It is time now for the second and final race of the weekend here at Circuit of the Americas, for Pirelli GT4 America. A bumper crop of GT4 cars is ready again to race in the Texas countryside. We have another massive field of cars ready to go for the second and final race of the weekend. 41 cars set to go. We saw great racing yesterday and the weather is clearing up a bit but could still be threatening. So many battles throughout the field. We are kept on our toes. The drivers will be going for it once again, just as they did yesterday, with an ambient temperature of 70 degrees as we look at the Lone Star flag of Texas. This track has hosted races now for a decade. A ton of corners and a ton of elevation change including a 90-foot rise into turn one.
Carry speed and set the car up so it is compliant. Horses for courses is a definite term in GT4 but certain sections of the track are a microcosm of that situation. Charlie Postins hopes for rain because he and James Clay have an advantage in the wet. They have not had a chance to race in the rain this year yet. They have found places to improve, adjusting the car for the cooler conditions here at COTA. They need a win. Drivers from the British midlands asking for rain? Where have we heard that before? Well, they may very well go to the seaside in their Wellington boots! Hardy har har. Postins and Clay are always in the mix.
We have a fascinating grid of cars and some fast cars starting at the front. Jeroen Bleekemolen was very quick in qualifying, but Bleekemolen and co-driver Tim Pappas were out of the motor race yesterday with the McLaren Artura barely a few moments in. The car is repaired and ready. Jeroen Bleekemolen tells us that the car is great, and he loves the track here at COTA and has won here before. Bleekemolen and Pappas have had a long racing relationship and a lot of fun doing it together. They ran the Spa Classic last month. Jeroen Bleekemolen comes from a racing family. His father, Michael, and brother, Sebastien, are both accomplished racing drivers.
The McLaren Artura is a hybrid powered road car but to make it compatible for GT4 they uninstall the hybrid unit. Jason Hart will start the #47 Nolasport Porsche Cayman before handing off to Matt Travis. They had handling woes yesterday even though they went for points. Michael Cooper starts next up in third place in the Flying Lizard Motorsports Aston Martin Vantage GT4 sharing the car with Jason Bell. Cooper does not have a regular ride but when he has a chance to drive, he does.
Cooper is a longtime SRO America competitor and has also won in class at the Rolex 24 at Daytona a handful of years ago. The field rolls off behind the safety car. This is a very deep field with a lot of great cars. A real melting pot of machinery. BMW, Porsche, Toyota, Nissan, Aston Martin, Mercedes, and so on. The drivers ought to give each other some breathing room. 41 cars on the grid. It is such a big, strong, quality field. The Pro drivers in the Pro-Am lineups start this one-hour race. John Geesbreght and Kevin Conway won in the Pro-Am class yesterday.
Safety car lights out. So, we are ready for a start to this final one-hour GT4 race of the weekend here at COTA. The field settling into two-by-two alignment. Drivers will be feisty on this start. Jeroen Bleekemolen on the pole with Parker Thompson at his elbow for Hanley Motorsports. Michael Cooper and Jason Hart on row two. Green flag! GT4 America race two is underway! Let’s go! Bleekemolen leads up to turn one. Michai Stephens in the Mercedes is going for it. Contact there, look, between two of the Aston Martin’s. Andy Lee tags Roman De Angelis.
Aaron Povoledo in the middle of the pack is going for it. Parker Thompson to the top of the shop immediately as we see four, five wide and Kenton Koch way off the road shortcutting the esses! Michael Cooper passes Jeroen Bleekemolen. Cooper getting after it early doors. In the back half of the top ten the battle is raging. Kay van Berlo has lost places sharing with Curt Swearingin in the ACI Porsche Cayman, car #7. Elbows out early and they must be in Pirelli GT4 America. Bleekemolen wants to go for it. Black Swan Racing have had good pace but need luck. Yesterday’s race winner, JCD, John Capestro Dubets is already in the fight with Tyler Gonzalez, the first half of the Tyler and Tyler show duo along with Tyler Maxson in one of the Toyota Supra’s.
That is the #74 Copeland Motorsports car of course. Auto Technic are in the fight again already. Thompson, Cooper, Bleekemolen, Jason Hart, Kenton Koch, Tyler McQuarrie, Michai Stephens, Andy Lee, Kay van Berlo, and Roman De Angelis, the top ten runners. Thompson settling into a four, five car length lead. Bleekemolen pulling away from Jason Hart. Kenton Koch and Kevin Boehm had a good recovery yesterday in the Random Vandals CrowdStrike BMW M4 GT4. Koch has been a part of the GT4 series and Kevin Boehm has won two SRO touring car championships. M
Tyler McQuarrie is at the wheel of the #82 Bimmerworld BMW M4 GT4 sharing with James Walker Jr. Parker Thompson from Red Deer, Alberta, Canada. He was going to go for an open wheel career and that did not pan out. He was also a promising Porsche prospect in the Porsche Carrera Cup North America series. But now he is finding opportunities with the Toyota and Lexus programs here in North America with Toyota in GT4 and Lexus in GT3 competition in the IMSA championship. Michael Cooper using all the road to close the door on Jeroen Bleekemolen. Bleekemolen will hand the McLaren over to co-driver and team boss Tim Pappas midway through the race.
Cooper leaves an open lane to the inside and it looks like he may allow Bleekemolen to make a pass through turn one. Bleekemolen has pace, look, and goes back up to second spot. Jeroen Bleekemolen can now run down Parker Thompson, the leader, the GT4 cars eating up the curbs, dancing through the esses. It is hard to see your marks tucked up behind another one of these cars. It is a dance for sure. Aaron Povoledo wants to move up and he is compromised as he tries making a move on Jaden Conwright. Conwright at the wheel of the #097 Rotek Racing Porsche Cayman he shares with Anderson Tanoto, the Indonesian driver.
Conwright needs a chance, and he is definitely getting it. Rotek Racing, based stateside but used to be at the Nurburgring. Seven minutes on the board as Kenton Koch has a run on Jason Hart and for 10th, 11th, and 12th, it is Gonzalez and De Angelis. De Angelis slings it right inside and John Capestro Dubets is also pushing hard after the win yesterday. He is definitely in the wars as the GT4 cars come right into your living room as we see cars mowing the lawn on the side of the road. Be careful about track limits. We say it all the time because it is true.
Kenton Koch has passed Jason Hart, but not for class position. We have three classes based on driver rating for Silver, Pro-Am, and Am. All cars are GT4 spec. Trouble for Jay Logan in the GMG Porsche Cayman, car #71. Logan started the car and is sharing it with veteran production-based sports car racer, Alec Udell. Terry Borcheller leads the Am division in the car he shares with Nick Shanny. Chandler Hull, too, in the fight with John Geesbreght. Geesbreght had a great win yesterday of course. Oh dear. A little contact between the two of them!
Give each other room, chaps. Racing room, please. Nick Shanny raced in GT America earlier today. Meanwhile, Bleekemolen is reeling in Thmpson while Michael Cooper too is coming into the picture. This team was chasing tire degradation at the previous race weekend at NOLA Motorsports Park wihere we had just one race and the second race from that weekend will be made up at Sebring later in the year. Kevin Boehm, as a champion driver, has very high expectations and has been racing in SRO for a long time. He wants to succeed in GT4 but knows he might be a bit ambitious and is still learning. Kevin Boehm and Kenton Koch are both intelligent drivers.
Jason Hart has been passed by Tyler McQuarrie. What we can see is that the Porsche Cayman is probably not as strong as the BMW M4 GT4. However, the X factor is the amateur driver. The Am drivers must finish these Sunday races. Tyler McQuarrie has indeed passed Jason Hart. Meanwhile, back at the ranch, the lead battle is on in earnest! Jeroen Bleekemolen up the hill into turn one is on the inside of Parker Thompson. Oh boy. The McLaren is great on the brakes. Thompson tries to say, “oh no you don’t”, but runs wide in the process!
Bleekemolen to P1 and maybe took Parker Thompson by surprise. Bleekemolen flexing his muscle as he did in qualifying to earn pole for this race. Very late, the Black Swan team went with McLaren as a car to race in GT4. Thompson runs very well with Hanley Motorsports who just came into the championship. Robert and Dan Hanley, the team bosses, father, and son, with Ryan Heller as the crew chief and Jeff Fickling as race engineer. Dan Hanley is co-driver with Parker Thompson. Now we see another one of the Toyota Supra’s coming to the fore.
This is the Skip Barber Racing School entry with Carter Fartuch at the controls sharing the car with Matt Forbush. This is a new project for the Skip Barber Racing School team also running in touring cars and they have their single-seater championship as well. Matt Travis looking on, and he will get suited and booted and ready to drive soon. A good battle is also brewing for fourth place between Tyler McQuarrie, Jason Hart, and Andy Lee. Stephens, van Berlo, and Capestro-Dubets rounding out the top ten. What a great bunch of drivers in that lot.
We have such a deep field here in Pirelli GT4 America. It is bonkers. The pit window will open in eight minutes and the idea is just to make the driver change between 35 and 25 minutes. No tire changes. The Pirelli P Zero tires must be preserved for the whole race. We are also watching the second Smooge Racing Toyota Supra GT4 #67 with Jesse Love at the wheel of it. He was not supposed to be in this car. Joey DaSilva and Isabella Robusto were supposed to be in the car and I don’t think they have raced together yet.
Joey DaSilva had to drive Marco Solo and I think Isabella Robusto has had to do the same and she also had a big crash in a late model stock car race earlier in the year. She is still recovering from a concussion sustained in that accident and is on the mend but not quite ready to race. Tony Ave was supposed to race at NOLA. The car was involved in a wreck, and he didn’t get a chance to drive. Tony Ave was supposed to race here at COTA this weekend, but his foot was bugging him, and he was in pain or something. Jesse Love was drafted in to drive at the last moment.
Love had to get an FIA license and a derogation to be able to race. So, this team has been jumping through hoops like you cannot believe! They are racing, finally. The logistics of making the racing happen is unreal. Today we are seeing good, clean, green flag action. Jesse Love is in Toyota GR Cup and races the ARCA Menards stock car series as well. So he is getting oval and road racing experience both. Road racing is very important in NASCAR with half a dozen road course races with the Gen 7 Cup car as well as the Xfinity and Truck Series. Love has also raced touring cars. 40 minutes left on the board as Bleekemolen leads Thompson, Cooper, Koch, and McQuarrie.
A good mid-pack battle as Chandler Hull is being harried by both Terry Borcheller and Andrew Davis and of course Chandler Hull is doing double duty this weekend between GT4 and GT3. Bill Auberlen of course is his co-driver in Fanatec GT World Challenge America which is the race we will check out right after this one concludes. A big wiggle from one of the cars and Random Vandals, Al Carter in the BMW M4 GT4 contacts Brian Heitkotter in the Techsport Nissan Z! Wow! The Krugspeed Toyota Supra runs behind these boys with Jaden Lander at the wheel of it.
Heitkotter is still very active in gaming, but he told Nissan he wanted and needed to be a part of their new GT4 program as they are doing development for customer purchase for the 2024 campaign. They have launched a trial balloon for these cars this season and some are also racing in Japan. The pit window is about to open in a couple minutes, and we’ll be set for the driver changes. Michael Cooper still in third with Kenton Koch in fourth place. How will the Am drivers stack up to their rivals? That is the big question.
Pro-Am, Silver, Pro-Am, Silver. Jeroen Bleekemolen cut the Crowdstrike Fastest Lap of the race so far, in the McLaren at 2:15.530. Jason Bell will take over Aston Martin #2 and Matt Travis will do likewise aboard the #47 Porsche and Tim Pappas will be into the McLaren. Tim Pappas might be the only driver in this field who has stood on the podium at the Bathurst 12 Hours winning in class in 2018 and finishing third overall in the same race, five years ago. Meanwhile, hats off to Parker Thompson and he is still running phenomenally as we speak.
Koch is closing on Cooper with the pit window opening. The Pro’s are going to stay out deep into the window. Including the driver change, the minimum pit stop delta time is 81 seconds. In the Silver and Am classes they can mix and match their pit strategies. Thompson and Koch will stay out although Michai Stephens might get something together. Borcheller tried to pass but Chandler Hull was diving for the lane and that was a close shave! Chandler Hull will hand the STR38 BMW M4 GT4 over to Jon Miller and Rianna O’Meara Hunt will turn the Heart of Racing Aston Martin over to Hannah Grisham.
Eric Powell, former touring car frontrunner is handing off the Techsport Nissan Z to Colin Harrison. That is the first of their two cars, #22 and of course the sister #23 is being shared by Brian Heitkotter and his co-driver who will now get in, Tyler Stone. Powell running side by side with Jon Branam aboard the #77 Aston Martin Vantage GT4 for TR3 Racing with Paul Kiebler. Powell tries again to make a move on Branam. Here he comes, and tries to poke his nose out, out of the corner. These two are very talented drivers.
The Nissan Z GT4 is improving week in and week out. Pit stop time for Michai Stephens to hand off to Jesse Webb, the Canadian touring car and stock car driver who has taken to GT4 racing like a duck to water. Meanwhile, look, trouble on the road for Roman De Angelis with a flat right rear tire! Oh dear! Right front damage. This could be more than a tire. Looks to me like the suspension is gone on that Aston so, De Angelis and co-driver Gray Newell may be headed for the house at the halfway mark in this motor race.
Oh no! Commentators’ curse! We were just talking about Nissan and Eric Powell, and now he is stopped dead stick on the road! Deary me! Coming to the lane early is a safe choice because if you are caught under Full Course Yellow before your pit stop you are in trouble because pit lane closes when the safety car is dispatched. Powell’s car is not safe out there. Hanley Toyota, Random Vandals BMW, the Black Swan McLaren, the Nolasport Porsche, and still more are in. Michael Cooper may or may not have come in. Maybe he and his team with Jason Bell are rolling the dice.
They are rolling the dice uphill and of course it could roll back down and land on sixes! Flying Lizard did not call Michael Cooper to the lane. No sign of the safety car. Maybe the marshals will exhaust the pit window. Roman De Angelis is in real trouble. We are looking for the safety car wondering where it is. Game over for Newell and De Angelis. Something adrift on the right front corner of the Aston Martin. The Heart of Racing are so busy with two North American championships and of course they did race at the 24 Hours of Le Mans too.
Cooper, McQuarrie, and Van Berlo have not pitted yet. Andrew Davis and Terry Borcheller also, and Jon Branam as well. But by staying out they get stymied in traffic and lose their lap times, or rather, their lap times get slower. Tim Pappas will cycle through to lead the motor race again and now the Rooster Hall BMW M4 GT4 of Johan Schwartz is off the road sharing with Colin Garrett. Now, the pit lane is closed. Flying Lizard came in and Jason Bell was ahead of Tim Pappas and so that is a lead change.
Jason Bell leads this motor race ahead of Tim Pappas. Maybe we need Ryan Myrehn on the pit box for one of these teams as a strategist! We are just past the halfway mark of the race. Bell, Pappas, Hanley the top three followed by Kevin Boehm in the Random Vandals CrowdStrike BMW. I think Matt Travis might be next in the serial perhaps. I don’t know. James Walker Jr. is fifth overall. So, never mind my fuzzy math. Walker, Travis, Anderson, Webb, Sabo, Swearingen. That is the top ten. So, Elias Sabo and Curt Swearingin have come up to the back half of the top ten.
Flying Lizard has called the strategy correctly and so Jason Bell and Michael Cooper are going to be in the pound seats. Personalities ought to relate to each other when you are setting co-drivers as well as setting the balance and the compatibility. Do you like a car on its nose and is pointy? Do you like to drive a race car that has more understeer, and you drive into the turns harder? Establish rapport on the radio but then the two drivers get together and feel the same things in the car. At Rooster Hall, Johann Schwartz inadvertently hit the pit lane speed limiter and he dropped like a stone because of that.
Safety car in the lane and now we are set to go back to green. Green flag! It’s a Texas sized shootout at COTA! Bell in the lead over Pappas and Hanley. Here are your leaders before we get into the final 20 minutes or less.
2. #54 Pappas/Bleekemolen Black Swan Racing McLaren Artura GT4
3. #999 Hanley/Thompson Hanley Motorsports Toyota Supra GT4 Evo
Again, green flag! Oh no! Big move to the inside and calamity! Three cars out of this motor race. Pappas, Boehm, and Miller have all smashed into each other! Jesse Love took part of that contact as well. Ten, eleven cars in line. Miller has a head of steam, and he wasn’t going to stop taking Pappas out for the second race in a row. Pappas had a massive shunt in race one yesterday. Safety car deployed. Full Course Yellow. Full Course Yellow. The two BMW’s and the McLaren are completely torn up. Miller has a ton of experience, so it had to be a technical problem.
So, this race is stymied under the safety car again. I think we’ll get back to green, but it will be a shorter run before the race ends. That was a massive carambolage. Bell, Hanley, Anderson, the top three. Aston Martin, Toyota, BMW. Tim Pappas walks away but is snakebit again! Jon Miller is out of the car and OK. He was on the dirty line and probably got into the ABS. What a crash! Kevin Boehm walks away as well. Not sure what on earth happened to Jesse Love. In replay, the BMW hits a bump, has the ABS but locks up the brakes and the tires were off the ground.
Love got spun but Elias Sabo was there, and he got some damage. Love has fallen like a rock. There’s liquid on the road as well, an exploded radiator more than likely. Jason Bell and Michael Cooper racing together for the first time this weekend and of course Jason Bell up to this point was running in GT America only. Second place in Pro-Am is James Walker Jr. in his BMW M4 GT4. Walker would have to pass Bell to bring himself into the Pro-Am fight. Matt Travis third in class now fifth overall and Am leader Charlie Postins is ninth overall.
Race one can feel so different from race two in Pirelli GT4 America. Hanley Motorsports was formed just a few weeks before the 2023 season began. They have a real throwback livery to the Dan Gurney Toyota team with All American Racers and Juan Manuel Fangio II, who is the nephew of the late, great Formula 1 champion, Juan Manuel Fangio. Pirelli GT4 America is almost the short track version of road racing. Johann Schwartz and company won’t want this safety car scramble. He was ready to go to push it through the field.
So, James Clay and Charlie Postins are the Am leaders over Robert Mau and Chris Allen. Paul Kiebler third followed by Brady Behrman and Nick Shanny. Behrman driving the #428 with Coby Shield, the van der Steur Racing Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT4. Robert Mau and Chris Allen won the Am class in yesterday’s GT4 America event. Paul Kiebler also had a whopping accident in GT America earlier this morning. But he was fine. We see the marbles building up offline. Be careful of the tire pick up.
Parker Thompson says that Hanley Motorsports has done so well having just started a handful of weeks before this racing season began. SRO Pirelli GT4 America is likely the strongest GT4 field on the planet right now. Parker Thompson in the other sports car championship only has four races with the endurance events. Parker Thompson has done an incredible job in the race today. You have name drivers you can measure yourself against in this championship. Parker Thompson is doing a wonderful job.
Six and a half minutes of this motor race remain, and the cleanup continues as we still run behind the safety car. Dan Hanley in his first year of racing and he is also racing in Porsche Sprint Challenge North America for MDK Motorsports who will be racing in Fanatec GT World Challenge America, the next race on the docket today and I believe the final one as well. Work the tires and the brake pedal to get set for a one lap dash. Stay cool under pressure. But the car is still stopped, the Tim Pappas McLaren and we might not get this motor race restarted.
Under two minutes to go. The lights are still on, on the safety car. White flag shown officially. One more safety car lap but I don’t think we are going back to green. Sorry, folks. Some drivers won’t be too disappointed, but others will be since they don’t have a chance to go for their first wins. They’ll pack it up and focus forward on our next races at Virginia International Raceway. Circuit of the Americas is a polarizing track among drivers and the same is true with VIR. For different reasons of course. It is a first -class facility.
VIR was dormant for decades and overgrown with weeds and grass, almost defunct. Thankfully it was preserved. One lap remains. The Black Swan car is finally being retrieved. We ran out of flatbeds, out of snatch vehicles. Jason Bell, Michael Cooper, and Flying Lizard are your overall winners. Hanley Motorsports with Dan Hanley and Parker Thompson win Silver. Am won by Charlie Postins and James Clay.
Jeroen Bleekemolen’s 2:15.530 stands as the Crowdstrike Fastest Lap.
Overall/Pro-Am: #2 Bell/Cooper Flying Lizard Motorsports Aston Martin Vantage GT4
Silver: #999 Thompson/Hanley Hanley Motorsports Toyota GR Supra GT4 Evo
Am: #36 Clay/Postins Bimmerworld BMW M4 GT4
So, this concludes race two of Pirelli GT4 America at Circuit of the Americas as we cue the dance music for the results sheet. Okie dokie then. Pirelli GT4 America race two at COTA is done and dusted. We’ll see you next time from Virginia International Raceway in a wee while. Stay tuned for that. For now, so long from Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas. But don’t go away. GT World Challenge America race two is coming up, next.
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