Welcome back, everyone, for the final Saturday race of the program for SRO America at Sebring. We are ready for one hour of Pirelli GT4 America competition. A sprint event, but with a mandatory driver change at the mid-point, as always. This is some of the most hard-nosed racing you will find anyplace. The history of this place dates back to 1950. 29 cars, 58 drivers are in this event, and we have some ominous clouds rolling in, in the distance. Rain could play a factor as we join Ryan Myrehn and Calvin Fish in the broadcast booth for the race call, and Amanda Busick reporting from the pit lane. This is the third race of the year we are preparing for as the cars are on track now. This is old school, 70+ years of wear and tear on this concrete and asphalt. A fabulous field of cars and super close in qualifying. John Capestro-Dubets for RS1 has pole position in the Porsche Cayman with the #23 TechSport Racing Nissan GT4 of Jonathan Neudorf at his elbow.
Johan Schwartz from Denmark is making his 2024 season debut in Pirelli GT4 America. He will be driving the #635 RySpec Racing Mercedes-AMG GT4 alongside American rookie driver Dan Dyszelski. Two-time and defending Am class champion Charlie Postins from England is starting this race caboose on the field in 29th place in the BimmerWorld BMW M4 GT4 he shares with team boss James Clay. There was a post-qualifying technical infraction that put them in the basement. Only one formation lap on this 3.74-mile track. Onto the Ulmann straight they come. Named for aeronautical engineer Alec Ulmann who came up with the idea for running sports car races here at Sebring International Raceway.
This was originally Hendricks Army Airfield and the first race was the 6-hour Sam Collier Memorial race run on New Years' Eve of 1950, and the sports cars have been racing here at Sebring ever since. The field is formed up and ready for a start. Porsche vs. Nissan on the front row with the Toyota GR Supra GT4 and the Mercedes-AMG GT4 on the second row of the grid plus many more cars. Here comes the field to the attention of the flagman Tom Hansing. Away we go! John Capestro-Dubets gets swamped by Jonathan Neudorf going to the front. One of the Heart of Racing Aston Martin's broke out of line deep in the pack. Currently, Matt Bell leads in the Pro-Am division. He is starting the #43 P1 Groupe Mercedes-AMG GT4 sharing with Alex Vogel.
Charlie Postins is making some moves already, the two-time and defending Am class champion. Side by side stuff wth a couple of Nissan's from TechSport and Flying Lizard. Colin Harrison in the middle of the pack. Great start, look, for Jonathan Neudorf. It is picture perfect. Everything seems clean. Jonathan Neudorf has pulled a blinder of a start, and the fight is now on between the Nissan's of Colin Harrison and Damir Hot. These cars are for two different teams. TechSport Racing is the #22 and Flying Lizard Motorsports is the #5. Neudorf made a perfect start and John Caprstro-Dubets is moving in and so is Matt Bell.
Daniel Hanley in his Toyota Supra for Hanley Motorsports is fourth, car #999. Johan Schwartz is in eighth overall and second in class in the Am division. So, a wonderful debut so far for the RySpec Racing team. His co-driver Dan Dyszelski is running concurrently in open wheel cars, single seaters, in U.S. Pro 2000. A good battle here between a Supra and a comuple of BMW's. Colin Garrett, trading paint with John Geesbreght with his co-driver Tyler Gonzalez in the #68 Smooge Racing Toyota Supra. Everyone else is now eating Jonathan Neudorf's dust. He has rocketed away from the field aboard the #23 TechSport Racing Nissan Z NISMO GT4, sharing the car with Michai Stephens.
The start is under review because of a Heart of Racing Aston Martin. Start violation for car #24, Gray Newell, for jumping out of line to avoid accordioning into the other cars. That is a brutal development for Gray Newell who is sharing the Aston Martin Vantage GT4 with Roman De Angelis. The #80 McLaren Artura GT4 spins. Kaia Teo at the wheel of that Orlando Motorsports Services McLaren sharing with Nick Longhi. Kaia Teo, she debuted in the championship on a partial schedule last year in 2023 as we are under safety car conditions now. This is too soon for Heart of Racing. Full Course Yellow. We are under Full Course Yellow.
Jonathan Neudorf paired with Michai Stephens. Stephens ran with John Farrow's team which was run by Conquest Racing. Neudorf is whistling off into the distance over everyone else. Matt Bell, leading Pro-Am. This is the American Matt Bell. There is a British sports car racing driver also with the same name. I think this is Matt Bell's first season of racing in seven years, since 2017. Oh dear! Sam Owen has clobbered the barriers. The #17 OGH Motorsports Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport is used up! A tough break for Sam Owen and his co-driver Sean Gibbons. The barriers are not damaged. We had a late Full Course Yellow at Sonoma Raceway in California last month.
In one race, all three classes were up for grabs, at Sonoma. We may very well see rain, and they hope it is after the race is over. Parker Thompson says Daniel Hanley is doing incredibly well after they won at Sebring last fall. It seems they have a pretty brotherly relationship, between Parker Thompson and Daniel Hanley. They get along and have a lot of the same hobbies. He is a Star Wars fan, and it is May the 4th, Star Wars Day. May the 4th be with you. Tee hee. They are targeting the 3/4 point of the season to go for the championship. Hanley is a big Lego fan. Charlie Postins has moved up nine spots in just a handful of laps.
The yellow compresses the field down. The #36 team always says they are going to hang up their hats, but they change their minds and come back into the fold every year. James Clay and Charlie Postins are also good buddies. Matt Bell, from Mountain View, California, started in touring car racing in 2008. He raced with Stevenson Motorsports and has done some NASCAR racing as well but had a hiatus from 2018 to 2023. So, he is back now after his sabbatical, paired up with Alex Vogel. The second car for the team is under the RENNtech Motorsports banner, the #89. This is the team of Mattheus Leist, the Brazilian former IndyCar racer and Michael Auriemma, who won one of the races last time out at Sonoma Raceway in class.
In this replay, let's see how we were put under safety cat conditions. Ooh! Someone got turned around and I think Kaia Teo, she spun the car out. This incident is under review by Race Control. 15 minutes on the board already. So, we have run 1/4 of the race so far. Early pitting means a short green flag run as Sam Owens' car is taken on the tow truck back to the garage. There is no mandatory pit window anymore. The window now is not the guide for strategy, and it is now minimum and maximum stint length. Minimum time delta in the pit lane from line to line is 84 seconds. Time for a restart. Jonathan Neudorf is hard on the accelerator and away we go again.
He is motoring away from the Porsche and now, Bell is working around Dan Hanley, not for class position. Kevin Boehm in fifth has John Geesbreght right on him and makes the pass. Colin Garrett is flying past Kevin Boehm and Johann Schwartz is also in the fight. The #24 The Heart of Racing Aston Martin must redo serving a penalty under green because they couldn't do it under yellow. They need luck with yellows with 42 minutes left on the board. A spin there down the Ulmann straightaway and, blimey! That is Charlie Postins! Oh dear!
That is a spin out of Le Mans Curve. Turn 16 is an overtaking opportunity. Todd Parriott in the #13 Flying Lizard Motorsports Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT4 he shares with Tom Dyer. Colin Harrison figthing with Roland Krainz, the Am class leader. Eric Powell is Colin Harrison's co-driver. Powell drove these races at Sebring last year, and there were three because of a makeup. Kevin Boehm counterattacking on Colin Garrett. Boehm on the outside, hanging tough against Garrett in this scrap between Random Vandals Racing and AutoTechnic Racing. Boehm had the inside and now Colin Gareett is still going for it but Boehm is hanging tough, too!
Boehm clears him down the Ulmann straight for sixth and seventh overall just off the podium in the Silver class. Yikes! Johann Schwartz too, out of class, wants a bite of the cherry. Kenton Koch looking on. Koch is co-driver with Kevin Boehm. Zac Anderson is the co-driver with Colin Garrett. Daniel Hanely under a load of pressure from John Geesbreght! The two Toyota Supra's scrapping as well. Hanley goes defensive, feeling the pressure. Hanley, comrpomised entry into Sunset Bend and it looks like Daniel Hanley has more power but now Greesbregfht is flashing the headlights. Hanley the minnow, Geesbreght, the shark.
37 and a half minutes remaining. Next time by, the window is open for pitting. Neudorf leads by 3.2 seconds having set the CrowdStrike Fastest Lap by over a second! Holy smokes! Who will blink first? How many Pro-Am drivers will pit their Am driver and get the Pro drivers back in the car? Hanley can eke out a lead while Geesbreght has a couple BMW's all over him like a cheap suit. Gray Newell has served his drive through penalty at The Heart of Racing Aston Martin team. But he and co-driver Roman De Angelis will need a yellow to come back into contention. Great battles through the field with a melting pot of manufacturers. Demi Chalkias, she is ninth in the Mercedes. Roland Krainz and Curt Swearingin have passed Colin Harrison and Damir Hot as well as Hannah Greenmeier.
John Geesbreght has all he can handle from Kevin Boehm. No one has made the pit call just yet. We'll see what will happen here. Kay van Berlo will take over the ACI Porsche from Curt Swearingin while the #635 RySpec Mercedes is also in the lane and Dan Dyszelski is set to take over. It is just a driver change and an adjustment of tire pressures. No tire changes and no refueling allowed. Kay van Berlo and Curt Swearingin have been a great team. Dan Dyszelski has open wheel and Radical Cup experience. They plan on running two to four more races this year depending on his U.S. F2000 schedule.
Dyszelski always wanted to race GT cars and a whole host of leaders are in the pit lane. Execute on the driver changes. A whole ton of cars are in the lane as Jonathan Neudorf's lead has grown to four and a half seconds. Tyler Gonzalez replaces John Geesbreght, dominating in Toyota GR Cup. Parker Thompson has now taken over from Daniel Hanley and now, John Geesbreght has lost track position as well, look. Dyszelski on his first flying lap. Hold the phones momentarily while we check for the Pro-Am leader and I think it is Matt Bell. Neudorf has the hammer down. He is pushing hard and in a rhythm, the native of Grand Prairie, Alberta, Canada.
More pit action. More driver changes. The #72 Krugspeed Toyota GR Supra GT4 is in. Anthony Geraci started the race and hands off to Lance Bergstein. With the Toyota Supra, lean the car and load up on the right rear tire. That is what he does. Be aggessive with the corner and be aggressive on your initial turn in. Then the suspension works well and if you don't do it, the car is edgy. Parker Thompson is from Red Deer, Alberta, Canada. He almost became an IndyCar driver. Neudorf in the lane, handing off to Michai Stephens and the #23 Nissan Z GT4 NISMO. Just past the halfway mark with 28 minutes to go.
Eric Filgueiras has now taken over the #28 Porsche Cayman for RS1 with a head of steam! How quickly will Michai Stephens be on the pace? RS1 won the Fanatec GT race earlier with Trent Hindman and Spencer Pumpelly. Parker Thompson is also going to make his move and he has Kenton Koch and Zac Anderson. Anderson and John Capestro-Dubets were paired up last year. Capestro-Dubets handed the Porsche over to Eric Filgueiras. At Smooge Racing, Tyler Gonzalez did not have the car in gear, it was in neutral, and he revved the motor to the moon, losing five seconds at least. Matt Bell handing over to Alex Vogel, at RennTech. The battle for the lead is Michai Stephens over Eric Filgueiras and they are separated now by 4.8 seconds.
Parker Thompson is now a further 4.2 seconds down. Nissan fans, it might be your day today. Super GT is racing this weekend and a pair of GT500 spec Nissan Z's went 1-2 earlier today in their race this weekend. Nissan also running well in Formula E. Eric Powell, the former TC America touring car champion in 2021, he was a big part of the development of the platform of the Nissan Z GT4. Oh my! Traffic all over and Powell is fighting with Austin Krainz, the #18 Porsche Cayman in the Am class, chasing the #5 Flying Lizard Nissan Z of Stefan Rzadzinski, while they also pass by the #98 Random Vandals Racing BMW M4 GT4 of Kris Wilson, sharing the car with Paul Sparta.
Vogel runs wide, dropping like a stone throught he Dilver class order. Dyszelski is the new class leader I think, the first-time GT4 driver and Kay van Berlo goes by as well. Remember that Alex Vogel is on an alternate strategy. Dan Dyzelski is only 16 years old. Dyszelski is from Charlotte, North Carolina, runner up in Radical Cup in 2023. Dyszelski is also racing single seaters in U.S. Pro 2000 as Alex Vogel has spun onto the Ulmann straightaway! Yikes! 20 minutes to go, 2/3rds of the race done. Dan Dyszelski is hanging right with the defending Toyota GR Cup champion, Tyler Gonzalez who has experience in GT4 cars while Dyszelski does not.
Gonzalez tossing the car around like a slot car. The top five is also Silver class cars. Stephens, Filgueiras, Thompson, Koch, and Anderson. Dyszelski seventh, Kay van Berlo eighth, followed by Max Root and Mattheus Leist. Max Root is filling in at Black Dog Speed Shop for Michael Cooper who is running Porsche Carrera Cup North America and their doubleheader in Miami in support of the Miami Grand Prix Formula 1 race. The Am class fight is turning the wick up between two Porsche Cayman's. Robb Holland has the lead but has Austin Krainz bearing down on him.
He goes to the inside, gets on the dust, and goes to the lead in turn three, down the inside. Kris Wilson in the Random Vandals BMW is right there and so are Hannah Grisham and Matt Million. 17 and a half monutes of racing left to go. Grisham sharing the #26 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage GT4 with Hannah Greenmeier, and Matt Million sharing the #53 Auto Technic Racing BMW M4 GT4 with Troy Lindstrom. We saw Robb Holland running up front in the GT America doubleheader of races at Long Beach a couple weeks ago.
Kris Wilson continuing in hot pursuit of Austin Krainz in the Am class. Behind this duo is Hannah Grisham under pressure from Matt Million. Dyszelski has dropped behind Tyler Gonzalez. RySpec Racing and the 16-year-old driver are doing very well and Kay van Berlo is pressing hard. Turn Three Motorsports run by Peter Dempsey, and his dad Cliff Dempsey is a Formula Ford legend in England. Many of these drivers are Team USA scholarship winners who have raced for Dempsey Racing at the Formula Ford Festival. Into the final quarter of this motor race. This will be a barnburner in a couple of the classes.
Michai Stephens now leads the overall race, four and a half seconds to the good over Eric Filgueiras. Parker Thompson in third spot is quicker than both of those chaps at the top of the tree. Dyszelski and van Berlo still going at it through turns two and three. Kay van Berlo under braking almost clonks Dan Dyszelski. Again, he is the meat in the sandwich between Tyler Gonzalez and Kay van Berlo, a Porsche Motorsports selected driver. His dad Marcel and brother Glenn are also racing drivers. van Berlo was an IMSA Endurance Cup champion in the old LMP3 class in the WeatherTech Championship. Kris Wilson has dropped Robb Holland and that has brought up both Hannah Grisham and Matt Million.
Dyszelski and van Berlo now are scrapping for the Pro-Am class lead with the out of class Toyota Supra there for company of Tyler Gonazlez! Dyszelski has to go the long way 'round and now, Kay van Berlon tries going three wide and he does! He kills two birds with one stone and Dyszelski clatters into van Berlo who gets ahead! 11 minutes to go. He comes from single seater open wheel cars and if you get your elbows out, you break the wheel, the suspension and the front wing. Max Root, filling in for Michael Cooper, he is also in this scrap. Max Root knows Sebring well, and Tony Gaples had a great qualifying effort and a great opening stint.
The Black Dog Speed Shop crew chief and team manager, Ray Sorenson is bullish on the prospects of the Nissan Z NISMO GT4 doing very well as a platform in Pirelli GT4 America for their team. Robb Holland has both Hannah Grisham and Matt Million still in tow in the Am class. Dyszelski meanwhile hanging right with van Berlo. Stefan Rzadzinski and Damir Hot are haivng a good run in the #5 red and silver Flying Lizard Motorsports Nissan Z NISMO GT4. Robb Holland is vastly experienced, many years racing at the Nurburgring, British Touring Cars, and World Touring Car Championship. Holland is the cork in the bottle now as he is trying to move past the Nissan and the Aston Martin, and believe me, that Nissan has great straightaway speed as they head dowj the Ulmann straight another time.
The cars are on edge through turn one and in the early part of the first sector. The Nissan should open the door and go with him. Grisham is focused forward. A battle is heating up now in Pro-Am between Dyszelski and Root. Tyler Gonzalez has his hands full. Max Root he was the Am class champion a handful of years ago in Fanatec GT World Challenge America. Root swings outside of Dyszelski and now, Dyszelski retakes the place and gives van Berlo an edge. Oh dear, oh dear. Razadzinksi is in the fight with Million and Grisham, and Holland as well!
Fabulous battles all the way around the course. Stephens' lead has come down from 4.3 seconds to 3.7 seconds. Michai Stephens could have trouble with his Nissan Z GT4. Blocking warning from the stewards to Dyszelski. You cannot be reactive. You can drive wherever you want but you are expected to be proactive. Mattheus Leist, the Brazilian former IndyCar driver, driving with Michael Auriemma and they had a great race weekend at Sonoma Raceway in Sonoma, California. This Flying Lizard Nissan is the fly in the ointment in this Am class scrap. Yikes! Root tries the outside and Dyszelski is not having any of it. Johann Schwartz is highly bullish on Dyszelski.
White flag. One lap to go. Michai Stephens has increased his lead to three and a half seconds as Eric Filgueiras has now uncorked the fastest lap of the motor race for the #28 RS1 Porsche Cayman. Dan Dyszelski at RySpec Racing is fighting and hanging onto second place over Max Root. Kay van Berlo is in the leade in the Pro-Am class. Then comes the dad and lad pairing of Roland and Austin Krainz. Rnadom Vandals Racing, Sparta and Wilson as well as Koch and Boehm, they are very successful so far this year. Jonathan Neudorf had a great opening stint and Michai Stephens takes it to the end and TechSport and Nissan win Pirelli GT4 America race one at Sebring!
Filgueiras second followed by Thompson, Koch, and Anderson. Kay van Berlo wins the Pro-Am class over Dyszelski and Root. In the Am class it is Austin and Roland Krainz starting from class pole and win, finishing 12th overall, but it is an Am class victory. Paul Sparta and Kris Wilson could be the points leaders. Rzadzinski gets by Holland and Holland cops a time penalty for a short pit stop. Matt Million goes to the podium. Borcheller passes Grisham. A lot of teams and drivers will regroup and come back tomorrow.
RySpec Racing have had a great debut to finish second in the race. Amazing stuff. That is how you learn as a driver as we cue the dance music for the race results. A handful of incidents will be put together by the stewards. Stephens and Neudorf win the race by 3.6 seconds.
Overall/Silver: #23 Stephens/Neudorf TechSport Racing Nissan Z NISMO GT4
Pro-Am: #7 van Berlo/Swearingin ACI Motorsports Porsche Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport
Am: #18 Krainz/Krainz RS1 Porsche Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport
So, that is a wrap from race one for Pirelli GT4 America at Sebring. We'll be back with you tomorrow for race two. Excited for it. For now, good night, everybody and thanks for being with us from Sebring International Raceway in Sebring, Florida. We'll see you tomorrow. Bye bye.
No comments:
Post a Comment