Pirelli GT4 America: Sonoma, Race 2

It is time for race two of the weekend for Pirelli GT4 America here at Sonoma Raceway in Sonoma, California.  Time for the drivers and teams to lay their cards on the table to see who will take the second victory of the opening round of the championship.  42 cars among three classes in GT4 America raced yesterday.  RS1 and BSport Racing won in yesterday's contest.  The question is, will they repeat?  Or, will we see new winners today?  The Am class victory went down to the wire as well.  What is in store today on Sunday?  A very Happy Easter to everyone, even though we are publishing this particular blog entry a tad later than yours truly would have liked.  The cars are on their formation laps.  We saw a barnburner in race one and today could very well be the same.  The Pro drivers start compared t the Am drivers doing so yesterday.  Today it is the reverse.  Extend the professional driver's run deep into the window before pitting and going for it in the second half of the race.

We have some very successful GT4 drivers in this event who have won races and championships during their careers.  We have plenty of storylines in these 42 cars.  A great variety of automobiles are represented as well.  Gavin Sanders is very excited to be racing in the states along with Michai Stephens.  Sanders, hailing from Mount Albert, Ontario, Canada aboard the #34 Conquest Racing/JWF Motorsports Mercedes AMG GT4.  Michai Stephens is right alongside the winners of yesterday's GT4 contest here at Sonoma, the RS1 Porsche Cayman shared by Stevan McAleer and Eric Filguieras, car #18.  McAleer knows he needs to get the jump and control the field.  Here we go.  The safety car is in the lane.  This GT4 field is massive.  Just when you think you have seen the end, there's more.  A massive crocodile of cars getting ready to start race two in the northern California wine country.

McAleer leads the field to green.  The flag waves and we're away!  He is eking out a gap already as Michi Stephens has his hands full with Aaron Povoledo in the Aston Martin.  Povoledo passes the similar car of Kenton Koch.  Povoledo of course, sharing the #50 car with Ross Chouest on a team both of the drivers are partners in, Chouest Povoledo Racing.  Kenton Koch is able to rebound and now we see Povoledo being harried by Jason Hart in the Nolasport Porsche Cayman.  This is the #47 car.  Hart is the reigning Pro-Am GT4 SRO America champ.  Keep a close eye on him as this hourlong race continues.  

Through The Carousel for the first time of asking.  McAleer followed by Stephens as Justin Piscitell runs wide in the Toyota Supra moving past Lars Kern at the wheel of the Porsche Cayman for Absolute Racing, car #899.  Kern is a Porsche factory driver.  Through the chicane for the first time as Stevan McAleer leads Michai Stephens.  James Sofronas also is moving up slicing past Guy Cosmo.  Porsche Cayman GT4 on Mercedes AMG GT4.  That is the #032 car he shares with Kyle Washington.  Now, the listed driver says Washington, but no.  Sofronas has started the automobile per the rules with the professional drivers starting race two and Washington shall take over at the midway point in this motor race.

Povoledo still has Hart all over him.  Hart has the power and speed through turn three.  He won nine races and had 11 podiums last year.  Matt Travis has moved on and Scott Noble is his Pro-Am co-driver.  Travis was a character to be sure.  Michai Stephens is really pushing the envelope.  Conquest, is the same team that ran in Champ Car and IndyCar decades ago with Eric Bachelart, former driver, from Belgium, the team owner.  Stephens is being monstered by Kenton Koch as we speak.  The Pro-Am class leader wants by the second place Silver rated car.  Again, the only difference here is driver ratings.  Other than the manufacturers and types of cars, these GT4 cars are all equalized under Balance of Performance.  

Things won't be such a big issue in the race's second half today because the professional drivers will turn over to their less experienced co-drivers for the second half.  Fastest lap of the race so far is 1:47.091 set by Britain's Michael O'Brien in the #26 Prive Motorsports/Topp Racing McLaren 570S GT4 he is sharing alongside American Thomas Surgent.  This is the sole McLaren in the Pirelli GT4 America field.  So, we will be keeping an eye on #26.  In 2021, Matt Travis was very quick paired with Jason Hart.  Scott Noble, Hart's new co-driver is less experienced.  Michai Stephens is doing all he can to keep Kenton Koch behind him.  Koch leads the Pro-Am category.

Kich to the inside, and he tags Michia Stephens.  Be careful over the curbs.  Koch passes.  Jason Hart is reeling in this trio.  He wants a bite of the cherry.  Kenton Koch must be thinking, "what can I do so I don't make contact with someone else?"  He and Ian James were playing rounds of dodge 'em cars, yesterday.  Oh dear.  We have a car stopped on the road, the #19 which is the second of the three Nolasport Porsche Cayman's.  Thomas Merrill driving alongside Alain Stad.  Merrill was motoring through the pack moving up 20 some odd places but it is game over for him and Stad, his co-driver will see no action today.

Oh my goodness!  Something broke on that Cayman on the right front!  The right front brake locks and the wheel looks like it is sheered off the hub or something and turns violently to the right and back up into the wheel well!  That's a busted right front suspension.  That was drama!  We are only six minutes into this hourlong race.  But it is game over for the Merrill and Stad duo.  Nowhere to go for the #32 Mercedes AMG GT4 of Cole Ciraulo either.  Ciraulo sharing with Kris Wilson in the #32 Snow Brothers Racing Mercedes.  Race Control clearly looking at the incident and deciding if a Full Course Yellow is called for.  Aaron Povoledo, the Canadian, he is inching ever closer to Michai Stephens.  Povoledo was an open wheel driver at one time but now is a sports car racer.  Full Course Yellow is out as Cole Ciraulo is in pit lane and the pit crew determines what to do.

Stevan McAleer's two second advantage has been totally erased.  Eric Filguieras is a solid co-driver even without as much experience as his co-driver.  No tire changes like GT World Challenge America but a mandatory driver change along with tire pressure adjustments with a 92 second pit lane delta time.  Water dribbling out of the radiator of the Mercedes, puddling on the floor.  RS1 bish bash boshed the strategy yesterday in race one.  Cole Ciraulo and Kris Wilson will be back next time.  Young and old alike on that team are having fun with nicknames as Cole calls Kris "grandpa" jokingly, and equally so, "Crazy Cole" is Cole Ciraulo's nickname.  Not a good day for Capstone Racing.

Kenton Koch, leading Pro-Am alongside Bryan Putt, picking up where they left off after a wild and crazy race one scrum yesterday.  James Sofronas is indeed driving the #032 GMG Porsche Cayman.  Washington is multitasking racing in three different classes and championships this weekend.  We will hear from Washington now, gulping down an energy drink.  He is a sports fanatic and doing multiple racing championships with more incentive to train and to go for it as a driver.  He and James Sofronas are best friends.  He is teaching Kyle Washington how to be a racing driver.  We will hear from Jason Bell as well.  Bell wants to stay consistent and he knows Andrew Davis will have some work to do.  

Bell knows the challenge of this track and the new track at Ozarks coming up in Missouri in May.  Sports car racing veteran Joe Foster is also involved with this team.  GMG has had a lot to juggle over the years racing with different manufacturers from Aston Martin to Audi to Lamborghini to Porsche.  Sofronas is about serving his customers at GMG as well as mentoring the drivers he is working with.  Drive multiple cars and do lots of testing in order to learn how to be a sports car driver, a GT racing driver.  Kyle Washington is a businessman who owns several corporations, and he applies his business acumen to motor racing.  We look at overall top speeds run so far in this race.

Michael O'Brien in the McLaren is fastest, for car #26 at 128.6 miles an hour followed by Zach Anderson in the #51, the first of the Auto Technic Racing BMW M4 GT4's at 128 flat.  Anderson sharing with Austen Smith of course.  Eric Curran is next on the list in the #49 Team Saleen Saleen 1 GT4 Cup car.  He co-drives that entry with the man himself, Steve Saleen, who has been modifying Ford Mustangs and building his own race and road cars, for many, many decades now.  Curran, Stevan McAleer, and then, Thomas Merrill who we spoke of going out of this race, they tied with the same trap speed at 127.3 miles an hour.

O'Brien's dad, Mike O'Brien raced in Formula 3, Sports 2000, and British Touring Cars in England.  He also raced in British GT for former Formula 1 champion Jenson Button.  Under 45 minutes left in the race with ten minutes before the opening of the pit window.  The green flag is back out and we are back underway as Kenton Koch is right on top of Stevan McAleer!  McAleer manages to get away while Koch is falling right into the clutches of Michai Stephens.  Don't count out Povoledo either.  He is right on it as well trying to make his move.  Single file through most of the field but behind the Saleen of Eric Curran we see a stackup beginning to happen.

Side by side stuff here, look, between a Toyota GR Supra GT4 and a Ford Mustang GT4.  That's Aaron Telitz racing with Billy Johnson, a couple of veterans of production sports car racing.  Billy Johnson, though, he has damage to the rear diffuser on the Mustang and that can't be good for aerodynamic efficiency for the Ford factory driver.  The new Saleen GT4 entry is not fully homologated yet but it will be after this race is complete and the company can get the data so the SRO can analyze it.  A battle of the Supra's look as John "Smooge" Geesbreght is passed by Aaron Telitz.  Geesbreght in the #68, the first of the two TGR Smooge Racing Supra's he shares with former NASCAR driver Kevin Conway.  

The second car on that team, #69, is shared by Telitz and Todd Coleman.  Telitz has been very successful for Lexus in a different North American sports car series and so, he can take that knowledge and experience and apply it to the Supra GT4 program here in SRO America.  Telitz was aiming for an open wheel career, and slipped through that net, but has been very successful in sports cars under the watchful eye of 1996 CART Champ Car champion Jimmy Vasser.  Michai Stephens, meanwhile, has fallen to fourth place and is falling into the clutches of Jason Hart in the Porsche Cayman after Aaron Povoledo in the Aston Martin made a pass.  Overnight adjustments made by the Conquest team may not be panning out as they'd like.

In an era of Balance of Performance in the world of sports car and GT racing, damage limitation and maximizing opportunities for success are what it is all about.  Michai Stephens is settling in for the balance of this race and will have to see where the chips fall.  McAleer, Koch, and Povoledo, the top three.  Stephens is still being monstered by Jason Hart.  Guy Cosmo, too, is feeling the heat from Michael O'Brien.  Stephens has an ill handling race car and so this has surely put him into a bit of a pickle.  Stephens, if he lets these other chaps go, he will be farther behind Stevan McAleer.  We also watch Derek DeBoer at the wheel of the TRG Porsche Cayman, car #66 sharing with Jason Alexandridis for The Racer's Group, a team that has been legendary over the years and has won at both the Rolex 24 at Daytona overall, and in class at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

A couple BMW M4 GT4's going at it for position.  One of them is driven by Paul Sparta for Random Vandals Racing, being harried by James Clay in the Bimmerworld BMW M4 GT4.  Clay wants by Sparta.  Sparta sharing with Al Carter and Clay with Charlie Postins in a two-car attack for Bimmerworld in GT4 America this year.  Aaron Telitz has moved up eleven places to 19th overall from 30th starting spot.  Wow.  After a tough qualifying run, Telitz still is climbing the ladder.  Keep pushing, sunshine.  That's the mantra.  Keep pushing.  James Sofronas, meanwhile, in the #032 GMG Racing Porsche Cayman leads the Am division.

Michai Stephens takes a wide arc into the turn but in doing so, he is vulnerable to the second place Nolasport Porsche.  Plunging downhill through The Carousel they go.  Michai Stephens entered the words "how to be a race car driver" on Google, and while working in construction, decided to change career paths, follow his dream, and here he is today.  He is contending for the podium in the Silver class.  Colin Mullan, in a part-time 2021 effort, won a few races, but is not back with the Conquest team this year.  Pay close attention, too, to Hattori Motorsports.  They are another Toyota supported team with a Supra GT4 in this race, car #016.  Matt Plumb sharing with Seth Lucas.  Shiggeaki Hattori, team boss, he has had a lot of racing success particularly in IndyCars and also in the NASCAR truck series, and the Xfinity Series.

Austin Dillon drove for them, and they won a truck series championship.  There is a connection to Toyota.  Hattori had a few Indianapolis 500 starts.  A great battle here, look, between Billy Johnson and Aaron Telitz, for 12th place.  Mustang vs. Supra.  With these two experienced veteran drivers, it would be no surprise if this were a battle for the overall lead.  The stewards have handed a penalty to the Zelus Motorsports #888 Aston Martin.  We shall have to see what that is about.  It is for a restart violation, and sadly, that car is nowhere on the entry list yours truly is using for reference on this event.  Billy Johnson has plenty of experience in GT4 for Ford.  Aaron Telitz, by contrast has open wheel and GT3 experience as Telitz moves past Johnson for position in his first ever GT4 start!

Telitz really went for it.  The Mustang is great under braking, but Telitz really went for it and Johnson is trying to get him back.  The pit window is now open.  No rule mandates the leader being the first to hit the pit lane.  The early pit stoppers get breathing space.  Telitz passes Johnson for 12th in the Pro-Am class.  Jason Hart, meanwhile, continues to push and tries to force Michai Stephens into a mistake.  Hart is a wingman for Koch and Povoledo as we get closer to the second half of the race.  The next half of the race will see Gavin Sanders vs. Eric Filgueiras.  McAleer out front by 2.7 seconds as Johnson has dropped behind Aaron Telitz, and Eric Curran is pressing hard in the Saleen along with Steve Saleen, the eponymous creator of the car.

Curran has come back into World Challenge after competing in this form of racing for many years.  He moved over to prototype racing for a while and was successful there, winning championship titles with a team in a different championship who I am friends with, Action Express Racing, and has also had a successful career off the track.  Curran is from California and sells exotic cars for a living.  Side by side stuff between O'Brien in the McLaren and JCD, John Capestro-Dubets aboard the seond Auto Technic Racing BMW M4 GT4, car #52.  JCD sharing with Tom Capizzi.  Capestro-Dubets tries passing O'Brien.  Stevan McAleer uncorks the Crowdstrike fastest lap of the race at 1:47 dead.  1:47.022 with just over half an hour to go and the pit window remaining open.

That fast lap came a couple laps ago and he has dropped the pace now by a good 7/10ths of a second.  Par for the course here at Sonoma, we are beginning to see tire degradation on the Pirelli P Zero's.  That is unavoidable at this point in the motor race.  That said, the new Pirelli tire is more durable with a new compound and a different construction, a stronger one.  Andy Lee in the #8 Flying Lizard Motorsports Aston Martin along with Terry Borcheller, second in Am, they are reeling in a couple of cars.  Borcheller and Nick Shanny sharing the car.  Borcheller is a Rolex 24 winner and is back in sports car racin full time for the first time since 2015 or so.  John Capestro-Dubets takes the long way 'round Michael O'Brien and takes the spot away.

Half an hour to go as we get into the second part of the race and O'Brien is still in strife as Andy Lee is right on his back door.  O'Brien defends into the hairpin.  Lee and his co-driver Elias Sabo scored a podium in yesterday's GT4 race here at Sonoma.  The dominos are beginning to fall as teams dive for the lane and for the driver changes.  Eric Filgueiras will take over from Stevan McAleer in the #18 RS1 Porsche.  Borcheller passes Lee but not for class position.  Instead that is for an overall place.  We will see Elliott Skeer take over the #120 Premier Motorsports Porsche Cayman from Adam Adelson.  Billy Johnson, too, brings the Ford Mustang GT4 to the pit lane.

Johnson will hand off the #124 ARG/Rotek Racing car to Edgar Lau, the driver from Hong Kong.  Don't cut it too fine on the in lap.  McAleer can do a couple more laps but he may head for the lane this time by.  Cars must be in the pit lane before you reach the 25 minute mark.  Trigger the pit entry line at the very least.  McAleer has one more lap in hand.  Through the chicane he comes.  McAleer and Kenton Koch both pit and so is Michai Stephens.  Povoledo and Hart stay on track.  By staying out you are going to lose speed to cars that have their second driver in the seat.  Filgueiras takes over from McAleer.  They won a GT4 event at Daytona International Speedway back in January.  Bryan Putt takes over from Kenton Koch aboard the BSport Racing Aston Martin, car #15.

Koch taller than Putt, so they have a different seat insert for him.  The team are bleeding down the pressure on the Pirelli tires.  Povoledo, Hart, James Sofronas, Guy Cosmo, Terry Borcheller, Justin Piscitell, and Aaron Telitz all stayed out.  RS1 beats BSport into and out of the pit lane.  How quickly will the second drivers get up to speed?  Filgueiras has raced a lot but not in sports car racing while Bryan Putt comes to racing later in life.  BSport have gained half a second on their pit stop and they likely used their one second joker they are allowed once per weekend.  Nolasport in the lane with the Porsche Cayman.  Can they gain something on their pit stop?  

Nolasport are very experienced in these SRO sprint races but with a different driver pairing.  Ross Chouest replaces Aaron Povoledo in the Aston Martin #50.  Am drivers onboard the cars.  The pit window has closed, so everybody is good to go for the final 23+ minutes of race two in GT4 America here at Sonoma.  BSport has the best pit time at 1:31 using their joker while everyone else is in a range of 1:35-1:39.

1. #47 Nolasport Porsche Cayman GT4     1:33

2. #39 Cameron Racing Mercedes AMG GT4 1:33

3. #69 Smooge Racing Toyota Supra GT4 1:35

4. #50 Chouest Povoledo Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT4 1:32

5. #18 RS1 Porsche Cayman GT4 1:32

6. #15 BSport Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT4 1:31

7. #34 Conquest Racing/JWF Motorsports Mercedes AMG GT4 1:32

8. #032 GMG Racing Porsche Cayman GT4 1:39

9. #55 Accelerating Performance Toyota Supra GT4 1:37

10. #52 Auto Technic Racing BMW M4 GT4 1:33

11. #51 Auto Technic Racing BMW M4 GT4 1:32

12. #21 Accelerating Performance Toyota Supra GT4 1:46

13. #899 Absolute Racing Porsche Cayman GT4 1:34

14. #2 GMG Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT4 1:33

15. #120 Premier Racing Porsche Caymna GT4 1:34

16. #68 Smooge Racing Toyota Supra GT4 1:33

17. #35 Conquest Racing Mercedes AMG GT4 1:32

18. #8 Flying Lizard Motorsports Aston Martin Vantage GT4 1:32

19. #49 Team Saleen Saleen 1 GT4 Cup In Pit Lane

20. #98 Random Vandals Racing BMW M4 GT4 1:32

21. #016 Hattori Motorsports Toyota Supra GT4 1:39

22. #124 ARG/Rotek Racing Ford Mustang GT4 1:40

23. #66 The Racer's Group Porsche Cayman GT4 1:33

24. #26 Prive Motorsports/Topp Racing McLaren 570S GT4 1:40

Most (but not all) of the teams have some years of experience executing these pit stops.  There are new teams like Rotek and Accelerating Performance.  Eric Fllgueiras working his way through traffic.  They came to races when not competing, Eric and his father, and networked with people to get Eric an opportunity.  Bryan Putt leads Pro-Am and is 6.2 seconds in-arrears of Filgueiras.  Behind Putt, Ross Chouest is next followed by yesterday's polesitter Gavin Sanders.  Sanders is seven seconds down and has out of class cars fighting up ahead.

Chouest probably made a lunge and is now ahead of the Mercedes of Sanders, car #34.  There's a whole cluster of race cars behind, starting with fifth place Tom Capizzi followed by Anderson Tanoto, James Sofronas who leads the Am class, and others.  Check that.  Kyle Washington is now in the GMG Racing Porsche Cayman, the #032 car.  The driver ID's on that car are scrambled.  Sofronas ran within the top ten in the overall.  Next up is Nick Shanny in 18th place.  Washington is tenth.  20 minutes left on the board as Bryan Putt's margin over Chouest has ballooned.  Sanders has not been able to go by Ross Chouest, but he is probing.  He wants a bite of the cherry.

I am pretty sure Conquest team boss Eric Bachelart told Gavin Sanders what the expectation is.  Sanders tries the outside pass on Chouest and can't quite make it work.  Scott Noble aboard the Nolasport Porsche Cayman, the well-known #47 car, is coming into the picture.  Jason Alexandridis in The Racer's Group Porsche Cayman is the cork in the bottle.  Everyone has to pass him.  Correction.  That is the sister car of Todd Heatherington and Dr. Jim Rappaport.  That would be car #17, and truth be told, whoever is in that car, is holding up the pack here.  Sanders moves alongside Chouest, and is trying to keep his nose clean and avoid any contact.

#17 is still ahead as a backmarker, Rappaport at the wheel of it.  Sanders passes Chouest, and poor old Chouest has Scott Noble right on his six.  Sanders surely was told to take it easy and not do anything silly.  Don't wad the car up.  We need the points.  Take it easy, sunbeam.  He was very measured in traffic as we are into the final 1/3rd of this race with one and only one Full Course Yellow.  In the meantime, Todd Coleman is now in the #69 Toyota Supra and Aaron Telitz says that with qualifying trouble, they were in the back of the pack, but they are running top ten with Todd Coleman at the controls.  Coleman is getting used to pit stops and live driver changes. A lot of fun in this race for these two.

Todd Coleman has been passed by Moisey Uretsky, the Mazda MX-5 Cup veteran in that one-make championship.  Uretsky takes the shortcut through the chicane, and he loses track position with clag, dirt, mud, on his Pirelli tires.  Ryan Dexter slides through, sharing the car with Dominic Starkweather, running a Toyota Supra after racing Ginetta's and Aston Martin's in the past.  Sanders chasing Putt down for second on the road while Putt is leading Pro Am.  In replay, we see Paul Sparta shortcutting the chicane and so is Jason Alexandridis.  Meanwhile, more GT4 fun and frolics as Tom Capizzi gets spun 'round.  Anderson Tanoto in the Absolute Racing Porsche Cayman biffs Capizzi in the right rear corner and spins him out.

Capizzi continues but now in the firing zone is Tanoto and he could be stuck in ye olde mud.  15 minutes remaining and we may need a Full Course Yellow to clean this up.  Eric Filgueiras leads to the tune of 11 and a half seconds, but that lead will be wiped out.  We stay green and it is vital that Gavin Sanders makes his way by Bryan Putt ASAP.  The leader is 11 seconds down the road and so as he works through The Carousel, the marshals will delay throwing any kind of Full Course Yellow.  Putt must stay ahead of Ross Chouest who is steaming along and coming in a hurry.  We stay green.  The Porsche could reverse to a safe haven in turn seven, maybe.  

Is Anderson Tanoto a sitting duck?  He is deemed to be in a safe spot so we may not need a safety car.  Jason Alexandridis is still on the charge.  He and Derek DeBoer ran well in yesterday's event.  Thomas Surgent in the meantime is off the road onto the grass!  What a save!  That grass is drier than yesterday with all the rain.  That is the McLaren he shares with Michael O'Brien.  Second overall up for grabs as Sanders has to go for it now.  Keep it clean.  Slide to the inside and they give each other room.  Sanders was given room by Putt.  No good deed goes unpunished though, because now, Ross Chouest in the similar Aston Martin is right on top of poor old Bryan Putt who is liable to get swallowed up here.

Pro-Am runners 1-2-3, nose to tail.  Chouest in the meantime, running behind Putt has Scott Noble in the Porsche breathing down his neck.  Noble goes for second around the outside, look.  Noble and Jason Hart ran very well yesterday.  You can see he wants this pass.  Pro Am led by two Aston's and a Porsche.  This scrum just happens to be for fourth, fifth, and sixth overall, mind you.  Austen Smith is back behind this trio in the #51 entry started by Zack Anderson.  That is the first of the three Auto Technic Racing BMW's.  

Seventh in Pro-Am, Elias Sabo in the #8 Flying Lizard Motorsports Aston Martin has spun and now he is back on the button.  Sabo and Andy Lee were extremely thrilled with yesterday's podium effort as well they should be.  Now, another spinner and it is old #7.  Yet another Nolasport Porsche Cayman.  This is the blue and orange car of Sean Gibbons and Sam Owen.  Owen at the wheel of it now.  That was scary!  Elias Sabo rejoined the race in traffic and Sam Owen had to have the daylights scared out of him when that happened, so he braked, and then spun the car.  Maybe Owen just gave the gas pedal a tad too much welly out of the corner.

Sabo is now chasing Raphael Matos, the Brazilian, in the #10 Fast Track Racing BMW M4 GT4 and that crew worked until 4:30 A.M. repairing the car after a shunt yesterday.  Severe damage to the car, but the Fast Track team wanted to be back at it for today's race.  Kudos to them.  Matos sharing that #10 BMW with Tim Horrell who drives the car with hand controls.  Matos is later in his career but he has been Rookie of The Year at the Indianapolis 500, won all the junior formula categories on the Mazda Road to Indy, (Formula Mazda, Formula Atlantic, Indy Lights), and he has raced in the Trans Am Series before as well.  Matos also won the Barber Dodge Pro Series national championship way back in 2003.

The fight continues in Pro-Am as Bryan Putt fends off the challenge of Ross Chouest with Scott Noble lurking behind.  Into the hairpin Seth Lucas makes his move on Charlie Postins and makes it stick.  So the #016 TGR Hattori Motorsports Supra passes the #36 Bimmerworld Racing BMW M4 GT4.  Tom Capizzi is also gaining ground.  Battles on the track everywhere.  Sometimes a massive grid can see accidents.  But today's race has been very clean.  Kyle Washington is running well second in the Am class.  The leader in Am is the #60 Dexter Racing Ginetta G56 GT4 with Ben Anderson driving, sharing the car with Matt Rivard.

The G56 brings more power than the G55 had.  The car has also been an exceptionally well handling race car and now they have the horsepower to match.  The Ginetta was always able to cut good lap times but the underpowered motor in the old car meant that it would run out of steam against the competition.  Now, that will no longer be a concern.  Less than seven minutes before this race is finished and written in the history books.  The tires are knackered as these Pirelli P Zero's have been being tortured for nearly a full hour.  Bryan Putt no stranger to victory lane in SRO America having won in TCR and in GT4 in the last few years.  BSport has the expertise of Dani Koch, Kenton's wife running the team, and Eric Peterson as the lead engineer.

Ross Chouest and Aaron Povoledo have been very quick in GT4 America and in GT America competition.  They wanted to have two different cars for each of the races but that did not work out on this particular weekend.  The other car had electrical issues.  The supply chain deal has been a major issue for everybody in SRO America and other racing series.  Thomas Surgent in the McLaren 570S GT4 leads yet another battle pack as time is growing short here in race two for GT4 America at Sonoma Raceway.  Surgent will have a great partnership with Michael O'Brien this year as O'Brien has experience racing a McLaren GT4 car.

Warren Dexter moves around Adam Adelson.  That isn't a positional battle as it is a Pro Am vs. a Silver rated car.  In this picture we have Jason Bell, Ryan Dexter, up to ffith in Silver and tenth overall.  Now we move to Elias Sabo chasing James Walker Jr. sharing with Devin Jones.  Chris Cagnazzi fourth in Pro Am and seventh in the overall has a challenge from Kevin Conway in the #68 Toyota Supra for TGR Smooge Racing.  Geesbreght is a Silver while Kevin Conway is rated as a Bronze driver.  This will be the first weekend in Pirelli GT4 America where John Geesbreght did not win at least one race.  Shocking stuff when you think about it.

Recalibrate.  Michael Dinan had the same situation making the move from GT4 winning 17 races and moving up to GT3.  Gavin Sanders has kept things clean all day and tiptoed through the traffic as opposed to the tulips.  The learning curve for Sanders is major as he has done karting and some front wheel drive touring car racing before being thrust into the GT4 scene.  We should see the white flag for Eric Filgueiras.  He and Stevan McAleer are going to break out the broom and sweep the weekend overall and in the Silver division in Pirelli GT4 America.  

White flag.  One lap to go.  Putt leads Chouest and Noble.  The Saleen is up the road, the new Saleen 1 GT4 Cup model which has had decent pace throughout the weekend in the hands of both Steve Saleen and Eric Curran.  No worries for Bryan Putt.  Ben Anderson leads Am and takes the white flag sharing with Matt Rivard.  He took the lead away from Kyle Washington who has Charlie Postins chasing him.  But, in Pirelli GT4 America, break out the broom, RS1, Eric Filgueiras, and Stevan McAleer!  RS1 win race two at Sonoma!

Charlie Postins did pass Kyle Washington in the Am class.  Pirelli GT4 America and GT4 GT America class manager Jack Baldwin has to be very happy.  Pro Am honors go to BSport Racing with their Aston Martin for Kenton Koch and Bryan Putt.  In the Am class, the trophy goes to Ginetta and Dexter Racing, Ben Anderson and Matt Rivard.  So once again, here are your winners.

Overall/Silver: #18 Filguieras/McAleer     RS1 Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport

             Pro/Am: #15 Koch/Putt                 BSport Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT4

             Am: #60 Anderson/Rivard             Dexter Racing Ginetta G56 GT4

The GT4 field is stacked.  Next race for the GT4 cars, drivers, and teams will be at the new Ozarks International Raceway in Missouri coming up in mid-May.  Looking forward to the races at the new speedway.  We will see you in the Show Me state.  For now, farewell, and take care, everybody.