Pirelli GT4 America is geared up for their first race of the weekend here at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. A deep grid and close competition here at Road America, the National Park of Speed, a heritage of seven decades of road racing in the Kettle Moraine. Calvin Fish and Ryan Myrehn in the broadcast booth with D.J. Clark reporting from the pit lane. All GT4 cars in the field. Jesse Webb for Conquest Racing on pole, for a team that just won the SRO GT World Challenge America race here at Road America. A deep field and close competition. Webb starting alongside Kevin Boehm, winner last time out with co-driver Kenton Koch. Jesse Webb running with Michai Stephens. Johann Schwartz and Rooster Hall on Pro-Am pole and Am pole to Charlie Postins and James Clay.
Green flag. Punch it! We're racing. Jesse Webb leads ahead of Kevin Boehm as Harry Gottsacker is moving forward and now, Matt Travis is fighting Johann Schwartz. Matt Travis wants to go for it sharing with Jason Hart. They have gone to the spare car. Zac Anderson qualified seventh, running solo as John Capestro-Dubets is recovering from injuries in a Lamborghini Super Trofeo race. He will do the whole race Marco Solo and have to get out of the car and back in. Crucial Motorsports and the McLaren 570S GT4 has spun, with Nick Longhi at the wheel, a veteran driver with tons of experience.
Contact with Ross Chouest a few times coming through Canada Corner. Webb leads Boehm by 1.2 seconds. Custodio Toledo has his hands full with Rory van der Steur and Elias Sabo, the GT America winner, is beginning to move. Colin Garrett, a short track stock car racer, is used to this. BMW took a BoP hit after dominating at VIR in June, the race we just talked about a wee while ago. Zac Anderson up on the wheel and he will be let go by Johann Schwartz but now we have the safety car deployed and this is a different incident.
Francis Selldorff is off the road big style sharing the car with Andrew Davis, off the road in Canada Corner on the exit. His father, Frank Selldorff has done some racing. Big damage to Ross Chouest. Game over for Ross Chouest and Aaron Povoledo, they were third in points in Pro-Am nine points down on the leaders. The McLaren Artura from Crucial Motorsports, with Paul Holton, the team boss. A longtime driver in this series, as the team manager. Crucial Motorsports has a driving team of Kaia Teo and Nick Longhi.
The Pro-Am champions in Pirelli GT4 America will get a free invite into GT3 for 2024. Jesse Webb, the Canadian, he has done some stock car racing and Nissan Sentra Cup racing in Canada. But now, he is in the full fat GT4 car and dominated in his first stint in the opening race of the year at Sonoma Raceway in Sonoma, California. Get well soon John Capestro Dubets. Green flag. Back to the motor race. 46 minutes on the board. Zac Anderson has a head of steam on Johann Schwartz. He can put his head down and go. Jesse Webb is Anderson's next query. He has a head of steam going after Harry Gottsacker in the #38 STR38 BMW M4 GT4.
He shoves Gottsacker wide and makes the pass. Done and dusted. Easy peasy. Seventh on the grid to third on the restart. He is off and on as they go through The Carousel. Harry Gottsacker should finish out the season in the STR38 BMW in GT4. Matt Travis is vulnerable to James Walker for position. Nolasport vs. Bimmerworld. Matt Travis and Jason Hart vs. Tyler McQuarrie and James Walker. 171 feet of elevation chage here at Road America as Custodio Toledo presses past Robert Mau with new co-driver Cedric Sbirrazuoli. Kevin Boehm, multiple Touring Car champion in TC America is starting to figure out a rear wheel drive race car.
He is a smart, savvy driver, who also happens to be an engineer. Matt Travis can eke out a gap after fending off the challenge of James Walker Jr. who has Charlie Postins behind. He is in the Am class in the other Bimmerworld BMW M4 GT4. He almost did not come back again to race this year after a championship for he and James Clay but decided to come back. Anderson bounces over the curb. There is a launchpad at the end of turn one and after the repave, the transitions are smooth in some spots and rough in others. Whoa. Where did that come from? Jesse Webb leads by 7/10ths of a second ahead of Kevin Boehm and Zac Anderson. Random Vandals vs. Auto Technic Racing.
Rooster Hall Racing is called that because the team's shop was built upon an old henhouse. Charlie Postins and James Clay lead the Am class by 38 points, based near Blacksburg, Virginia. David Hobbs supports Charlie Postins, and David Hobbs with his sons Greg and Guy should be here at Road America watching the races. Anderson has the pace but Boehm is not going to give it to him. Be smart. Closing in on the pit window and so it will open in two minutes. Which is stronger? The real Zac Anderson, or, perhaps, does he have an alter ego, a body double, or a hologram? We'll see. Boehm compresses Anderson and there is not a ton of grip off line since the repave.
Anderson over the curbs with two wheels in the grass, not lifting. He now sees Harry Gottsacker right in his mirrors. Jesse Webb is now whistling off into the distance chuckling, "so long, suckers!" Boehm right down the middle of the road. Through Hurry Downs and into turn eight and The Carousel. Anderson mowing the lawn on the inside of The Carousel, through The Kink, into Kettle Bottoms, and up into Canada Corner. Through turn 14 and up the hill onto the 4,400 foot frontstretch. No pit opportunities for the leaders but the pit window is open. Anderson pulling to the quarter panel of Kevin Boehm.
They are side by side into turn three. Here comes Anderson and they touch! Harry Gottsacker will have a head of steam and he makes his move, but Boehm is fighting it with argy bargy on the doors through turn eight. Gottsacker sharing with Chandler Hull who ran second in Fanatec GT World Challenge America in the GT3 spec BMW M4. Rory van der Steur and Dan Hanley are running well and Dr. Robert Mau has his hands full with Paul Sparta and Richard Edge, both. STR38, Random Vandals, and ACI Motorsports. Anderson in the lane. Now, Kenton Koch climbing into the #92 BMW M4 GT4 to replace Kevin Boehm.
Jesse Webb in the lane, giving way to Michai Stephens, the Chicago native at his home track. Adjust tire pressures and change drivers. No tire changes or fueling. A car or two off the road in The Kink. John Geesbreght has come to a stop in the middle of the pit window. Oy yoy yoy! Rooster Hall will leapfrog some of their competition. Who else will make a call to the pit lane? If you can stay at speed, we have not gone yellow yet. It is better to be at speed than running behind the safety car. Kenton Koch ahead of Zac Anderson and Colin Garrett.
Halfway home. Gottsacker has stayed out. James Clay will get aboard the #36 Bimmerworld BMW M4 GT4 in the Am class. Green for the time being. Maybe John Geesbreght has pulled away. Harry Gottsacker to the lane and he was released now with Chandler Hull at the wheel of the car. STR38 are now out in front but now the scrap is going on between Michai Stephens, Kenton Koch, and others, and the safety car is now scrambled. Full Course Yellow. Full Course Yellow. That is the overcut. John Geesbreght went off the road to driver's left and one of the Nolasport Porsche Cayman's was also off the road, the #52 Porsche Cayman of Lee Carpentier and David Peterman.
Chris Allen who has taken over the #438 STR38 BMW M4 GT4 from Robert Mau, is doing a Control, Alt, Delete up the hill in turn five. The field is still catching up to the safety car to form up the crocodile. Hull leads the motor race over Stephens with 25 minutes still on the board. Chris Allen is stopped, again. The safety truck coming to his rescue. Harry Gottsacker won the 2019 GT4 SprintX West Pro-Am title racing alongside Jon Miller. He has run touring cars and was part of Hyundai's effort in the Nurburgring 24 Hours earlier this year and he is also racing for Hyundai in another championship.
Jesse Webb says he and Michai Stephens are running well and have a great race car from Conquest Racing and JMF Motorsports. Michai Stephens is a smart and intense racing driver who can drive the wheels off of a car. Michai Stephens is an esoteric, deep-thinking kind of bloke. He is incredibly smart and an interesting person, and Jeremy Shaw is a huge supporter of his with the Team USA Scholarship. He worked at a fine art and furniture conservatory before being a race car driver. 20 minutes left on the board, so 1/3rd of the race left to go. Paul Sparta at Random Vandals Racing says the BMW M4 GT4 has the power and the handling.
Kevin Boehm says the BMW is running extremely well and the team and drivers have executed through the weekend so far. Safety car lights off. Watch for Parker Thompson at the wheel of the #999 Hanley Motorsports Toyota Supra as well. Behind him is Jamie Day on debut. He has raced in SRO GT4 Europe as well. He is racing with van der Steur Racing, having also raced last year in British GT GT4. Green flag. Hull vs. Stephens. Stephens is going for the lead side by side into turn one. Stephens way to the outside and they remain side by side and he will clear Chandler Hull!
He ran right around the cushion as poor old Zac Anderson goes off the road. Stephens in the crosshairs of Hull. Stephens slmas the door in his face as Tyler McQuarrie goes inside Jason Hart. No quarter asked or given. Hart goes wide. They wolves pounce and Colin Garrett gets tipped into a spin across Hart's nose! This is getting feisty. Tyler McQuarrie svs. Kay van Berlo. Chandler Hull gets mugged by Kay van Berlo and now, the field is shuffling as Rianna O'Meara-Hunt goes off the road in the #25 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT4.
Penalties added to the race time for Parker Thompson and Colin Garrett. Thompson in the #999 Toyota Supra. Hart, in replay, makes a really bold move and chops into Colin Garrett in turn seven or eight. There was a drive through penalty for a short pit stop for the #58 ACI Motorsports Porsche Cayman of Matt Halcomb and Richard Edge. We will see a lot of cleanup from this incident. I don't think the barrier have gotten moved around. Move the car behind the barriers if possible. Michai Stephens went for it on the restart and has the feel to manage and control the restart and clear his competition. Drivers have that feel on the outer edge.
Stephens had Colin Mullan in 2021, Gavin Sanders in 2022, and Jesse Webb in 2023. This is for Conquest/JMR Racing of course. Zac Anderson went off the road behind the safety car. He hit Kenton Koch! What was that about? He was obviously looking down in the cockpit, at the dashboard or something. Goodness gracious me! The cleanup continues on the second Heart of Racing car with the all-female driver lineup where a shootout was done over the winter. They were planning to take one and then Rianna O'Meara-Hunt and Hannah Grisham both did so well and are a team.
They have not had the best results this year being in the middle of crackups not of their own making. Hannah Grisham was part of the Team Mazda Challenge, in the National Auto Sport Association, and is a tire tester. She won a title in WRL and is part of the Shift Up Now initiative for women in motorsports. Roman De Angelis in the sister car is running extremely well and has had a ton of success in GT3 racing with Heart of Racing and he started in single make Porsche racing up in Canada. He teamed up with Ian James the owner of Heart of Racing, at the Rolex 24 years ago.
We have had some great racing in GT4 but too many yellow flags and too much contact. Cedric Sbirrazuoli has some damage and he would be OK if this race ended under the Full Course Yellow and I don't think we are going to be able to get back to green. Maybe we will. It is hard to say. he drivers want to keep temperature in their Pirelli P Zero tires. It is now or never. These waning moments could get crazy. Somebody is bound to pull the pin if there is a restart. Safety car lights remain on. Ugh. I don't think we will go back to green flag racing. Up the hill they come and this race will end under safety car conditions.
Conquest Racing will double up after their first GT3 win and now they will also win Pirelli GT4 America. This is a red-letter day for team boss Eric Bachelart and the whole team. There are more pit lane speed issues under review. One of them is the #88 STR38 BMW M4 GT4 of Chandler Hull and Harry Gottsacker. Chandler Hull has been busy running North American and global championships racing and winning the title in the Asian Le Mans Series and at the 24 Hours of Le Mans of course. Under the safety car, Conquest Racing/JMF Motorsports, Michai Stephens and Jesse Webb win the race. Kenton Koch second and Zach Anderson third. Roman De Angelis and Gray Newell win Pro-Am for Heart of Racing Aston Martin. James Clay and Charlie Postins win the Am class, again.
Overall/Silver: #34 Stephens/Webb Conquest Racing/JMF Motorsports Mercedes AMG GT4
Pro-Am: #24 De Angelis/Newell Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT4
Am: #36 Clay/Postins Bimmerworld BMW M4 GT4
A darn shame we had so much yellow flag running in this motor race today. Conquest Racing doubles up in both GT3 (GT World Challenge America) and GT4 (Pirelli GT4 America). The team will come from the back of the pack tomorrow. But don't count them out for at least a podium if not more. Another win in the Am class for Bimmerworld. BMW has some quality teams prepping their cars. The sun sets towards the horizon in the Kettle Moraine region of Wisconsin.
We have one more race here at Road America followed by four more races for the year. Two races at the fabled, bumpy Sebring International Raceway in Sebring, Florida, and then, onto the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the final races of the year. We hope for more green flag racing in race two for Pirelli GT4 America tomorrow morning. Road America is a remarkable place and year on year when we come back the facility gets improved and sets a high bar.
So long from Road America. We'll see you tomorrow for more racing from America's National Park of Speed and we see every class run their second races. Good night, everyone. Take care.
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