LIVE - SONOMA - RACE 1 - PIRELLI GT4 AMERICA 2021

[Music] [Music] [Music] welcome to sonoma raceway where the first round of the pirelli gt4 america championship is about to get underway the field already on the second of two formation laps my name is ryan marine amanda busick is down in the pit lane it is my pleasure to welcome jack baldwin into the broadcast booth alongside pirelli gt4 america class manager driver extraordinaire as well more on that in a moment but first a quick wish for speedy recovery to calvin fish who's dealing with a small medical issue we'll have him back with us for the next round of the championship at circuit of the americas let's go ahead and look at the starting lineup matt travis a runner-up twice in as many years the last two years in sprint x competition he'll start on pole i mean in the championship he's been runner-up on pole here today alongside derek devorah breakthrough qualifying performance from him how about the little dexter racing team from nebraska brothers ryan and warren dexter they'll line up in third and on silver class pole position james clay and nick gallante will start in fourth overall for bimmerwell racing then it's marilla racing's kenny murillo ross schwest of rentec motorsports wr racing's paul terry noah supports patrick byrne smooch racing's john jayspray will start in the ninth spot chezbray excuse me and in 10th will be tim barber from ccr racing team tfb can't get through all the field because we're about to go green they're already side by side here as we head down through turn 11 looking for the green flag on the 2021 season matt travis the world's fastest accountant starts on pole from the left side he'll have the fellow porsche runner derek deboer from trg racing alongside the field straggling just a little bit behind them but great formation up front good jump as well for matt travis who takes the green gets the jump up to four and will lead the field up the hill to turn one for the first time yeah that was a nice clean start uh matt hit it just right got the flag and looks like they got a nice run up the hill and we always want to get through this corner right here at the first corner at the top of the hill and uh get this first lap behind this thing settle down side by side the pack hairy moments are full tires unlike gt world challenge america no tire warmers in probably gt4 america which makes these first few laps very treacherous temperatures starting to fall as well as we get deeper into the evening and it's been cold here in the evening maybe not as cold as where some of you are watching from but chile by california standards and the track temps can get pretty low and bring that grip level down travis able to make good his escape and immediately derek deboer coming under pressure here that is one of the bmws james clay i believe running in the third spot not sure what's happened to the dexter racing car it seems to have slid back quite a ways he was scheduled to start on the outside of row number two and we'll try and pick that car up here in a moment it might be running in fifth as it stands i think but here comes james clay veteran driver coming up a very solid year looking to the inside of derek deboer into the chicane climbs on the binders gets to the inside and derrick is left with little recourse he will slot back into the third spot yeah he wants that spot i mean james needs to get that bmw up and get it going uh you know uh while the tires are coming up the temperature he's got he's a little quicker derek's dealing with a little bit of cooler situation but uh you know the spot uh in this class uh pro-am andrew gt4 america pro-am the competition is as strong as you can get it in america some of the best racing ever and these guys are really they have to earn it if you win here if you run good here no question about it one lap complete it is travis from clay from deborah from murillo ryan dexter has fallen back into the fifth spot ross west runs six the battle on track is four third derek devore has it kenny murillo wants it and there's the dexter racing aston martin right behind yeah derek this is a great opportunity for derek he's driving with spencer propelli uh trg porsche and uh this is uh something he's worked for for many many years to get in this position uh he's he's a good driver he's improved steadily through the years and i think he's gonna have a good season he and spencer have a really good season brian dexter really strong there through the carousel dropping a wheel was derrick deboer that's going to bring kenny murillo right up to his back door a little bit defensive as murillo took a peek to the inside but not close enough to get it done so derek survives to fight another day trying to keep this train of cars behind him one of the best qualifying efforts we've seen from derek and his career but now converting it in race trim that's something a little bit different and uh the reality is perhaps coming to light a little bit it's a cool livery on that car the uh the picture you see there that's the cover of a new children's book that's going to be coming out here in a couple of months derek's wife brooke has been riding the uh their daughter has been illustrating and it's got a racing theme to it yeah you can see derek he's got uh he's holding him up slightly i mean he's better in some places but overall i mean he has he's got his hands full and uh kenny's just looking at him he's sizing him up and where can he get by he needs to be careful it's early in the race uh it's the same thing with dexter i mean dexter racing i can't say enough about those guys small team out of the midwest a family operation they do a really good job really solid and the boys can drive ryan and warren can both drive very well and it's nice of you to say so because i finished second in the spec miata race to warren dexter like seven or eight years ago so if you're telling me he's good i feel a little better about myself they're both very good they're underrated right now i mean people don't realize how good they are and it's a big step up for them they've been running the geneta in recent years making the step to aston martin a very different platform but a team to keep an eye on without a doubt as is bimmerworld as always james clay heads up this operation based out of virginia near blacksburg he's a virginia tech alum football player back in in the day but very very adept racer and has a great business but let's focus here on this battle because it is fierce further back this is third on back here comes ryan dexter taking a look to the outside of kenny murillo who we didn't see in this championship much last year but he was racing single make porsches and he's going to put that experience that's tight competition there too and he's going to put that to use further back there's some twitch out of that aston martin that's the number 59 car paul who was able to bring that back under control but you can see how much ground he lost here's the move from dexter now on deborah kenny murillo already made that pass and ross schwest trying to find a way buying the ringtech car yeah they're going to continue to work by i mean derek needs to get that car up a little bit he's a little off face right now i'm not sure what's going on but he's really kind of struggling right now you can see that he's coming to pit lane so there might be something to that oh that was close that not available driving the car gmg racing entered audi that must have been just before turner's head yeah just right into chicane damage at the left rear oh that looks doesn't look too good as the race up front is solid as always it's really gt for america six minutes in three laps complete travis up front has a lead of 3.2 seconds over james clay kenny murillo now cycling up into third overall but crucially the lead in the silver class and the driver behind him ryan dexter second in silver we'll keep an eye on that this is not so far behind rosh west running along with paul terry patrick byrne a late addition to that driver lineup for nola sport good to have him back in the series and these these cars you're looking at a mercedes and aston martin a porsche and a bmw all that close together that's what gt4 racing is all about yeah and you can and the pro am division is just fantastic uh you know i mean this is a great place for guys to come in take that next step bring their coach you know they've been working together for years and uh you know driver one driver two so race one driver one this is these are the ams this is the bronze division guys and there's you've got to be a pretty good bronze to hold your own in this with this crowd and we haven't had a much chance to talk about it just yet but i'm sure we will the am class with a pair of bronzes driving you look at the am field and they're not field fillers either they've got on their day the capability of running amongst the silver and uh pro-amateurs yeah and they're scattered out you would think that the silver would be at the top it'd be silver pro-am and then i'm at the bottom but that's not the way it works out this is a tough crowd there is the am standings broken down by manufacturer at the top left of the screen porsche from toyota from mclaren from mclaren from toyota from mercedes you got a bmw in the mix there as well and that's just an amp there is such great diversity in this gt4 field if you've got a sports car brand that you like chances are it is represented here in this series and the competition has been so close over the last few years [Music] you know you back up to matt travis i mean we're not seeing matt because matt's kind of pulled out and uh this is a great track for a cayman if you're out front you can really really be effective here that's what that cayman likes it just likes clean air and it's a real tough car to beat if it's in the lead that's been true going back a couple of years not even just this new 718 variant but i remember matt brabham showed up in a crp racing right older spec uh came in a few years back and and ran towards the front in that car so you're right whatever it is about the construction of those caymans they continue to be very strong the 46 there that's patrick byrne a former asian le mans series champion in prototype racing and has been doing some gt racing as of late did a little bit in a capex bentley last year and the first couple of gt4 challenge races in coda but uh has been in and out of the sea series subsequent to that great to have him in the nola sport car as the battle for third continues to heat up kenny murillo versus ryan dexter a couple of very fast young guys who very well could be the future of the series yeah and morello is a strong brand a very established brand very very successful race team kenny marillo good really good driver his co-driver christian simcheck is equally good even faster he's the pro side but you know you take a look at dexter here i mean these guys this is a brand new car they bought the car this is their first race with that aston martin and you know once i said before i said underrated you can see how well they're doing had a minor issue in qualifying yesterday a little bit of contact after a spin in the second qualifying session warren dexter damaged the left rear body work slightly but uh they obviously been able to make repairs and the car is as fast as ever running down kenny murillo who also serves as this team's data engineer he looks over the data for them when he's not driving the car and his dad was a pretty good race car driver in his own right back in the mid 90s as dexter takes a peek to the outside it's hard to make that outside lane work but he's going to give it a go well if you start on the outside like that sometimes you can do an over under you can go outside and get up underneath coming off he couldn't make it work but he tried trying to keep that momentum going into the corner take that high side looks like there was a problem for the sister marilla racing car that's a real shame as here comes so texture to the outside yeah and you see kenny covered the inside on that he had the run ryan had a run down him on him so kenny covered the inside kept it from getting there and the battle goes on to put a bow on the marilla racing story they're also running a cayman for aurora strauss and christina nielsen an all-female driver lineup that is running in the am class and has very high expectations but they came to pit lane a moment ago amanda i think has an update well and you see aurora out of the car which is probably not a good sign what happened and are you guys able to return a competition yeah so unfortunately we're out really early on um that's not how christina and i wanted it to go that's not how the team at marilla racing wanted it to go we actually still don't know who he had contact with but someone came into the chicane and um it was nowhere in my mirror so it must have just been a super late move and the contact as a result uh a radiator on the left on the right front is done so we can't keep going um it's super unfortunate and i don't know whoever uh covered it that we'll be having a conversation a few minutes from now well as christina said you guys will be racing tomorrow there was a ton of excitement around this team in the diversity in the pirelli gt4 how important is it for you guys to be representing this effort i'm very very cool i mean we're grateful to be part of a rigid meal program that is showing diversity being in a series that is supportive of it um and yeah i mean we've got some great partners that are supporting us and and want to be a part of this so all we want to do is in the end be racial drivers and we want to go out and show performance on the racetrack so that's going to be the goal for tomorrow today was a blip but we're in this for the long haul and christina's an awesome teammate so well to aurora's point this is just the first step of a big plan that they have to help bring women into motorsports something christina has been very active in pursuing over the the last several years she's got part of an all-female driver lineup for the nurburgring 24 this year is christina nielsen she's part of this they get some mentorship from catherine legge who has driven with christina in the past there's a whole lot going and we'll have more to say about it that's a big spin from elias sabo i think and i wonder if that has anything to do with the damage that we saw earlier something's broken yeah let's turn that car around that car will be on that road here shortly 119 bmw that is quinlan nikolai elgamian in the ktm crossbow running to the inside of the other bmw he's fighting with john miller those are two silver class entries that crossbow is very unique indeed unfortunately i don't think we're going to be seeing that car for the full season this year but he and his co-driver add cilia from from norway a rider engineering factory driver they've got some plans to race in europe in addition to a partial program here in the states [Music] potent pairing last year had some good results at various times this is a track though that's been good to them they had good runs here uh going a year ago i think some misfortune at various times but this is a track that suits that platform oh yeah it's a light car it's very light nimble uh you drive it like a go-kart and uh but they they struggle with it in a lot of ways trying to you know keep it uh wound up as i might say and uh it's strong in some places and in other places it's not quite so strong so it's uh it's a but it's a good team and a good effort and the drivers are excellent both drivers are very good the team is marco polo motorsports and as i said they had a good run here a year ago one overall in the second of the three races we ran at this track at a pole in the first race and a fastest lap in the third race and struggle to put it all together for the full weekend but definitely coming into this weekend had some confidence that this car could perform but lost that spot to john miller who is on the charge trying to chase down sean quinlan [Music] itself this is a little bit further behind bimmer world versus st racing tomas mejia in the chasing st racing car making the step up from tca race to mini last year and looking pretty stout here in his first week into gt4 machinery i asked him if anything from the mini transfers over to the gt4 car and he said the pedals that's about it everything else is unrecognizable but uh another young guy with a lot of talent behind the wheel yeah we're glad to have them it's a new entry and they're into the season it's great with sd racing as is a excellent bmw race team uh samantha tan father owns that team that runs that team and they they're a very very good race team well to point they've already won major international races this year they won their class at the 24 hours of dubai they won their class at the six hours of abu dhabi shortly after that so st racing around the world has had a lot of success already and we're just getting started here in 2021 michael mcaleenan part of the motorsport usa stable good to have him back and to be quite frank jack i don't know a whole lot about that team but they've come here with a big program i think it's three cars under their three mclarens and uh great guys uh they're gonna run with us uh most of the season and uh love their spirit love their attitude and uh they're very competitive into your yeah again it's an m-class car but mixing it up right in the very middle of the pro-am and silver class fields here so doing exactly what they need to do to get things done and that going at the moment third in class in the am division quinlan right there at the front of this field he's probably holding up john miller a little bit john's been able to reel him in in recent laps yeah see how he's covering that inside making a little bit tough on john he wants to hold that position uh sean just won the just earlier today won the uh gt american gt4 division in that race so he got a little break and hopped back in he's got two cars that's ryan and john miller here a veteran of this series a veteran of european racing he's going to be doing both this year he and his co-driver chandler hall of an ambitious plan they already raced in the asian law series this year in a gt3 conference the famed bmw team balkan horse motorsport and carrying that over here into probably gt4 america yeah i'm talking about a little bit i mean he's living the dream yeah it's wonderful he is a great guy a super professional super good driver and uh i wish him well i i like his to see his success two years ago he teamed up with harry godsacker in sprint x west and won the championship and i was amazed to learn he had never won a championship oh wow as many years as he's been at it and he's not an old guy by any means 35 years old but racing's been his life and and i was very surprised to learn that as we go back up front quite a dominant performance for matt travis this team the last couple years he and jason hart they get off to quick starts but fade down the stretch they finished second in the championship in heartbreaking fashion two years ago two years in a row and i'm telling you in pro am division they are the gold standard both of them you can't get a better ham than uh amateur driver than uh and you call him an am he's a pro matt travis is an excellent race car driver and uh teamed up with uh jason hart along with nola sport and i would argue that nola sport nobody prepares a better porsche they really know what they're doing and they put they've got what four cars five cars here this weekend and all of them are good i'll confess before a couple years ago i really wasn't familiar with them but they have knocked my socks off ever since always at the front always in contention similar to this morello racing program didn't run very often last year in fact i think only the first of our two coda weekends with christian shim shack who we'll see in a moment pairing with matt faust not no matter the series which is a shame but hopefully we can see him come back as it stands though i think that pairing with kenny murillo is going to be strong boss west rim tech another mercedes operation and ross uh really holding his own and and that's another team runcheck out of southern florida i mean they every time they bring their mercedes it's fast and it it's really they really know what they're doing and we're glad to have them back ross has some experience in a lot of different types of cars a lot of ferrari challenge he was second in the trofeo pirelli class of ferrari challenge a year ago looking for that next challenge and making the step here into gt4 racing but he's done some prototype racing lamborghini super trofeo in the past and just carrying all of that experience over and patrick byrne another one who's raced just about anything prototypes bentley's gt4 cars it's a guy who's not all that old but has built in the last handful of years a nice cv and he's in one of those nola sport prep caymans looking pretty strong at this point and he got the call late because the the driver uh had some sort of a problem don't know what it was but he got a call late he lives nearby on this side of the country and uh just came out here jumping [Music] you know it says a lot for patrick and it also says a lot for the car you know and you see those cars how how well they how what they look on the racetrack and he's being chased at the moment by tim barber this is the ccr racing team tfb car tim will be turning that over to the youngster cole cerrallo from scottsdale california tim though a 38 year old has driven a little bit of everything he's done a lot of uh open wheel pavement stuff uh like the little 500 which is an amazing event i covered that for the first time last year in anderson indiana but a lot of road racing too uh he's run the chili bowl in recent years just a really awesome race car driver he's good at cole cole has come along very very well last year he improved tremendously and that's another one-car team it's a family operation you know that it's a one-car family operation and look at them they bring the car out do a nice job in that car we saw a moment ago new team and a new car the toyota gr supra gt4 run here this weekend by smoog racing and it's smooch himself john jesbray from fort worth texas driving that car my understanding is his name that name came from when he was a baby he told me he was a chubby baby and his dad called him smooch and so that's why they named the team smooch racing and i'm fascinated by his co-driver it's none other than 2010 nascar cup uh rookie of the year kevin conway running as an am he was laughing about that with me earlier this weekend i think those two are going to be an interesting pairing they've been working together the last couple of years in a mentorship type role back to the front though kenny murillo still holding off ryan dexter and it takes a lot of discipline to run a full stint and that's about what kenny has done or three minutes away i think from the pit window from opening and he has run this whole stint full of pressure and still kept it pointed the right direction and has not lost much time no he's he's holding any it looks like the car as the car goes you know the mercedes easy on tires and it's really well balanced and but the aston martin has the speed too but it's important to be easy on tires because yes we have a pit stop just like gt will challenge america but unlike the gt3 series no tire changes no tire change so you got to make this set of tires last which means if you're the second driver you better hope that the guy before you left you with something to work left with something yep yeah that's that's part of the deal is to manage the car and turn it over for the for a good finish and you never know when there could be a late caution punch to feel punch the field up and anything it goes it's been pleasantly clean to this point in the race this is our leader just domination here for matt travis nearly 12 seconds the last time and you don't see that often in this series you just don't i'm so surprised at this but you know you can see it qualifying i mean and you watch that car how steady that car is i mean they've got it dialed in and uh you know matt just has been driving that car now for three four years so and he's just excellent at it doing a really nice job seems to fit with that car he and jason hart have a great connection dropping back to seconds this james clay car again about 12 seconds down the road from matt travis and i'm curious what the second stint is going to look like handing over to nick gallante who is a veteran of of racing kind of at this level gt4 cars and some lower level touring cars all bmws primarily i should say with this member world team but new to this paddock and she was really excited for the chance yeah and teamed up with james clay that's going to be a that is a very strong entry you can see james he's uh he's wheeling it he's got a little bit the car seems like it's a little bit loose uh but uh he got his hands full for sure dexter taking the picture still trying to look up see if he can't figure out a way around now that car you see that crossover right there that car got all tried to get out from under him so he's got his hands full right now that that aston martin is not doing see you could see him working that car ryan dexter ran this race last year he was actually teamed with cody ware who is primarily a nascar driver has done some sports car racing apparently set to do some indy car racing this year as well and those two as the silver pairing ran up towards the front something went wrong late in a race when it looked like they were on their way to a podium and uh really heartbreaking for that team but ryan was incredibly quick a year ago and that's carried over here rosh west coming under attack here the 59 car is paul terry another one who has really improved his driving in recent years uh was runner-up to michael diamond in the sprint and championship a year ago ran towards the front even amongst the pros in several occasions doing a lot of very good things in this new team wr racing yeah paul paul has steadily improved and you know i'd say cleaned up his act a little he's a little wild in the beginning but uh paul's gotten a lot better he's become a lot better race car double brandon davis this year and uh and uh sprint x and okay so the window is open so the p here's the first round of pit stops rolling in the way the pit stops work is there's a delta from pit in pit outs 92 seconds that gives them 47 seconds in the box to get the driver change done and you don't want to you you don't want to be short on the stop and this is where the team comes in because if the team messes up uh you got to drive through a penalty it's a huge penalty so the stop needs to go well and correct me if i'm wrong there is a one second joker that can be used once per week once per weekend right so that basically means yes the delta for pitting to pit out 92 seconds if you are or i guess technically under but by less than one second you can get away with that once you do it again and you're in trouble so teams ideally would keep that in their back pocket for if they're in a close race with somebody uh then then they could they could hopefully release the car to take advantage of that but you really don't want to play one second only one exactly so in a drive-through penalty and one second it's really not worth it so they told him when to go and now he's heading down got spit speed limiter on and they watch all this uh timing watches all this so if they're and they review everybody so you can't get around so matt travis looks like 93.5 seconds so definitely safe uh derek deboer looks like lost some time on that stop they were at 97 seconds um kenny murillo they came in at 132.8 so that is within a second of hitting that threshold they're safe as well uh looks like the rintec guys lost a little bit of time they were in in 80 seconds that is slower than you would like to see same for the wr team paul terry patrick burns crew that noah sport team they are good they were right on the money 132.486 so just to shade over 92 seconds as we take a look here at sean gibbons and sam owen a new pairing in the am class sean the reigning cam champion and found himself a new co-driver this year and that's that's one of the strongest m teams there sean has been excellent i mean sean's just he's a real student of the game i mean he works at it he trains he tests and he gets better all the time nearly halfway through this pit window we should explain there are 10 minutes in which these teams are required to come in and make these changes you miss that and you are in some deep trouble you can the the cut-off line effectively is the pit entry line so as long as you are past the pit entry mark when the clock gets down to 25 minutes remaining in this race then you're safe you don't have to get your service completed before then but you do have to make sure that you are in the pit lane past that commit line in order for it to count this is a real vote of confidence in matt travis for the team to keep him out there oftentimes in a pro-am lineup you pick to get the pro in because you figure you can gain more time with the pro in the car for more laps the fact that they keep matt out there and he's running the laps the way that he is speaks volume to what he what he can do uh apparently their swap is already made excuse me i miss i miss that i see now that uh and then it's changed so apologies there nevertheless he is off the path but now so is jason hart now jason hart's in the car and jason arguably is one of the best gaming drivers in this country let's get down to penn lane amanda busek has an update well as jack was just talking about jason hart i talked to him briar till he got in the car and i asked how's he gonna build off of what matt travis has already been able to do as temperatures continue to fall here at sonoma he really wants to make sure that he hits all of his points on this track keeping all four of those pirellis glued to the track that's a good point the good news when you go out normally you think pit stop you go out cold tires well these tires have already been run for a half hour effectively at this point so there's probably more grip for the second driver to start his or her stint than there is for the starting driver taking the green flag i mean right now it's theirs to lose sure so um he just needs to manage it and not make any mistakes you know basically bring it home even from there there's a lot of laughs left but uh and anything can happen there could be a caution bunch of field up and the thing starts all over but uh you know with this comfortable lead which doesn't happen often this is very rare i'd say today is a great day for them to capitalize on this opportunity yeah only a yellow flag it would seem is going to interfere with this although you shouldn't speak too soon you just don't know until it's all said and done james clay keeps that car out at the front of the field and well i think he'll be coming in a little bit later he's got more experience in this gt4 bmw than nick the monster does uh a two-time st class champion in another series in recent years but still learning this a little bit learning to probably tire a little bit which is new to him and here comes james extending this as far as they feel comfortable with because the other thing to keep in mind a full course yellow can kind of catch you out sometimes if you stay out of it too long yeah that's the risk you take so do you do you dive in when the window opens or do you stay a little longer let's see it's always let's see what the world team can do with its stop looking at some of the ones that have happened something seems to have gone very strange if this timing screen is correct with derek deboer's hand over to spencer pompey that was done in a minute and 10 seconds so i'm skeptical uh that seems like a pretty big way to miss it so we'll have to keep an eye on that one uh for for that trg team here comes the james play car handing over to nick vellante massachusetts native 43 year old making his sro america probably gt4 america debut doing this pit stop here just a couple of minutes before the end of the window okay let's see [Music] see if we can see anything from james clay's handover to nick gallant i'm seeing it at the moment oh big big moment there a collision on the pit lane they released nick right into the path of that st racing car i suspect race control is gonna take a look at that one that could be a penalty right there and that's where you said it the teams really come into this in the pit stop and it's not just calculating how to get in and out it's not just helping to make the driver change as quick as possible but being alert not releasing the car into traffic that was dangerous to happen on a crowded pit lane oh i'm sure race control is going to have something to say about that just a couple minutes left in the pit window and with that here's a replay let's take a look you talked me through what you see here jack okay so he was released uh and uh that was pretty close i don't know i don't think how to release the car you hate to wait because anytime sitting still is costly but not as costly as a potential penalty we will see i don't want to speak too soon i'm sure race control will take their time and evaluate that but i will say that i'm ready to absolve the st racing car of any responsibilities that they make into each other right so it's true so it's a good point cost a little time but it was close i'm sure race control didn't like it they'll probably have a little discussion with the crew chief but i don't think there'll be a penalty here this is the dexter racing car stationary for just a moment warren dexter getting behind the wheel now and warren is also very good it's not quite as fast as ryan but not that much slower so i mean once again their first race new team not a new team but with a new car yes they've been running genetta's the last couple of years never done a full season but they tell me they're in for the long haul this year really committed to it and they might even have a second car at various points you know they're not fancy they they they're kind of they speak their soft team they're a single car team they put all the efforts into the car to produce results there we go side by side murillo and dexter the two teams doing battle there and advantage to the dexter car at least for now that is a swap of position they were running in the inverse order prior to this round of pit stops so the dexter racing crew got it done and credit to warren for getting out there getting on it quick and jumping ahead of the murillo racing mercedes with christian shimshack behind the wheel now and christian is is very fast he's i'd say the faster of the two or he's to pro on the pros of pro-am and these are the pros so very experienced driver as well and uh it has been very impressive paired with matt fosnot quite frequently in recent years for this team and that was a championship caliber combination in the past so let's take a look at how this is running is out in front i do think he did pit because tim barber i thought started that car he did start the car but how he cycled to the front is a little bit beyond me and hopefully we can get to the bottom of that i think we're going to get a refresh here on timing chris here he lost that spot to warren dexter and just had another car go by the patriotic liveried cayman sweeping by except we had a drive-through penalty coming for the 89 car aaron povaledo behind the wheel at the moment we're looking at it right here that's the rimtech car yeah it looks like they uh they didn't shut the engine off they have to turn the motor off before they do the driving machine part of the regulation as well first race weekend of the year oftentimes you've got new crew members learning new roles and learning the everyone is excited and oh i just forgot to turn it off you know this was the car that patrick burns started and it is a russell walker behind the wheel he drove with his father david on occasion last year including some class wins that have not mistaken indeed picked up a couple of them back up to the front where jason hart has full control over this race so the 22 has been cycled down i think that was just timing and scoring needing to update and so that makes more sense cole cerallo listed at the moment in seventh place which fits to where he was before the pit stop so yeah that uh that all adds up that's an amazing lead yeah i mean 23 seconds i've never seen that kind of lead in sprint x i mean it's an amazing lead and i'd say catching jason hart it's an impossible task at this point now the rest of the field is just hoping for a yellow to erase that gap but time is running out 22 minutes left in this one hour race and we drop back to take a look at the 36 car nick galante now we go back uh up to warren dexter second overall but crucially first in the silver class it would mean so much for this little team based out of nebraska dexter racing family run operation if they were able to pick up a win on debut with this car at least oh yeah i i'm a real dexter fan i i've watched these guys and uh they're trying to build a brand they've got a good one trying to get some equity in this business and uh every time they come out they do a great job and they bring a good car it's always fast and uh once again they're proving it christian shimshak here giving chase running in third and second in silver so the running order as it stands it's a pro-am car then a couple of silvers then a pro and then how about this an amcar fifth overall and yes and we do have different classes but everyone is running the same gt4 cars there's no performance difference based on the class and that rewards an am entry like walker and byrne when they put things together they can run up and fight for an overall podium or even a win it can happen i mean uh it's i don't think it's common but it certainly can happen i mean a top five for an am uh entry is excellent as we mentioned that is incredibly strong some big-name drivers we haven't even talked about memo gidley former indycar driver is in the field listed as in ham because he hasn't been racing much in recent years after a big injury there's ryan dexter uh with a member of the team great opening stint from ryan now looking over some of the data but just kevin conway i mentioned a lot of nascar cup experience racing in the am class so there's talent up and down this field as we look at russell walker now on the move making his way past one of the toyota supras and that's the signal sponsored forward performance car great to have toyota in the series with this new supra and they offer a really competitive uh contingency program to reward good performances if you run this car yes and that little toyota is an excellent restaurant [Music] it's just starting out now this is our first season and trd is behind it and it's i can't say enough about the effort they're putting behind that i have no doubt that that will be a very very successful car absolutely toyota announced back at the end of last year for any team running in this series three thousand dollars contingency in addition to the normal price money for first two thousand per second and a thousand dollars for third place and additional money if you were able to win a driver's title or manufacturer's title for toyota and they're very invested they've got parts trucks here they're looking after their customers it's a full program for toyota more and more of these manufacturers see sports car racing and customer racing specifically as uh the povolato car makes a move there as a chance to have some marketing for their cars but also they can make some money with customer racing selling cars selling parts servicing the cars it's at least not necessarily going to end up in the red plus you've got the marketing uh component to it and i think that's why gt3 and gt4 have grown so much exactly i mean it's it's if there is such thing as cost-effective racing this is cost-effective pro level racing and it's racing at its best when you like i said at the beginning of the show if you do well in this series you you're it it's not by chance here's and there's racing going on all over the track i mean there's another pass i mean there's always somebody to race with yeah that's the number triple eight i think making that move that is one of the reared in racing cars chris mccoy jeff westfall talking about great pro drivers in this field jeff is extremely experienced here is galante coming into the pit lane there's your unsafe release that's what we talked about remember the contact with the st racing uh we were wondering yeah like what i said they shouldn't released him and i think at a certain point maybe there wasn't contact or much contact here's a look at it again but he still was unsafe the driver didn't know the driver was told go right and they saw the other car coming and race control looked at that and said you know that was wrong that is the judgment so a costly drive-through penalty here 50 kilometers per hour is the speed limit in the pit lane it takes 45 seconds at 50 kph that hurts that's a big penalty looks like amanda might have more on that story from bimmerworld what do you have for us yeah and we just saw the 36 car go through here on uh pit lane but from the official the inbound car has the right-of-way so what happened there was a pre-release and that's why the drive-through penalty was enforced that'll be good okay matches pretty well with what we were talking about makes a lot of sense and and again nothing the st racing car could have done in that situation and frankly not much nick could have done either you're told to go you go that's what you're trying to do yeah but it is a team sport nick never saw the car he had no idea and the car coming in was pretty surprised yes it sure appeared that way taking a look here aston martin versus bmw [Music] well the torello car stream is ahead of yeah trying to catch up with uh regular food she drives with sean uh quinlan right so i don't think that that car yeah there might have been a lab car in the mix there apologies everyone it's well week one of of the season and still learning some of these new liveries so uh bear with us we're learning on the fly 15 minutes remaining here in the first race of the season it's all nola sport up at the front chase at heart over warren dexter kristen shibshak third overall but further back it is still a fierce battle these are all four position at various points andrew davis has taken over the number two car that's from the gmg racing stable running with jason bell another aston martin right behind him that's the number 59 that's paul terry driving that car i think and a great mix of cars i mean from the top you've got porsche aston uh mercedes bmw porsche again and uh you know it's all racing equally this is for fourth position in silver chandler hole in the bmw mad celia houg in the ktm and ktm really nimble not necessarily known for straight line speed but able to get it done in the braking zone mads really late on the brakes clears the bmw before the corner give him fourth place in silver that also is good enough well not quite sure where that is in the overall running order but uh still right on the fringe of the top 10 i think right now he's six the ktm is six look at this traffic jam further back in the field [Music] once again i don't think that's a leave that car behind him and mclaren sure where he's running chandler seems to be struggling just a little bit and i wonder if the tires got used up i talked to some of the bmw teams this weekend jack and a couple of them mentioned to me that they felt like their tire drop off was greater than some of the other cars in the field they were telling me one of the teams at least close to six seconds difference between the first lap of a brand new pirelli to the end of a one-hour race and that's true and the bmws struggle a little bit more because they're higher and they kind of roll a little bit you know and this is not a great track for the bmw although the weather's cool today the track's cool and that's really helping them out you can see they're running up front i think they'll take this i mean they're yeah chandler hall's fifth in silver um and but we've seen we see leofoo's running up at fifth at the moment second in pro-am most of the bmw drivers i spoke to were talking about this as a just try and maximize it or minimize the damage i guess they recognized to your point this might not be the best track for the enforcement still just trying to come out of this with as many points as possible chandler hall a bit of a reprieve here as the battle heats up behind and the mclaren backing out of it just a bit to try and help some of these lead black cars through patrick gallagher though not quite as lucky it's pinned behind in the rs1 not lad racing aston martin and i believe patrick will get by him in a hurry and there he goes right on cue okay what are we looking at here four bush toyota with the smoosh racing toyota behind this is the nascar rookie of the year from 10 11 years ago kevin conway driving that car took a peek to the inside a moment ago and now we're looking at leofooge following walker that is for fourth overall and behind them anthony cook on the charge this b sport racing team second year for the team kitten not just a driver but he and his wife manage the team co-driver brian putt is the owner of this team and kenton told me they put a lot of work in the off season they took the car to a shaker rig they feel like they really made some strides and they're ready to go they had some good runs last year but not that breakthrough this could be the time yeah and i'll tell you putting a car on a shaker rig thick evidence big dividends with that but it costs a lot and if you didn't there's a reason it's it's worth it it's worth it they're seeing it so far kenton is really a fast driver he's really really good proving that time and time again he's taken but he's got to pass greg leofoosh which is also a very yeah yes so we got an update down in pit lane i think patrick byrne the co-driver of russell walker is standing by with amanda oh yeah and they're currently leading the m class good shape up to be a really good day for nola sport but as we round into 11 minutes left in competition patrick when you watch russell on track what are you seeing out of y'all's effort yeah he's doing a great job he's running consistent laps i mean it's all about getting to the end of the race here so we're ahead of the competition so just conserving those tires and putting down consistent 50s and that'll keep us ahead of everyone and finish where we need to be um you know boys and nola sport obviously we have the overall right now and then in class the boys and all the sport putting down some fast cars this weekend they're doing a really good job car is easy to stay under us so we just keep it there and put down those laps thank you no worries thank you thank you very much amanda good to hear from patrick byrne seems to be enjoying his racing and why not leading in class fourth overall but uh they've got some company coming looks like this battle for position is catching him ever so slightly leofooge in the bmw then the aston martin of kenton cook who were talking about a moment ago dropping back again that's the smoosh card having conway and that's toyota supra chasing down the crossbow with mancillion driving 17 car is not on the lead lap it would appear but further down the order i've gotta love that red white blue old glory on the front of the car and here's a good fight too with andrew davis trying to hold off the 59 car and the 59 it still says paul terry is that right i don't think so brandon davis yeah that's what i thought brandon davis uh should be behind the wheel of that car as a matter of fact and there is jerome lincoln in the black swan car just went with the fastest lap of the race and they had to start last they did because they didn't qualify a little problem this morning in a practice session couldn't get the car out for qualifying so they had to start last and uh you know when you got when it comes to blinking mullen he's one of the best drivers in the world no question about it i might be the only driver with a gold ranking in this field i'm not sure about that but i i think that might be true crowdstrike fastest lap as you see on the screen that last time by unused tires for jerome bleach one of the best gt racers you'll find anywhere has had opportunities to be factory driver a factory driver but effectively just turns it down he likes racing anything he can and likes the freedom he and tim pappas his co-driver they've run together a lot they've gone bathurst other races overseas here in the states of course and uh drone just an excellent excellent gt driver no matter what you put him in takes a peek up the inside i know that car is quick but had to start at the back missed qualifying yesterday jack do you know why uh they had a little they had a little issue on racetrack and had to replace a few parts and pieces didn't hurt it bad but it took a little time to repair it that's too bad but a nice recovery to this point jerome running right now in the 13th spot has that car up to seventh in pro-am and has two positions up in front of him if he can get them has eight minutes left to try and do so lap traffic up ahead that's going to throw a wrench into this and a couple other cars entering the fray this is some juicy stuff heading into turn four yeah he's got him stacked up the 17 cars got him stacked up behind it but they really won't buy 17 car racing out of the trg stable i think that's robert orcott driving alongside jim rappaport this year and just drifts a little bit wide there in the carousel opens the door for a couple of the front runners to get through lika mullen gonna pounce as well drone he's got that red mist in his eyes i'm sure he can see his prey just up the road he's uh he's a hard one to withhold and withstand i mean when he when he gets you in here in his crosshairs more often than not he gets the job done should mention the lead has only grown jason hart over warren dexter now 19 seconds this is a pass four position brandon on andrew davis don't believe there's any relation there no that is four positions mentioned looks like fifth in the pro-am standings here comes andrew back on the attack and polika mullin bouncing gonna try and make the long way around work it is awfully dusty out there and it looked like it just couldn't get the grease but he's got position now watch what happens going up the hill that's it exactly able to hang tight that was a nice move that was a pro move right there stays on the flank and gets the job done it wasn't about that corner it was about the position and where i'm going to be at the top of the hill and look where he is matt baldwin knows what he's talking about he's won a few races over the years pleasure to have you with yeah for this one down under six minutes remaining we'll keep an eye on what policeman can do now up to six in the pro-am standings the 450 and the 15. yeah that's brett strom in the in the 450 caller that's uh his teammate is uh darren jorgensen and they're they're going to run for this fourth season this year that's great they should tend to bounce in and out of various championships all over the world exactly exactly right but ken looks like he's got it in there uh okay he finally got by not for position there but nevertheless important puts one car in between kent and cook chasing russell walker and again russell walker in the am category not really racing with these other guys for class position his closest pursuer is back in 10th overall yeah by the way's behind right and he knows he's got a p1 situation so he just needs to stay out of trouble and bring it brave and basically bring it home i don't want to fight too hard when these pro amp bars are coming see the glare on the camera lens that's what these drivers are dealing with in this part of the track as well you might run a tent advisor or something like that to try and help some drivers wear sunglasses under the helmets but uh it's still a challenge especially this time of day yeah and that hill that's a big hill that's a big steep hill decline 140 feet of elevation change around this place from highest point to lowest point that just adds to the challenge of sonoma raceway what a day for nola they got love in their seats here we go jerome believable and chasing down experience versus youth kenton actually in spite of his youth actually he does have a great deal of experience came up through the mazda ranks at various times uh got into prototype racing won a class victory at the 24 hours of daytona four or five years ago they were on the podium this year yes yes you're right and has not really had that big break and kind of has just made that break for himself helping with this b sport racing team which as mentioned showed very very well this is for position i think on the smooch car might be wrong on that i don't think so this all day was 59 o'clock oh yes apologies so actually we're looking at davis there not cook something like that but you're right so please come on chasing down davis rather so sorry about that folks bear with me first weekend on the job we'll get better as we go along oh you're doing a great job thanks three minutes here to go still plenty of positions up before grabs keep an eye on jerome is awfully fast and he's just trying to get it to as far as he can get it so like one speed fast it's funny there at this point you know almost like i would say the pulse i would say to brandon davis just let it go that could make a difference it's true two and a half minutes left probably this lap and one more for this man no that is four position for point wise he needs to keep that position [Music] paired with matt travis the last handful of seasons what success they have had it's been a dynamic duo in so many respects but just short of the championship two points shy one year ago it came down to the last lap the last two years and they came up second both times they won four races in class last year they won seven two years ago so 11 wins over the last couple of years and no championship to show for it i know that motivates them catching the back of the field for two but the lead is such that he can take his time and jason hart's a veteran he knows how to handle this oh they know how much time is left and they know what the split is believe me let's just bring it home jason i think this is the penultimate lap we're waiting on confirmation there i don't think they were shown the the white flag this time so uh if i'm not mistaken should have two more times past the start finish line before the checker comes out [Music] dropping back like a mullet is there davis has what a car length advantage at this point and see what jerome can do under the brakes going to show the nose up the inside not close enough davis closes the door lets it drift a little bit wide try and get it back to power looked like some oversteer there from the aston and here comes blacomo and our place to make it work around the outside but he's going to try the rapid dutchman gets to the flank of davis but has to fall back in line as they climb the hill brandon's pretty good and varied experience in a lot of different cars it's prepared for a situation like this it's fun to watch this it is nip and tuck between two very accomplished drivers [Music] back to the leader let's see if what flag we get jason hart number 47 nola sport cayman coming around to take the white flag two and a half miles to go that's what separates noah sport from victory in the season opening race and i would suspect that jason will just follow those three cars in front of him he doesn't want any part of those guys this is the pursuing car warren dexter behind the wheel i think he's going to be just fine with second overall because he's the leader in the silver class right and has that by a pretty solid margin over christian shim shack just back in the shot i think a moment ago but heck of a debut weekend for this team with this car and here are your am leaders russell walker will take this car home patrick brown great opening stint another noble sport entry and i'll tell you what jack you called it you said this is a good track for the caymans and they have shown very well yeah through the years this is actually this is our favorite track i was about to say you know a little something about the caymans going back a few years hart is going to make a move to the outside of this thing that's not what you want to see when you're the leader on the final lap of the race with a massive lead did have a spin heart able to miss it part in his throat i am sure through the s's now for the final time i bet that pulse is racing i'll teach you for trying to make that move he is just going to sit there and say i'm just going to follow these guys to the line nobody's coming jason just take your time here they come through the chicane just a [Music] that's very safe that's a very safe move right there it's no problem so through the hairpin and for the third straight year nola sport opens the season with a race one win they did it at circuit of the americas the last two years here now in 2021 victory for noah's port at sonoma raceway here comes your silver class leader second overall the brothers dexter their father zane looks over this team and they've got their first sro america win congratulations to the little team from nebraska back to the nola sport car running currently here in the fifth overall position the leaders in the am category how about it patrick byrne the late call-up to join this man russell walker looks like a pretty good decision to say yes they will win the m class here at sonoma to kick off the 2021 pirelli gt4 america season [Applause] and what do you think about that toyota first time kevin conway third in am first race out tell you what a new team that's great he is a very good driver his co-driver young john jesbray not a lot of experience just a season of mx5 cup no racing before that and straight into the fire of probably gt4 america turned in a good sin of his own gave the car in good condition to kevin conway kevin got the job done i know he and the rest of that smooth racing team will be thrilled with that resultant speaking of thrill i cannot wait for our amanda music to get her first interview with matt travis who in addition to being a fantastic race car driver is a hoot to talk to yeah and we'll frequently work in references to motorsports movies to the post race interviews so amanda be on your toes something is coming and he's got the the the puma from talladega nights on the hood of that car so i suspect that might be the direction this is coming so you see jason driving offline and driving outside where all the dust is he's wanted to pick up as much marbles as he can why would he do that what's the secret just in case they're a little a little short on ride height every little bit packs makes those tires a little bigger it's just a little insurance policy you see what he's doing he's not the only one doing it if you notice you're giving the reason and you know just all those little things when they start to measure maybe it's a couple millimeters might be the difference might be let's take a look at the results here matt travis jason hart your winners to open the season and probably gt4 america ryan and warren dexter great job by the brothers teaming up to finish in second but win the silver class second and silver third overall to marilla racing christian shimshack and kenny murillo probably yourself on the wound i know they're disappointed with the way that their porsche entry wins and again gotta give a call to the am class winners russell walker teaming up with patrick byrne they come home fifth overall and a dominant win in the m category as you take a look at the teams manufacturers and the gaps at the end of this one look at nola's board i mean can't say enough about it the gauntlet has been prone to say the least dropping down a little bit further john miller chandler hall showed well in the opening stint but chandler seemed like just didn't have that card of his liking late in the going grey newell his debut in pro racing teaming up with the veteran ian james they bring that heart of racing car home in 20th representing aston martin definitely deserved some recognition for what they did another team making its debut random vandals racing paul sparta and al carter uh teaming up there good job for that crew in their first ever pro level race something to build off of for sure and hopefully we'll be seeing gizmo the raccoon their mascot which you can see all over their car at the front of the field here before too much longer that's your race winner or at least one of them jason hart getting out of the car he's getting that helmet off his co-driver matt travis should be nearby and as soon as amanda's got it all stan set up i think she does now let's get down to amanda with our first pirelli gt4 america victory lane interview of 2021 and that and jason you brought it underneath the checkered flag but right on that last lap there was a spin right in front of you how much was your heart going at that moment i was pretty worried there's a bunch of cars there's a lap car wanting to get by which was fine by me and then our teammate getting spun by the mclaren which was interesting he gave him plenty of room but you know we run a really strict nutrition plan here at nola sport and it's all about piss and excellence and that's what we're doing congratulations thank you how about that uh chasing heart taking over the mantle of the quotester for matt travis that was a bit of a surprise apologies for the language but everyone's very excited to say the least a great start to the season and amea culpa from me to jason i said why are you making that move on that lap evidently he was actually letting a lap car through so he was being the responsible one my apologies so those are the dexter racing boys uh warren climbing out for many years had some long flowing locks but he's got those trimmed up said it's just a little bit easier yeah and hasn't slowed him down any maybe made him a little bit quicker brother ryan right there alongside can't wait to hear from them they've had success in trans am they've had success in club level racing but this is a big step for that team and and big for them to get the silver class win and we'll be hearing from them in a moment in fact we'll hear from them right now amanda warren i'll kick it off with you since you brought it in here a great debut for you guys here this weekend quite a margin on uh the car sitting in the second spot how much confidence that give you heading into tomorrow um a ton a ton yeah the car felt great even down to the last five minutes is still still clicking them off so no i feel good going into tomorrow a repeat will be great but we start a little bit farther back so we'll have a little bit of work cut out for us for sure and ryan in the driver change was there any information you were able to relate to your brother ahead of his his journey yeah you know i mean the car was feeling really good we were able to hand it over a great car which was able to keep good pace with my brother and you know i was able to take it to the end and hopefully he can hand me the same car tomorrow and we can do a repeat yeah thank you much thank you really good stuff out of those two and warren's making me feel a little bit better about losing out to him in a duel in that spec miata race six years ago oh there you go looks like he was pretty good all along the finishing second to warren is actually making me look a little bit yeah so thank you uh and we'll i'm sure hear from our am winners here in just a moment but i can't say enough how impressive it is this is one of the smaller teams in the series extra racing absolutely and uh they have announced their presence they're gonna be a team to watch and you know from my point of view series manager point of view are you happy no i'm happy no wrecked cars i mean we got a little bumping and grinding but nothing to crack nothing crazy and how about our am class winners also from nola sport we'll get there in just a second uh amanda is standing by and i think we'll be hearing from patrick byrne and russell walker here shortly a really good run for them and completing a solid day for nola sport winners in two classes including overall there's matt travis now joining jason hart he'll be a happy guy and it sounds like amanda is ready with our am class winners amanda and i'm standing by with russell walker at the moment congratulations on the win but it was a last minute decision to bring up patrick byrne seeing how he handled the first part of that race how happy are you with that decision whoo very happy work he did great uh it's been a pleasure working for them so far like like you said this deal came together monday my dad and i ran the season last year and he had a hand surgery and really wanted to be here but it didn't recover in time so thankfully patrick was able to step up to the plate and absolutely delivered so i want to say thank you dad wish you were here and uh the team is amazing this is a great race patrick on monday you found out you're headed to sonoma on saturday you're leaving with a win how satisfying is that yeah it's fantastic and uh yeah thanks dad i mean the seat was open fantastic it was great i really appreciate it no he did a great job and the the entire team set up such a great car so now it's extremely satisfying to show up here uh great track car for this track and the cars on top so congratulations to our pirelli gt4 winners well done all involved congratulations to all of our podium finishers in class winners here are the highlights from the opening round of the 2021 pirelli gt4 america season nola sport on pole and and they really weren't challenged in this race field streaming up the hill a clean start not so clean here for elias sabo had an off a little bit earlier in the race contact some damage this was a big moment it took the bimmerworld car out of contention a drive-through penalty for an unsafe release for what you saw a moment ago great fights up and down the field bmw versus aston martin right here through the yeses here's jerome glicamon making the outside work in that black swan racing porsche cayman able to get by uh andrew davis gmg racing aston martin the first race weekend for that team with that car blinkimo and put in a great performance black swan has to be happy coming from the back they're able to make their way up quite a ways and that right on the final lap in front of our overall leader not what jason hart wanted to see but he keeps it clean and crosses the line first under the checkered flag nola sports celebrates two class wins to open the pirelli gt4 america season you mentioned it earlier jack class manager is a happy guy a lot of happy folks up and down the pit lane and excited to see what tomorrow great start to the season and uh look forward to another great race tomorrow excited for tomorrow if it's anything like today it should be a ton of fun there's a great look at the verdant landscape here at sonoma and it will play host to a full day of action again tomorrow thank you so much for joining us for everyone who's played a part in our broadcast here today uh we appreciate you tuning in and we'll be back for more sro america action tomorrow on gt world [Music] so [Music] you

Channel: GTWorld

Views: 41,919

Keywords: BlancpainGT, Blancpain, GT, GT3, Endurance, Sprint, Series, Cup, Motorsports, watch, FIA, driver, sportscar, racecar, car, events, Spa, 24h, team, europe, pro-am, pro, racetrack

Id: u0FNDZfCOzg

Length: 76min 15sec (4575 seconds)

Published: Sat Mar 06 2021