It is time for race one of the penultimate round of the 2022 SRO Pirelli GT4 America championship here at Sebring International Raceway in Sebring, Florida. The 3.74 mile, 17-turn Sebring International Raceway is a one-of-a-kind thrill ride, that has been a part of racing, sports car racing, for 70 years. The cars are on track for their formation laps. Great teams and drivers are in it for the championship with this being the first of two races at Sebring this weekend. Glad to have you with us on this Saturday afternoon. It is a hot one in central Florida. The Am class championship could be clinched today by James Clay and Charlie Postins if they keep their noses clean, in the #36 Bimmerworld Racing BMW M4 GT4. Eric Filgueiras and Stevan McAleer are on top in Silver and the Pro-Am battle is hot and heavy as well.
A pair of races here at Sebring and another pair at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in two weeks. Four Pro-Am drivers, maybe five, in the mix for the title. The form book can always change, and we have seen way too much argy bargy. The stewards have indeed been giving the drivers what for. Eric Filgueiras and Stevan McAleer qualified on pole by nearly 1.2 seconds over their next closest rival. Amazing that Stevan McAleer put the car on pole with the Porsche Cayman and he and Filgueiras were three hundredths of the a second apart. We also need to keep an eye on Conquest Racing and the #34 Mercedes AMG GT4 in the hands of Michai Stephens and Gavin Sanders.
That is the front row. Johann Schwarz is the Am class polesitter for Rooster Hall Racing in the BMW M4 GT4. Moisey Uretsky in sixth and on Pro-Am pole, is also on the button in the Accelerating Performance Aston Martin Vantage GT4. One hour, two drivers, true sprint racing, and we have a green flag and are off and running at Sebring! Filgueiras and Schwarxz are pushing. Three, four, five wide, into turn one for the first time and Stephens gets squeezed. One car off and on. #51, Austen Smith fighting with Michai Stephens for Silver honors. Mercedes vs. BMW. 31 cars started this race as they head for the hairpin for the first time of asking.
Charlie Postins is pushing past Uretsky and here comes Adam Adelson for Premier Racing. He is in contention for the title with co-driver Elliott Skeer. Eric Filgueiras is running away like a scalded cat after RS1 had a retirement at Road America with a suspension breakage through The Carousel. They have won eight of ten starts. They are leading the motor race, the Community Beer Works, Porsche Naples Porsche Cayman. Rooster Hall and Johan Schwarz are running well. Schwarz coaching his co-driver, Todd Brown.
Michai Stephens is pushing as well and meanwhile, Postins is fifth overall on the road, second in the Am class. Further back, we can see Adam Adelson has moved up to seventh overall, second in Pro-Am and now, Todd Coleman, gaining seven places on lap one in the Toyota Supra, sharing with Aaron Telitz. This is Coleman #69 going wide being passed by Tom Capizzi and here comes Bryan Putt as in Pro-Am it is the lead battle, side by side through Sunset Bend between Adam Adelson and Moisey Uretsky early doors. Race Director Brian Till wants the drivers to give each other racing room.
Uretsky leads Adelson and Ross Chouest too is pushing hard after falling down the order at the end of the GT America race earlier today. Elias Sabo is also pushing hard in the #8 Flying Lizard Aston Martin. Moisey Uretsky had a massive crash in Free Practice yesterday. From pole to victory in GT America for that #8 entry. For second overall it is Johan Schwarz being monstered by Michai Stephens. Was some liquid coming out the tailpipe of that BMW? We will have to check. Am class leader, Johan Schwartz is two seconds behind Eric Filgueiras. He is also ahead of Michai Stephens. 2:13.5, the fastest lap for Filgueiras thus far. He is not motoring away yet.
He has to manage that gap. No tire changes in this SprintX format race. Bryan Putt went off the road but fell down four places, 19th overall and ninth in Pro-Am. He and Kenton Koch are fifth in points coming in and could be eliminated from championship contention as there are many, many battles around this legendary race track. Schwartz is having some trouble but only through one right hand turn with that fluid spilling out of the car. He gains on Michai Stephens down the straightaway somehow. Four laps in the bag, ten minutes on the clock. Scott Noble trying to get by Anthony Bartone. Bartone in an Am class car while Noble is in Pro-Am sharing the NOLASport Porsche Cayman #47 with Jason Hart.
Todd Coleman is coming back into the picture. Coleman has yoyoed up and down early doors. Good and clean thus far and not too scrappy. Class manager and former champion road racer, Jack Baldwin seems to be happy about it. Drivers need to respect each other and give their fellow racers out there a wee bit more room on the road. The fluid out of the Johann Schwartz BMW is out of Le Mans corner at turn 16. The top six all within a tenth or two. At Road America, Eric Filgueiras swapped to be the second driver to Stevan McAleer and that was because he wanted to qualify and race against the pro's.
He wants to show people what he can do against professional sports car racing drivers. RS1 turn out fast, well prepared race cars every weekend. Oh dear! The points leading #120 Premier Motorsports Porsche Cayman of Adam Adelson loses power and fortunately gets back on the road. But that Control, Alt, Delete took a long time. That will put him down the order. He suddenly pulls of to the right in turn 11. Full reset and now, he is in the race but he is slow. Indian Summer and TRG both in more Porsche Cayman's go by. So, the Premier Racing car is in big trouble!
He was the championship leader! This is a sucker punch. Filgueiras leads but knows Michai Stephens might be able to catch him. Does anyone have the pace for the blokes at RS1? It might be the Conquest team. We will just have to see as we have been racing now for 15 minutes with 45 minutes left on the clock. Consistently, though, no one has been able to take the fight to Filgueiras and McAleer. The pit window opens in just under ten minutes. A solid run for the Auto Technic BMW M4 GT4 of Austen Smith, car #51, sharing with Zack Anderson. Fourth in points, and not in championship contention, sadly.
Six podiums is nothing to sneeze at however a win is what Auto Technic wants. So, Filgueiras is in the low 1:14 range for lap time but the #34 Mercedes Benz is coming in a big hurry. There's a tenth of a second in it between Filgueiras and Stephens. It is nip and tuck indeed but Filgueiras now leads the motor race by 2.2 seconds or thereabouts. Can RS1 clinch the title? Filgueiras says McAleer is the best driver in the paddock and now, Filgueiras says, wait, not really. McAleer and Filgueiras are staying at an Air B&B with a UFO theme with an arcade, a pinball machines and a popcorn machine. How cool is that?! It is called the UFO Dome.
Oh man. Such a tough break for Premier Motorsports. Adam Adelson and Elliott Skeer are well matched insofar as yin and yang. Both Adam and Elliott consider themselves nerds. Elliott Skeer had not raced for a few years and Adam Adelson was a club racer. But now, they are in the fight after sweeping the weekend, breaking out the broom at NOLA Motorsports Park. Skeer won a single make Porsche series in 2015. They put him in a few situations, but you need the backing to match the talent. Ross Chouest is second in Pro-Am followed by Elias Sabo and Tim Horrell co-driving with former IndyCar racer Raphael Matos. They are tenth overall and fourth in class.
Horrell and Matos have raced as teammates in the Trans Am series in the past. Elias Sabo is right behind Kevin Conway in Pro-Am. Toyota Supra vs. Aston Martin Vantage. Flying Lizard have a lot to play for. In spite of the heat, Elias Sabo was happy indeed. An off and on for either James Walker or Tom Capizzi. I think Walker went off the road. Sabo pressed the wrong switch for the fan instead of the air conditioning. So it was a hot one in the car in Free Practice. But Elias Sabo and Andy Lee, they have really been a potent duo.
Andy Lee is very experienced and has good technical ability, along with team boss Steve Costello and team manager Owen Hayes. Back in the naughties as it were, around 2006-2008, Owen Hayes was a part of Team Penske and the Porsche RS Spyder program in the old American Le Mans Series. Owen Hayes is now marketing a car setup app. The pit window will open in another minute. Sabo wants by the out of class traffic including the fourth placed Silver Toyota Supra with Kevin Conway at the wheel of it and Tim Horrell in the #10 BMW M4 GT4. Again, Horrel sharing with Raphael Matos, driving with hand controls as Horrell is another driver with a physical disability, getting the opportunity to race via this hand control system for race cars.
That is much the same as we have seen in other production sports car championships for drivers like Michael Johnson and Robert Wickens. The pit window shall open very soon and the requirement is no longer where the leaders have to get first crack at the pit window. Pit window is open. Todd Brown, the Am leader with Johann Schwartz, he likes to be challenged by tracks with character. Hit your marks. You cannot mess up. Brown knows keeping the lead is the goal. Stay smooth, hit your marks, drive fast.
A few takers to the pit lane. Todd Coleman out of the car and Aaron Telitz in. Leaders are in. RS1 and Conquest. No overcut for Michai Stephens as they will get Gavin Sanders into the car and Stevan McAleer will get into the Community Beer Works Porsche. McAleer into the car. Do you use the joker? The car is now back on track, not running afoul of minimum pit delta time. RS1 liner stern with Conquest. Neither one of them used their joker. 85 seconds the pit delta in SprintX. Austen Smith and Zack Anderson used it and so did Moisey Uretsky who handed the Aston Martin for Accelerating Performance over to Justin Piscitell. Todd Brown, limbering up for his stint as Johan Schwarz has gone to the overall lead.
Derek DeBoer and Jason Alexandridis for TRG, he is doing well. Spencer Pumpelly was also on the test sesion as we see the #36 Bimmerworld BMW in the lane with Charlie Postins handing the car to James Clay and they can seal the deal with the Am championship today and they could make a run at Todd Brown and get the Am class victory. However, Schwartz is having trouble in traffic. Postins is coming in a hurry as well. Schwartz has been stymied a wee bit and will stay on the road for one more lap. Okie dokie then. The grass is very green here at Sebring so they have had lots of rain in the area. Drivers love Sebring in spite of the rough pavement.
The more modern tracks are almost too perfect, and the charming old tracks have imperfections and that is why drivers like it. Automakers send their race cars to break them here at Sebring to see how reliable they are. There is a distinct love or hate, but it turns into respect. Jason Alexandridis was bitten by Sebring and this place is tough as nails but you have to respect the place. Respect the bumps. Johann Schwartz in the lane from the overall lead and in Am. Todd Brown takes over the car. Stevan McAleer and Gavin Sanders both go by.
Todd Brown is now just ahead of James Clay. Wow. Clay wants to go for the class lead in Am. Todd Brown has to punch it and push immediately. Clay and Postins want the Am class GT4 America championship and want to do it in style. That will free up tomorrow's race and the final two races at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. James Clay is coming fast. Justin Piscitell, the leader in Pro-Am dead ahead, sharing that Aston Martin with Moisey Uretsky. Clay has a run on Brown down the Ulmann straightaway. Clay has the momentum and will send it unde rbraking into Sunset Bend. Not quite. Can he get the run out of th turn?
22 minutes to go and Kenton Koch could be off song somehow. Brown slams the door in Clay's face! Can Clay get to the inside before Kristensen corner? No. But Clay is coming back. Clay and Bimmerworld now lead. Todd Brown will know James Clay has more pace than he does. McAleer now leads Gavin Sanders by 3.1 seconds, but Sanders is quicker with Zack Anderson third in the overall and in Silver but is seven or so seconds down. McAleer is giving 110% as he has done all year. The competition level in GT4 America is unbelievable and so is RS1's performance.
McAleer is really going for it. 2:13.3. for Sanders on 40-minute old tires. False alarm for BSport. Kenton Koch is still on track, seventh in Pro-Am and 13th overall as the erstwhile Am class leader Todd Brown is off the road. Here's it again in slow motion and he was already rotated when the replay was cued. It is our understanding that the car headed for pit lane was the Porsche Cayman for The Racer's Group in the hands of Dr. Jim Rappaport. Rappaport sharing the #17 entry with Todd Heatherington.
After Todd Brown's shemozzle Andy Lee will be able to take advantage aboard the #8 Flying Lizard Aston Martin Vantage GT4 and move up a couple places. Poor old Dr. Rappaport is off the road again, look, with damage to the right rear corner. So, it is all going a wee bit pear shaped for TRG at Sebring on this day. Andy Lee, second in Pro-Am and turning the fastest race lap of anyone in the class. 2:12.7 compared to 2:13.8 for Stevan McAleer. Lee is not far behind Pro-Am leader Justin Piscitell who ran a 2:13.4 and leads in the Pro-Am division I believe. Andy Lee is really turning it on and Gavin Sanders is now responding to Zack Anderson.
Moisey Uretsky could get a sweep after winning in GT America earlier today. They have found the magic sauce, the magic icing on that cake. Kudos to Accelerating Performance. James Clay, fifth overall and leading Am with Andy Lee running behind. Can he move in and put the heat on Justin Piscitell? Here is our Race Vision powered by AWS profile and BMW M4's are ruling the roost right now with fast speeds between 148.5 and 149.1 miles an hour. Everyone else apart from top runner Paul Sparta with that 149.1 is running 148.5 and that includes Tim Horrell, Zack Anderson, Zack Anderson and James Clay.
It is not all BMW's. One Porsche Cayman is tossed in there, the #83 car of Juan Martinez, the Colombian driver for RS1 in their second car. That is the all-Colombian duo with Martinez and Nelson Calle. This is the final year of the current BMW M4 GT4 model and we will se a brand new version of this car coming to SRO GT4 America and other GT4 championships in 2023. More spinning. Two spinners and one is Todd Brown for Rooster Hall, a BMW, and another BMW, that is the #98 Random Vandals Racing entry, the Al Carter automobile he shares with Paul Sparta.
Well, the icing is meltng off the cake for Rooster Hall. He is doing a drive through penalty I think. Hard to tell. A costly situation with 1/4 of the race left. Less than 15 minutes. McAleer is being monstered by Gavin Sanders who is matching the race pace. The gap is down from three and a half seconds to 2.8 seconds. So Sanders has gained 7/10ths of a second. All cars on track during qualifying so it would be hard to find clean race track for a decent lap. Not much in it truthfully. Kenton Koch is continuing to dig as well. He was on the high road to IndyCar and has run in LMP2 before as well. But now is clearly in the GT4 realm.
Koch has also raced in Trans Am as well. On the junior open wheel ladder system, he was really pushing for it. Kenton Koch takes fifth places from Raphael Matos. Matos too was on an open wheel path. Koch takes a place from Matos. Matos had quite the CV in open wheel racing. Formula Dodge, 2003 champion. Star Mazda, 2005 champion. Formula Atlantic, 2007 champion. Indy Lights, 2008 champion. IndyCar Rookie of The Year, 2009. He ran only two full seasons in IndyCar and then had to reinvent himself as a sports car racer, a runner-up and a two-time champion in Trans Am in TA2.
Tim Horrell, is paralyzed, driving with hand controls. The car has a blue handicapped sticker on the rear bumper. Horrell has run successfully in Trans Am and is now a GT4 racer. Premier Racing with their Porsche Cayman are back on track but not in points paying position at all. So they will salvage what they can with car #120, Elliott Skeer at the wheel of it. GT4 veteran in a couple championships, Greg Liefooghe, is back in SRO in Pirelli GT4 America and in a Toyota GR Supra GT4 and says that car is so different compared to the BMW M4 GT4 he is used to.
Liefooghe is adjusting his driving style as the wheelbase for the Supra is much shorter and the antilock braking system is different. It is rapid but he is finding his sweet spot or trying to. The setup is strong if you hit it but the window just is not there yet. But Smooge Racing and Hattori have done really well. Hattori Motorsports of course in GT America. Inside nine minutes to go. James Clay and Charlie Postins can taste the champagne as they will clinch a championship. They went into Sonoma with zero expecations but they won race one and then knew the deal.
Bimmerworld is running a single BMW M4 GT3 in Fanatec GT World Challenge America powered by AWS but it was supposed to be a two-car team in the top level GT3 series. A testomg crash and a parts shortage precluded the GT3 program from happening and so they had to backtrack and do GT4. The fastest lap was set by Alexandre Premat. Premat on season debut is 17th in the overall. An ex-Audi factory driver for prototypes and DTM and Premat has also run in Australian Supercars for their endurance races, teaming with Scott McLaughlin at Dick Johnson Racing/Team Penske for the enduros at Sandown and Bathurst.
Of course, since then, Scott McLaughlin has gone on to great success with Team Penske in IndyCars. Premat's fastest lap a 2:12.454. Premat with GMG Racing and Jay Logan in a Porsche Cayman GT4. He is set to score a point for tenth in Pro-Am seven seconds down on the next car in class. Stevan McAleer's gap to Gavin Sander's has shrunk to 2.4 seconds. Gavin Sanders is doing what he can to make this race interesting and keep the pressure up. McAleer in the mix for a GT3 championship next weekend at Road Atlanta. Accelerating Performance and Justin Piscitell should win in Pro-Am if everything goes well.
Moisey Uretsky pacing the pit lane and clapping, cheering his team on. But he is ignoring the motor race and the screens on the pit box. Justin Piscitell would get his first win. You cannot relax. Andy Lee is not far behind, but time is of the essence. Andy Lee was bottled up behind James Clay and that has cost him. The fly in the ointment for Piscitell is that he has caught Zack Anderson. A few years back, Justin Piscitell ran a race at Daytona International Speedway where he was in multiple cars in multiple classes and ended up winning both. I can't remember if that was a prototype race or a production car race. I think it was for production cars. Beats me.
Piscitell a super sub, a plug and play driver. Two minutes tk go as Andy Lee is pushing, pushing, pushing. The GT4 Astob Martin's are really fast. Maybe Andy Lee was balked by the TRG Porsche Cayman. It hinges on Stevan McAleer crossing the line overall. We should have a lap and a half to go and the gap is shrinking. Aston Martin vs. Aston Martin. Lee is coming in a hurry. He is pushing it hard. Elias Sabo had a good opening stint. Piscitell flashing the lights to get by Zack Anderson as Stevan McAleer and Eric Filgueiras will likely win again with Gavin Sanders second. Lee is closing up on Piscitell. Here comes Lee! This is for Pro Am honors. Anderson is backing up.
If I were a team member at Accelerating Performance I would be making deals with other teams and telling them to move out of the way. Kenton Koch has gone around John Capestro-Dubets. Jason Hart has gone by Raphael Matos as well. Only three races remaining after today. Lee is closing up. Piscitell has a run, on Anderson for the last time down Ulmann straight and now through Sunset Bend. Oh my! Oh my God! McAleer has slowed with a flat tire! Are you kidding me?! Are you kidding me?! Folks, get ready for a new winner in Pirelli GT4 America race one at Sebring! This is bizarre!
Conquest Racing win Sebring race one! Gavin Sanders and Michai Stephens in car #34! Oh man, oh man! Have you ever? No, I've never! Side by side between Anderson and Piscitell. Piscitell wins Pro-Am! In Am it is James Clay and Charlie Postins winning and clinching a championship! Holy mackerel! This race was turned on its ear in the end! McAleer is a lucky, lucky, lucky luck boy to get it in limp home mode and finish second! Jeepers creepers!
Overall/Silver: #34 Sanders/Stephens Conquest Racing/JWF Mercedes-AMG GT4
Pro-Am: #55 Piscitell/Uretsky Accelerating Performance Aston Martin Vantage GT4
Am: #36 Clay/Postins Bimmerworld Racing BMW M4 GT4
What a motor race we have just seen! Moisey Uretsky wins two times in two races. Andy Lee was within 17 hundredths of a second! It looks like a fuel miscalculation for RS1. 40 points, three rounds to go with 75 total points on offer. Seven wins for James Clay and Charlie Postins and now, a championship with three races to run yet. Charlie Postins, champion. This whole deal came out of the blue for them, and they have gone above and beyond at Bimmerworld. Major points swings. Looking forward to more racing tomorrow. So long for now, everybody. Have a good evening, and take care.
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