Race two at Sebring International Raceway in the Pirelli GT4 America championship was a wild ride from start to finish, with green flag racing for the entirety of the 60-minute event providing battles for the lead across all three classes.
Conquest Racing/JMF Motorsports performed an aggressive drive to clinch the victory in Silver, with Flying Lizard Motorsports completing a perfectly executed win in the PRO-AM class, and KRUGSPEED went on to clinch the top spot in AM.
Silver Class
The Silver class wasted no time shaking things up, with pole sitter Parker Thompson immediately coming under threat in his No. 999 Hanley Motorsports Toyota GR Supra GT4 EVO by Kenton Koch in the charging No. 92 Random Vandals Racing BMW M4 GT4. Koch completed the overtake for the lead on the opening lap, but Thompson was not going to back down without a fight as he came back swinging just 15 minutes later to reclaim the lead.
As the pit window opened just prior to the halfway mark, Michai Stephens took the opportunity to come through pit lane to hand over his mighty No. 34 Conquest Racing / JMF Motorsport Mercedes-AMG GT4 to teammate Jesse Webb. The undercut allowed them to close the gap to Daniel Hanley and Kevin Boehm, creating a very tight three-way fight for the lead.
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Webb moved up into second position with just over 20 minutes remaining, only to further take over the lead just a couple of minutes later. His work was far from over, as the trio fought tooth and nail lap after lap. The young Canadian kept his composure and powered his way to the finish line to wrap up the weekend with a victory.
Boehm secured his second podium of the weekend, while a late stage drive-through penalty for the No. 999 car dropped Hanley Motorsports off the podium, allowing JCD Dubets to pick up some more important points and hardware for the No. 51 Auto Technic Racing BMW M4 GT4 as he took over third place.
PRO-AM Class
The early exit of the No. 47 NOLASPORT Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport opened up a window of opportunity for several teams in the PRO-AM class, with Michael Cooper promoted to the lead in the No. 2 Flying Lizard Motorsports Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT4, with Eric Powell of the No. 22 TechSport Racing Nissan Z GT4 in hot pursuit.
It was a smooth transition for the frontrunners as their respective teammates took over for the second half of the race. Flying Lizard Motorsports maintained the lead of the race, with Jason Bell behind the wheel. ACI Motorsports gained a position as Curt Swearingin replaced Kay van Berlo, pushing Eric Powell in the No. 22 TechSport Racing Nissan to third following some major movements from competitors around them who were involved in some last-lap contact while fighting for the final step of the podium.
As the final 10 minutes of the race approached, TechSport Racing found themselves under threat from the No. 35 Conquest Racing Mercedes-AMG GT4 of Custodio Toledo. He gave his best effort to fend him off, but Toledo completed the pass in the final laps to take over third place. However, the Mercedes-AMG GT4 was involved in some last-lap contact while fighting for the final step of the podium, which re-instated Harrison to third.
AM Class
Terry Borcheller moved up into the lead right from the get-go in the No. 20 Carrus Callas Raceteam Toyota GR Supra GT4 EVO, dropping Jaden Lander down one position in the No. 72 KRUGSPEED Toyota GR Supra GT4 EVO. Austin Krainz soon closed in, applying pressure in his No. 18 RS1 Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport.
It was business as usual in the second portion of the race once the driver changes had been completed, with the running order remaining the same. However, the margins between drivers had been closed even more, with the top four in the AM class all running within a couple of seconds of each other.
It wasn’t long before there were drastic changes on track, with KRUGSPEED’s Anthony Geraci promoted to first place as Nicholas Shanny dropped out of podium position, now allowing recently-crowned championship winner Charlie Postins to insert himself into mix in the No. 36 BimmerWorld BMW M4 GT4. Postins simply couldn’t be held at bay, and further took over second place in the final minutes.
The 2023 race season comes to a close at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Oct. 5-8 and will be streamed on the GT World YouTube page.