Pirelli GT4 America Silver class championship leaders Eric Filgueiras and John Capestro-Dubets fought back from early setbacks to claim the overall win for RS1 at Road America. In Pro-Am, Heart of Racing Team’s Roman DeAngelis and Gray Newell trekked through the field to take the victory. It was a great weekend for Rotek Racing in the Am class, with Robb Holland and Jaden Lander winning back-to-back races.
Silver
Zac Anderson and Kenton Koch started on the front row in their respective No. 51 AutoTechnic Racing and No. 97 Random Vandals Racing BMW M4 GT4 G82, and the two got their elbows out early as they went wheel to wheel from the moment the green flag waved. Filgueiras was lurking in third in the No. 28 RS1 Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport as he moved ahead of the No. 68 Smooge Racing Toyota Gazoo Racing GR Supra GT4 EVO of Corey Lewis.
Chaos began to unfold as the frontrunners went three wide down the track, resulting in Filgueiras being sent wide into the grass. Koch took the opportunity to sweep into the lead ahead of Anderson, while Pro-Am competitor Kay van Berlo avoided the mess and moved himself up the overall running order.
As the field performed their driver changes at the halfway mark, a full course yellow emerged shortly after they exited pit lane and returned to the track. As the race restarted just before the last fifteen minutes of the race, AutoTechnic Racing’s Colin Garrett made contact with Curt Swearingin, sending the ACI Motorsports Porsche into the gravel.
Capestro-Dubets took advantage of the situation, moving his No. 28 RS1 Porsche into second overall, putting himself in prime position as a drive-through penalty was given to race leaders Random Vandals Racing for a pit lane speed violation.
The No. 28 had to fend off an intense last-lap attack from Tyler Gonzalez, but he powered ahead to take the race two victory in very dramatic fashion. Smooge Racing finished just behind in second after a drag race to the line, with third place occupied by Heart of Racing Team’s Hannah Grisham and Hannah Greenemeier in the No. 26 Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT4, scoring their first podium finish in the Silver class.
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“That was tough,” said Filgueiras at the podium celebrations. “It was really close racing with some contact, but you’ve got a lot of great drivers out there who really want it. In the first half of the race, I felt pretty bad because I got pushed back and didn’t feel like I put JCD in the best position. But he pulled it off—this guy’s my hero. Huge thanks to RS1 for giving us a great car, and a big shoutout to my family at home.”
“That was a wild race” continued Capestro-Dubets. “It got a little physical, but we stuck it out. The team was on the radio saying we had to get back in the fight, and I was like, ‘We’re already there.’ Last year, we came into this championship leading, but then I broke my back and missed out on two championships. So to come back and get a win here is incredibly special. I want to thank my family, all my supporters. We appreciate all the love, and we can’t wait to celebrate!”
Pro-Am
In the opening half of the race, van Berlo was unstoppable in his No. 7 ACI Motorsports Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport, cutting his way through the field and moving up into the overall lead within the first twenty minutes.
The No. 23 TechSport Racing Nissan Z NISMO GT4 also made up a lot of ground as Jonathan Neudorf made his way up to third overall before handing over his machine to teammate Johan Schwartz at the halfway mark.
There was trouble for the No. 33 Rigid Speed BMW M4 GT4 of Lucas Catania, who was shedding bodywork while limping back to pit lane with a puncture. A full course yellow was brought out to collect the debris on track.
As the race restarted, it was heartbreak for Swearingin in the No. 7 Porsche as he was clipped by Colin Garrett in the Silver class. On the other hand, DeAngelis had a fantastic restart in the No. 24 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT4, going from eleventh to fifth overall, and claiming the Pro-Am lead in the process.
The Canadian expertly handled the final minutes of the race, clinching the Pro-Am win with Newell ahead of TechSport Racing’s Neudorf and Schwartz. Austin Krainz and Roland Krainz added to RS1’s success, taking home more hardware for the team with a third place result.
Am
Charlie Postins in the No. 36 BimmerWorld BMW M4 GT4 G82 had a decent buffer of out-of-class cars separating him from the next closest competitor, but Lee Carpentier was on the charge in his No. 52 Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport. By lap 4, the NOLASPORT was in position to take over the class lead, pushing Postins back to second place.
As the opening twenty minutes elapsed, Chris Walsh made significant progress through the field, and launched an attack on Postins, muscling his No. 20 Carrus Callas Raceteam BMW M4 GT4 G82 past, relegating Postins to third.
However, NOLASPORT were caught out by the safety car, and went tumbling down the running order when they eventually came in to complete their pit stop and driver change.
A perfectly timed pit stop for Rotek Racing allowed Holland to emerge in the Am class lead in his No. 099 Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport ahead of David Petermen in the NOLASPORT machine and Lance Bergstein in the No. 72 KRUGSPEED Toyota Gazoo Racing GR Supra GT4 EVO.
Holland was able to translate his lead into a win, sweeping the weekend with Lander for Rotek Racing. Carrus Callas Raceteam added another podium to their tally, with Chris Walsh and Nicholas Shanny taking second, while KRUGSPEED’s Lance Bergstein and Anthony Geraci wrapped up the event in third.
The Pirelli GT4 America field will return at Barber Motorsports Park from September 6th to 8th.