPORT Cayman had gained twenty places from the start of the race, but he suffered a suspension failure going into the chicane, cutting through the grass and broadsiding the #32 Snow Brothers Racing AMG GT4 of Cole Ciraulo. A Full Course Yellow and subsequent Safety Car deployment followed on lap four to retrieve the broken Cayman, while the Capstone-sponsored Mercedes went to the pits for repairs.
The race resumed from lap eight after eight minutes under the Safety Car. McAleer and Koch continued to run first and second, while Povoledo overtook Stephens for third overall, and soon, Stephens was under threat from Hart for fourth. Further back, Aaron Telitz (#69 Smooge Racing Toyota GR Supra GT4) and Billy Johnson Jnr (#120 ARG/Rotek Racing Ford Mustang GT4) were battling it out for position, side by side.
The pit window opened with 25 minutes elapsed, and the Pro-Am teams were happy to withhold their pit stops until the end of the ten-minute window to maximise their pro drivers’ seat time.
McAleer, Kock, and Stephens pitted at the end of lap 16. When they emerged from the pits, Eric Filgueiras in the #18 held the net race lead, five seconds ahead of Bryan Putt in the #15, and Gavin Sanders in the #34.
Povoledo and Hart pitted on the next lap, at the end of the pit window. Ross Chouest in the #50 cycled back to third behind Filgueiras and right behind Putt, and Scott Noble in the #47 was back in fifth behind Sanders. On lap 20, Sanders overtook Chouest for third, with Noble right behind them both.
Two of the three Auto Technic Racing BMW M4 GT4s were leading a three-car train ahead of the #899 Absolute Racing Cayman, but while trying to make a move for eighth, Anderson Tanoto in the #899 Absolute Racing Cayman hit Tom Capizzi in the #52 Auto Technic M4 at turn seven.
Putt was working hard to keep second overall ahead of Sanders, but he slid wide into turn four on lap 24, opening the door for Sanders to take the #34 Conquest/JWF AMG GT4 up to second. Putt was now having to defend his Pro-Am class lead from the hard-charging Chouest and Noble.
Elias Sabo in the #8 Flying Lizard Motorsports Vantage stopped in the runoff at turn seven, and while trying to rejoin the track, Sam Owen in the #7 NOLASPORT Cayman checked up, then spun under his own power, before continuing on, both cars undamaged.
Over the closing minutes, Filgueiras had the measure of the field, gradually pulling away from second placed Sanders. After 31 laps, Filgueiras took the chequered flag and completed RS1’s clean sweep of the Sonoma weekend with two overall and Silver Cup class victories. The #34 Conquest/JWF AMG GT4 finished second overall.
Putt held off Chouest and Noble to give the #15 BSPort Vantage their own clean sweep, two Pro-Am Cup wins and overall third place finishes in two races, ahead of the #50 Chouest Povoledo Vantage and #47 NOLASPORT Cayman who rounded off the Pro-Am podium.
The #51 Auto Technic M4 (Austen Smith/Zach Anderson), finished sixth overall and third in Silver Cup, ahead of the #39 Cameron Racing AMG GT4 (Chris Cagnazzi/Guy Cosmo) in seventh.
The #68 Smooge Racing GR Supra (Kevin Conway/John Geesbreght) recovered from a disastrous Race 1 to finish eighth overall in Race 2. The #112 Dexter Racing GR Supra (Dominic Starkweather/Ryan Dexter) and #120 Premier Racing Cayman (Adam Adelson/Elliott Skeer) the overall top ten.
On lap 24, Ben Anderson in the #60 Dexter Racing Ginetta G56 GT4 overtook Kyle Washington in the #032 GMG Racing Cayman for the Am Cup lead.
Anderson would drive away, giving he and Matt Rivard the Am Cup victory after being wrapped up in a crash in Race 1. The #60 Ginetta finished 13th overall for their efforts. Race 1 Am Cup winners James Clay and Charlie Postins finished second in class (14th overall), and the #032 GMG Cayman finished the day third in class, 15th overall.
The invitational class #49 Team Saleen 1 GT4 (Steve Saleen/Eric Curran) finished 30th overall after not being classified in Race 1.
Results to follow
Image © Brian Cleary / SRO
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