VIR saw a battle royale in race one for Pirelli GT4 America yesterday. Kenton Koch and Kevin Boehm driving for Random Vandals Racing prevailed and went to victory lane on Saturday. Race two for Pirelli GT4 America here at Virginia International Raceway is set to get underway. It is Sunday morning, and it is time again for the GT4 cars to take to the track. We have 40+ competitors in round eight of 2023 and are set to get racing underway once more, joining Ryan Myrehn and Calvin Fish in the booth and Amanda Busick in the pit lane. Kenton Koch and John Capestro Dubets had a fabulous battle in yesterday's motor race. BMW dominated the top ten. Every class was won by a BMW M4 GT4.
Horse for courses, it seems the BMW M4 GT4 and VIR are a match made in heaven. The car has the compliance and the ability to stick to this track. The non-BMW contenders will have a tough time. The highest qualified non-BMW is the #47 Nolasport Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport (that's a mouthful), to be driven by Matt Travis and Jason Hart, and we cannot forget the #34 Conquest Racing-JMF Motorsports Mercedes AMG GT4 in the hands of Jesse Webb and Michai Stephens either. They too will be at the sharp end when we get this race underway for dead sure.
Michai Stephens made a small mistake yesterday which is something we rarely see. Lots of campers in RV's and tents and the crowd is ready for more racing. Kenton Koch scored two overall victories yesterday and for Kevin Boehm, a multiple touring car champion, Kevin Boehm has broken through in the GT ranks. We have another massive grid for GT4 race two. We are missing one car from the grid as Daniel Hanley and Parker Thompson in the #999 Hanley Motorsports Toyota GR Supra GT4 Evo has been withdrawn. They will not take the start.
We are set to race on this fabulous, unforgiving race track with the safety levels stepped up. There is so much elevation change through the Rollercoaster and into the final turn at Hog Pen. Tyler Stone, one of the Techsport drivers is in his home race. He has the controls in the cockpit right at his fingertips including the volume and speed of intervention of the traction control and a dozen ABS brakes settings, and three engine maps. The Nissan Z GT4 and the air conditioning unit make the car comfortable. The balance and the speed of the car means they are one of the fastest.
There are only two of these cars in North America and Techsport has both of them. The cars are not available to buy yet. These cars are under development by Techsport. The car is powered by a 3-liter V6 with twin turbos and 450 horsepower. It is the first Nissan GT4 car since a 370Z ran in British GT in 2018. The Nissan engineers are paying lots of attention to the car. For now, we get set for a start. One hour on the clock and we are about to turn the GT4 field loose. Kenton Koch vs. John Capestro-Dubets.
Green flag! Away we go! JCD is scrapping alongside Kenton Koch as the field fans out thre, four wide. Michai Stephens has moved up to third already! Holy cow! Trouble for the van der Steur Racing Aston Martin and the car is recovered. Three classes based on driver ratings and all these cars built to GT4 specifications. That van der Steur Racing entry that went off the road is the #428 Aston Martin Vantage GT4 being shared by Coby Shield and Brady Behrman. Gray Newell has started from the pit lane. He scored penalty points as we talked about.
Kenton Koch is ahead as they fly through Oak Tree corner and down Madison Avenue, the 3/4 of a mile long backstretch. STR38 and Copeland Motorsports, Tyler Gonzalez vs. Chris Allen. Allen makes his move. Silver, Pro-Am, and Am are the three driver graded classes. A lot of the Pro drivers in the cars now. Tyler McQuarrie giving chase to Michai Stephens. McQuarrie in the #82 BMW M4 GT4 for Bimmerworld with Jason Hart behind in the Nolasport Porsche Cayman. McQuarrie is chasing Michai Stephens. Hart is the first non-BMW.
Hart is looking for the Pro-Am championship hat trick. He won with Matt Travis two years ago and with Scott Noble last year. Kenton Koch leads John Capestro-Dubets. JCD is lurking behind. Two laps now in the books in this two-driver format, 60-minute race and a big crash for the #37 Skip Barber Racing School Toyota Supra of Carter Fartuch. Fartuch has nosed it into the tires. We were jolly lucky yesterday to get a clean race because we have had trouble in the recent past getting through these Pirelli GT4 America races cleanly and without incident. The track crews are out cleaning the track up right now.
We do not know who the second car was involved in the incident. Michai Stephens is going for it and did so on the start. Tyler McQuarrie will be trying to play catch up. Carter Fartuch may have had a coming together with his former teammate at the Skip Barber Racing School team, Eric Powell. Eric Powell is now driving for Techsport Racing in another of the Nissan Z GT4's. We have another couple of cars missing on timing and scoring. Eric Powell sharing with Colin Harrison in the sister #22 Nissan Z GT4 for TechSport Racing and also unaccounted for are Coby Shield in the #428 Aston Martin we mentioned, the van der Steur Racing car.
Rob Walker is unaccounted for in the #253 BMW M4 GT4 he shares with Satakal Khalsa at Auto Technic Racing, and the #12 Rooster Hall Racing BMW M4 GT4 in the hands of Jason Griscavage and Michael Dayton. So, we are under Full Course Yellow. What a motor race we saw in GT4 yesterday. The wreck we saw happened in The Snake, a narrow portion of the course. It is easy to get tipped into a spin. You have no idea about the state of the debris field. Watch out for the carbon fiber shards. They are like razor blades that will puncture a tire.
Michai Stephens has moved up from sixth to third playing spoiler in the Mercedes amidst the BMW's. Kevin Boehm is happy and our TC champion heading for GT4 for the first time and going from front wheel drive to rear-wheel-drive cars. Zac Anderson and Kevin Boehm had a massive battle yesterday. Anderson tells us he'd rather be in it. He trusts JCD in any situation though. Anderson and company have to keep it clean to keep their budget in check. They are incapable of making bad judgments. Michai Stephens has leapfrogged three places. Jesse Webb says that the team can do the best they can and hope for more green flag laps.
Know what you can do and keep the pressure on, putting down fast laps. Michai Stephens goes for it off the initial start and on restarts as well of course. Everyone involved in the accident are being taken to the medical center for a checkup. Everyone is more or less alright. One of the Nissan's is still being loaded up and I think it was Eric Powell and Carter Fartuch who got the worst of it. The cleanup is still ongoing, and we will be trundling around behind the safety car for a wee while before we get back to the motor race. The barriers and tire walls will also be straightened out so we can resume the motor race. Maximize your result for the race weekend.
Overdriving the car, making mistakes, and taking big risks, won't cut the mustard. Jesse Webb another in a long line of drivers found and identified by John Farrow teaming up with former driver turned team owner Eric Bachelart. Farrow has found some amazingly quick drivers. Ian Willis, too, at AIM Autosport in Canada also recognizes this talent. We have seen some very quick drivers in that car over the last handful of years. Koch, Capestro-Dubets, Stephens, the top three. Tyler McQuarrie leading Pro-Am and in the Am class it is James Clay.
Game over for Carter Fartuch and company. A very damaged Toyota Supra for the Skip Barber team. We have a slow car, Matt Halcome for ACI Motorsports. He had to do a Control, Alt, Delete stopping in the middle of the track. Halcome at the wheel of the #58 ACI Motorsports Porsche Cayman sharing with co-driver Richard Edge. This is an Am class car. Tyler McQuarrie leading Pro-Am at Bimmerworld and James Clay and Charlie Postins are Am class leaders for the same team. James Walker Jr. did a wonderful job in race one yesterday.
We are 1/4 of the way through this race watching Jason Hart, and his co-driver, Matt Travis, "the world's fastest accountant." Travis says that they were the fastest Porsche Cayman in the field, and they want to go back to green and get into the race. Matt Travis and Jason Hart have a certain ESP with their driving styles and car setups. Travis quotes Colonel Sanders, the founder of Kentucky Fried Chicken and says, "man, I am too drunk to taste this chicken!" Holy cow! That was a zinger right there, folks! Travis and Hart always work in a movie quote from someplace.
Nolasport only entered their first race in 2015 and so they are going from strength to strength. We continue under yellow. Carter Fartuch has been treated and released from the medical center. He is fine. His rival was hit by an AutoTechnic BMW and he hit the wall, cutting right into Fartuch. They are now going to prepare for the next set of races at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, next time out. So, let's have a Captain Cook at the replay. Powell hits Rob Walker popping him up on two wheels and Carter Fartuch had no place to go. Walker scampering across the grass. We will not see the Powell and Fartuch part of the incident.
It is so hard to get side by side and have contact through that part of the course. Let's hear what Eric Powell has to say. Powell says it is very disappointing with this brand new program with Nissan and Techsport Racing. Their race pace is stronger than quallfuing and Powell says he questions the driving standards. He feels sorry for drivers who got caught up in that incident especially Carter Fartuch. Both of them were instructors for Skip Barber Racing School and are good pals. Speed ramps up through turn five and we are still doing tire barrier repairs and the pit window will be delayed, normally from 35 minutes to 25 minutes and it will be pushed back due to the yellow.
All but one of the cars that had an issue have been accounted for. The one question hovers around Jason Griscavage at Rooster Hall Racing and the BMW M4 GT4. They only ran one lap. Game over. The pit window will be delayed and so there won't be many racing laps for the first driver. It is still the full ten minutes but take advantage of the speed of the starting drivers and the second drivers will have a very short stint to the end of the motor race. Everyone will be packed together. All hands on deck to rearrange the tire bundles and the debris has been cleared up along with the damaged, junked race cars. Bundling tires together if they are strapped together, compress, and absorb energy.
Elias Sabo says he is a bit behind the eight ball but has had a lot of practice with co-driver Andy Lee. This is the Flying Lizard Aston Martin team of course. Andy Lee is a great racing driver and a great driving coach. Elias Sabo started in 2016 and Andy has brought him up to the level he is at now in the last seven years. Andy Lee got started as a mechanic working at a racing school and was the World Challenge GTS Rookie of the Year in 2012. He ran with a small team and did incredibly well. Elias Sabo is a success story of this Pirelli GT4 America format.
Flying Lizard has a top notch bunch of people with Steve Costello and Owen Hayes working as the brain trust on the Flying Lizard GT4 team. We are set to go back to green and the ten-minute pit window will open. Time for the Am's and Pro-Am's to roll the dice. The Pro drivers will want to extend the run into the pit window. At the top of the next minute after the green flag the pit window opens. Green flag and Kenton Koch sprints away frome veryone else over John Capestro Dubets. Michai Stephens being harried by Tyler McQuarrie. Aaron Povoledo is doing everything to get past James Clay.
Oh! Andy Lee gets biffed by Povoledo and Lee is keeping it together. It was wheel well to wheel well contact, fending off the challenge from John Geesbreght. Flying Lizard have dodged a massive bullet! The pit window is now open. Any takers? Andy Lee might be on cold tires or the car might be tweaked from that contact. John Geesbreght is in the fight and now, Kenton Koch has pulled the pin and made good his escape pulling out a humungous margin over John Capestro-Dubets. Jason Hart, meanwhile, is keeping James Clay honest as they run through the braking zone. This is through the final turn at Hog Pen.
There are some takers for the pit lane now as we speak. The pit window is indeed open. Koch pits from the lead handing off to Kevin Boehm. John Capestro-Dubets, Michai Stephens, and James Clay all come in. Kevin Boehm, Jesse Webb, and others will take over. Minimum pit lane delta is 70 seconds. No tire changes or refueling. Change drivers and bleed tire pressures. So, Tyler McQuarrie and Jason Hart stay out and are now running at the top of the shop. Quick work by Random Vandals who maintain their advantage over Auto Technic. Kevin Boehm, Zac Anderson, and Jesse Webb. You can come out in clean air with a lap in the 1:56 range.
There is a battle pack that has not pitted and Juan Pablo Martinez who is the Am class leader is at the head of it. Martinez, the American driver in the #83 Nolasport Porsche Cayman he is sharing with Venezuelan driver Nelson Calle. He could have engine smoke or tire rub on that car though. Something to keep an eye on as one BMW answers the bell and heads for the lane. I think that was Colin Garrett and Rooster Hall coming in to hand off to Johann Schwartz. This is the #44 Rooster Hall Racing BMW M4 GT4. Johann Schwartz is an avid racer. Happy Fathers Day to all the dads out there. These races took place on Father's Day.
Anderson is not making inroads on Boehm and yet he is putting daylight between himself and Jesse Webb. McQuarrie calls it quits and hits the lane. Jason Hart is not going to give it up immediately and dive for the pit lane though. He is going to take the pain of doing one more lap. Well, not the pain, but perhaps the time delta. For Jason Hart it is hammer time and he is doing the overcut. Paul Kiebler finishes his stint in the #77 TR3 Racing Aston Martin and Jon Branam will take over. Elias Sabo, it looks like has gone off the road into the fuzz and now is back on. This is on his out lap. Deary me. Oh, sugar! That was Andy Lee! The Flying Lizard boys have not been to the lane yet. Well, well, well. This is going to put them behind the eight ball.
Jesse Webb coming around the outside of James Walker Jr. The top three are Silver class cars and the battle is steaming on. Zac Anderson wants by Kevin Boehm for the overall lead and Jason Hart can stay out an extra lap. There's still 21 minutes on the board, so he probably will have enough time before hitting the lane. Nolasport will be well aware of their strategy. Jason Hart and company are going to push the envelope. In a couple minutes the pit window will close. You can get your service done when the window is closed but you have to be in the lane and break the beam on the timing line before the window shuts. Andy Lee was fighting with the Am class leader and there's a cut down tire on one of those cars.
Lee cuts to the inside, the tire goes pop, and poor old Andy Lee is off the road, look. Andy got the nudge and went off camber and went out in no man's land. Anderson on Boehm, Auto Technic vs. Random Vandals but in the reverse of yesterday. Take a look at this! Boehm has preferred line into the horseshoe. Anderson has the car that is hooked up and is driving better on corner exit. This is a cut and paste of how close these blokes were running yesterday as Anderson uncorks the Crowdstrike Fastest Lap at 1:54.299. Anderson pushes to the inside. Boehm is out of shape and he drops to second. Boehm is falling into the clutches of Jesse Webb.
Nolasport in the lane from the Pro-Am lead and I think Terry Borcheller in the #20 Carras Callas Toyota Supra he shares with Nick Shanny is among those in the lane. Zac Anderson, the California-born Texas transplant is not to be denied on this day. Ah yes. Nolasport in the lane for service. Can Kevin Boehm fend off the challenge from Jesse Webb? A great stop for Nolasport, down and away. I think he will beat the #82 out of the lane and Matt Travis is going for it but is being harried by James Walker Jr. and by Charlie Postins in both Bimmerworld cars in Pro-Am and Am. Postins, the Am class leader. Fast laps being clocked all over the shop here.
We've got a bunch of drivers setting fastest laps. Jesse Webb, Charlie Postins, Harry Gottsacker, and Johann Schwartz. Postins and Bimmerworld at their home circuit. Harry Gottsacker is charging in the sister car and does not protect James Walker Jr. for sixth overall and now, Harry Gottsacker is now moving in. Gottsacker and Hull in a Silver class BMW M4 GT4 in the STR38 car. Walker is told to let him go and not fight. Two different classes. Identical GT4 BMW's but the classes are defined by driver ratings. Silver vs. Pro-Am. Gottsacker is well behind Anderson, Boehm, and Webb. James Walker Jr. is now monstering Matt Travis and how on earth will this come out?
Travis gets loose and goes off and on and Walker Jr. drops a wheel falling into the clutches of Postins! Criminy! Gottsacker clears Travis. Bimmerworld have to make a decision and will they let Postins by? Postins might be a blocker for Walker Jr. but Johann Schwartz in the Rooster Hall Racing BMW, he is coming and fast. Hometown hero and touring car ace Colin Garrett started the car, the man from nearby South Boston, Virginia, home of the fabled South Boston Speedway. More "fun and frolics" at the horseshoe as Kevin Conway has gone off into the grass. This car was started byu John Geesbreght.
I think he has a broken suspension on that car, a broken toe link. Kevin Boehm, meanwhile, has cut his best lap of the race at 1:55.166, half a second quicker than Zac Anderson. Kevin Boehm wants to bring home a win behind the wheel of that Random Vandals Racing BMW. Boehm is chasing Anderson and Webb is third. These three teams are the top runners in GT4 America this year. You have Auto Technic, Random Vandals, and Conquest Racing, right together. Travis and Schwartz both off the road, skittering across the grass. These are both Pro-Am cars indulging in a wee bit of rallycross or autocross and Travis was leading in class at the time of this shemozzle.
How did that happen. A timing and scoring glitch, too. Red flag? No. You can't be serious. Well, I am not. We stay green. No worries. But there is no local yellow for a stranded car. That is some iffy race management. Schwartz got chopped after trying to take the lead away from Travis. Where's Conway in the Supra that we saw stricken off the road? Did he manage to move that motorcar to a safe haven? That very well could be the case. Travis is rebounding ahead of the Am class STR38 BMW M4 GT4 in the hands of Robert Mau. For Johann Schwartz, the damage is too great. Game over.
Too much camber in the left front so he will give up the ghost. Schwartz's car is hopping up and down on the left front corner. That pogo stick action tells you one thing and one thing only, that the left front suspension is totally busted. Full Course Yellow with ten minutes on the board, bunching up the field and we might have a quick cleanup and a dash for the cash as Johann Schwartz dejectedly trudges away from the car wearing his trademark yellow Sabelt driving gloves. James Walker Jr. who won Pro-Am yesterday has cycled back to the front.
Curt Swearingin in the #7 ACI Motorsports Porsche Cayman has moved up well. He is the team owner and of course, the car was started by the ace driver Kay van Berlo who put in a yeoman stint. Swearingin has a buffer over Matt Travis. Swearingin is second in Pro-Am. The time is ticking, the sand trickling through the hourglass. I don't think we'll have much time on the board. A green and white flag simultaneously and the checkered flag the final time by. So, this is going to break up the Auto Technic and Random Vandals battle. Matt Travis has dropped to fourth and been passed in Pro-Am by Ross Chouest.
We have not called the number of ACI Motorsports all day, in their sister car. Yes, there is the Swearingin/Van Berlo entry but there is also the #19 Porsche Cayman being driven by Andrew Davis and Francis Selldorff. His father Frank Selldorff has been a racing driver. Francis Selldorff is a student at Boston College as well. Andrew Davis is a very experienced racing driver indeed. We see Kevin Conway's car being cleared away. We will have under two minutes and it will have to be one lap or nothing for the restart. The safety car has been told to slow down as much as possible.
The cleanup has been taking place between South Bend and Oak Tree. Tyler Stone and co-driver for the Techsport Nissan Team Brian Heitkotter, have done well to fly the flag for Nissan after Eric Powell's early wallop into the wall. We'll have a very short time of green flag racing as we look at John Capestro-Dubets' colorful comic book inspired helmet. His middle name is Henry. I don't think we are going to see a restart. Dang it. We are going to end this motor race under yellow. White flag displayed. So, this is the final lap.
This race will be in the bag next time by. Auto Technic, Random Vandals, and Conquest Racing will be the Pro-Am podium. Charlie Postins and James Clay will win Am. Yesterday's GT4 America race went green all the way. The second race will end under yellow. Zack Anderson and John Capestro-Dubets will win race two at VIR! Kevin Boehm second. Jesse Webb third. James Clay and Charlie Postins win Am. James Walker Jr. and Tyler McQuarrie will double up aand win for Bimmerworld in both classes they compete in as well.
We cue the house music and the results sheet.
Overall/Silver: #51 Dubets/Anderson Auto Technic BMW G82 M4 GT4
Pro-Am: #82 Walker Jr./McQuarrie Bimmerworld BMW G82 M4 GT4
Am: #36 Postins/Clay Bimmerworld BMW G82 M4 GT4
So, BMW have a sweep. Time to celebrate at Auto Technic Racing! Anderson was smart but not afraid to get his elbows out in a legit motor race with Kevin Boehm. Bimmerworld does the sweep! So, Pirelli GT4 America has seen another dramatic race weekend and we will see you at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, and America's dairy country for the next race of the championship. Those races actually will take place this weekend, so, not long to wait.
For now, from Virginia International Raceway and the greenery of southern Virginia, bye bye.
No comments:
Post a Comment