RS1 Rebounds With Race 2 Victory – NOLASPORT Wins Pro-Am and Retakes Points Lead
The infamous bumpy roads of Sebring International Raceway dealt a bad hand to the #18 RS1 Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport of Eric Filgueiras and Stevan McAleer less than 24 hours ago. Today, these roads were kind to the Silver Cup class leaders, who won GT4 America Race 2 and all but secured the championship.
The Silver class was a story of two fantastic drives. Up at the front, the green and white RS1 Porsche was unstoppable from the moment the field of 31 cars took the green flag. McAleer hammered out consecutive fastest laps of the race as he slowly stretched out his margin over the Pro-Am #47 NOLASPORT Cayman RS of Jason Hart, who was second overall.
The other story was that of the #34 Conquest Racing/JMF Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT4, the winning car of Race 1. Because of a mechanical issue in the second phase of qualifying on Saturday, Gavin Sanders had to start last. With the help of a three-car incident at turn one in front of him, and some determined driving from the young Canadian, Sanders gained ten places on the first lap. Within five laps, Sanders was up into 16th overall, and he’d cracked the top ten by the time the mid-race compulsory pit window opened.
McAleer pitted on lap 13 to hand off the cockpit to Cocoa Beach, Florida native Filgueiras, and he resumed with the race lead.
The #34 Conquest/JMF Mercedes, meanwhile, was in the overall top ten after pit cycles. But Michai Stephens needed to pass the #51 AutoTechnic Racing BMW M4 GT4 (Austen Smith/Zack Anderson) for second place in the Silver class in order to keep the championship fight alive going into Indianapolis Motor Speedway in two weeks.
On lap 19, Stephens passed Smith for the position he really needed, then continued to push his way through the Pro-Am cars in front of them, now in the hands of their respective Bronze drivers.
Filgueiras dominated the second half of the race, pulling out a crushing margin of 23.4 seconds to take the ninth overall and class win of the year for the team.
Stephens, and his co-driver Sanders, overtook 28 cars in one hour and 27 laps of racing to finish third overall and second in Silver class, and just a second behind the #47 NOLASPORT Cayman of Hart and Scott Noble in second.
In terms of the championship, Stephens and Sanders are still mathematically eligible for the championship. But with a 47 point deficit (same as when the weekend started), it’s out of their hands – they now need a weekend sweep at Indy, and for Filgueiras and McAleer not to finish either race.
It was a superb win for the defending Pro-Am champion team. Hart and Noble’s second win of the season moves them back into the championship lead in Pro-Am, with just two more races remaining.
The #15 BSport Racing Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT4 (Bryan Putt/Kenton Koch) appeared to have the second podium position in Pro-Am sealed, but on the last lap, Putt slowed in the final corners and ceded that second position to the #8 Flying Lizard Motorsports Vantage GT4 (Elias Sabo/Andy Lee), then third in class to the #120 Premier Racing Cayman RS (Adam Adelson/Elliott Skeer)! Both the #8 Aston and #120 Porsche finished fourth and fifth overall.
It was a result that kept Adelson and Skeer within ten points of Noble and Hart, and for Sabo and Lee, they moved up to third in the standings, 33 points behind the leading NOLASPORT duo.
The #15 BSport Vantage of Putt and Lee finished seventh overall behind the #51 AutoTechnic M4, and fourth in class, eliminating them from title contention.
Rounding out the rest of the overall top ten were the #52 AutoTechnic M4 (Tom Capizzi/John Capestro-Dubets), the #68 Smooge Racing Toyota GR Supra GT4 (Kevin Conway/John Geesbreght), and their sister car, the #69 Smooge Racing GR Supra (Todd Coleman/Aaron Telitz).
In the Am class, Random Vandals Racing finally scored their first win of the season with the #98 BMW M4 GT4 of Paul Sparta and Al Carter finishing in 13th position overall.
The Am battle opened up from the first corner when the #36 BimmerWorld M4 (Charlie Postins/James Clay), the #53 AutoTechnic M4 (Rob Walker/Alex Filsinger), and the #83 RS1 Cayman RS (Nelson Calle/Juan Martinez) crashed into one another. The #53 BMW and #83 Porsche retired on track, while the #36 BMW went to the garage, retiring for just the second time this season. Clay and Postins clinched the Am Championship yesterday.
Legendary past champion Terry Borcheller was up front in the #20 Carrus Callas Raceteam GR Supra during the first stint, handing the lead to co-driver Nick Shanny.
But Sparta was able to work his way into the overall top fifteen, closed in on Shanny, then took the lead on lap 19, and never looked back.
After a post-race time penalty for overtaking under yellows denied them their first win of the season at Road America Race 1, the New Jersey-based crew finally got their first class win and podium of the season.
Also scoring their first podium in Am Cup was the #35 Conquest Racing AMG GT4 (Custodio Toledo/Paulo Carcasci), who finished 14th overall and second in class. Considering their weekend began with an engine failure on Friday morning, and an all-night effort to get the car running for the weekend, it was a great result.
As a one off-entry, the #420 BGB Motorsports Cayman MR (Thomas Collingwood/John Tecce) came home 15th overall and on the last step of the Am podium. The #72 KRUGSPEED GR Supra (Anthony Geraci/Jaden Lander) had to retire just ten minutes short of the finish.
The double-header finale at Indianapolis ends the season, with 60-minute races on Friday, 7 October and Sunday, 9 October.
Images © Fabian Lagunas, Regis Lefebure / SRO Motorsports Group America
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