RACE 1 | PIRELLI GT4 AMERICA | INDIANAPOLIS 2021

[Music] [Music] at the corner of 16th and georgetown in speedway indiana lies the famed indianapolis motor speedway where this weekend the 2021 pirelli gt4 america season reaches its checkered flag hello everyone welcome to the racing capital of the world my name is ryan marine calvin fish is alongside in the booth just two races left championships have been decided but if last year is any indication this ims road course is a perfect fit for gt4 cars cal well we saw some fireworks here last year ryan we expect the same here this afternoon there's a lot on the line in terms of the minor placings in the championship standings and uh there's some also some great story storylines that we're going to get to a little bit later let's go on down and check in with some of the story lines on the grid earlier today amanda busick caught up with the marilla racing duo well the marilla racing team comes into indianapolis as driver champions in the silver class in gt4 and kenny when you think of the season at hand it wasn't without adversity that you guys won this championship how did you push through those moments and get it done yeah i just had all the confidence in the world in our team i knew that we could do it this is something we just needed to execute and uh really happy with the team i think this is just a the results that we all work hard for and i definitely want to dedicate the championship to uh my new nephew my beautiful sister just is about to have a baby so uh dedicating this championship to him well christian when we think of this championship you guys were able to wrap it up a whole event earlier in sebring what allowed you to dominate well i think we had good preparation our team was from race one i think ready to ready to get out of the blocks and and drive fast so we did uh i think we did what we sought to do from race one came executed well and i think you know we weren't always the fastest car out there but i think it was our preparation and execution that kind of you know brought us home so we were able to do it through good preparation and and hard work together you know this this team is great to be a part of and it's a nice family atmosphere with kenny and his dad so it's uh it's it's great to be part of this team so we're super happy you're 20 21 champions appreciation silver class champions for the season still some work yet to do they want to close out on a high calvin good qualifying effort for this race from kenny murillo they will start fourth in that bright orange mercedes amg gt4 yeah and as christian alluded to they got off the blocks quickly five wins plus four podium runs this year so that's why they have been crowned the champions early but they've certainly had some threats from a number of teams and this is the team that's been hot they're currently uh third in the points looking to break through and gets runner-up had a couple of wins on the year and this is a special race weekend for this team classic bmw going away after this race the franchise has been sold but the fast track racing team will return for next season so that's the great news it is yes the dealership has been sold but this race team that's operated under that name for so many years and had so much success set to continue into 2022 and beyond but you can see some changes there with fast track racing on the side of that car and another car in the silver class calvin that's really come on strong late is the one that will start second overall in this race that's conquest racing west which made its debut at road america the silver mercedes to the right of the screen makai stevens turned in a great qualifying performance to start second overall and he and colin mullen have quickly turned into a potent pairing unbelievable fourth and third on the opening weekend followed that up with a pair of runner-up finishes and then two wins swept the weekend at sebring looking for even more here today exactly so so as mentioned number of championships already decided this is another one of them the pro-am title went to this car and the driver pairing of jason hart and matt travis back at sebring and calvin we talked about it then this one was a long time coming two near misses in the last two seasons and this time they get the ticket punched and they do it early they do five wins on the bounce to start the season and then they swept at sebring to really put the icing on the cake and they're way ahead of everyone else and when you think about the competition level and the standard of the drivers in this class that is really a remarkable statement for that whole team very quickly at the start of the season rattled off all those wins and never looked back did not relinquish that points lead here in the 2021 season should also mention the am class champions brand new team smooch racing with kevin conway and john jesbray they've been excellent winning at least one race in class each weekend of the season so far and they've got a great qualifying effort but yes this is some dramatic car i think for the capstone car that was qualified third overall the pull sitters in the am class chris wilson set to start it we saw him pull into his pit box here as they leave to go out on the first of two formation laps this is not what this team was looking for well he felt something to miss this they've got the mechanic in there in the foot box trying to figure out what's going on and he's out of the car that looks like day may be over not good news at all for one of the front-running am-class cars as has been the case all season but uh john berry was set to be joining chris wilson behind the wheel of that car it's primarily been john allen doing the co-driving duties this though is the champion elect pairing of kevin conway and john jesbray brand new team but with some big time help behind the scenes with tony ave's group helping to run that operation calvin and they've capped off this season in style winning the championship early they're using this weekend though as a chance to see where they stack up relative to the competition and the other classes we know they will not be an m-class pairing next year based on the success they've had well a great team a great driver lineup seven wins on the year and you're right they're looking at that next step it's going to be a big one up to the pro-am class potentially your silver class depending on how kevin conway gets graded for next season so i think bill riley has got great support with the tony harvey racing group there and uh just a brilliant season that toyota super is a lovely little race car great platform seems to uh be easy on the tires and very strong so far this season starting grid up on the screen keep an eye out for your favorite team and driver but we should spend a moment talking about this ims road course it's a slightly different pro course configuration than we were here the last time calvin and it sounds like as long as you're not driving a bmw that's welcome news the bmw camp wasn't quite as thrilled well uh when you get to turn five it sort of changes direction there's a couple of twists and turns to uh before you end up on the hulman boulevard again so this is the sector we're looking at so before you kind of go straight across the top of the screen through a very far chicane now you come through that right-hander and or sort of like a sweeping left but the keys to set up and that turns 6a this woman you're just looking at and the horizon there that is really a key corner onto hulman boulevard you want to carry a lot of speed through there so it's important to get the power down have the car change direction through there so bmw is a little bit better on the long fast swooping corners versus the uh quick change of direction stuff but it's also got good torque off the corner so i don't think they're too worried about it i think the big thing this weekend maybe tie degradation by adding those few corners into the mix the aston martins this weekend have a bit more power but a lot more weight so adding those corners could play in the tire degradation factor here but very cool conditions nice races race conditions here this weekend all in all it comes down to 14 corners 2.59 miles is the course distance using that additional loop at the beginning of the lap and then this duck into the infield as well this actually turned one and turned two and into the beginning of the infield section at the front part of the course this is the second of two formation laps here before we take the green flag in the penultimate round of the championship for pirelli gt4 america if you're new to the championship the race format it's a two-driver format 60-minute race with a mandatory pit stop in the middle but calvin no tire changes no refueling just that driver change during the pit stop but nevertheless as simple as it may sound we've seen that driver change in the pit stop decide races it certainly does and most of these teams are well versed now it's the end of the year so you've kind of knocked off the rough edges in terms of your strategy and how you efficient you are on pit lane but this is where the lower graded driver starts in the pro-am driver lineup so typically we see the window is between 25 and 35 minutes into this race when the mandatory pissed off has to happen and with this pro-am lineup you typically see the amps coming a little bit earlier from day one when the pro start tomorrow they'll stay a little bit deeper into the race keep an eye on that strategy as it plays out but it's about go time here at the indianapolis motor speedway the lamborghini euros safety car has started to accelerate away just that little bit this is oval one and two on the south end of the racetrack then this dive here back into the infield for a quick switchback this was first put into this road course configuration for when moto gp came to ims many years ago but has been incorporated into the road course layout for cars ever since getting ready to go but maybe a bit of confusion missing the capstone car calvin as to where these cars should line up yeah i think morillo's unsure whether he needs to slide over to that third position and james clay needs to leave that slot open so before they get the acceleration run there needs to be a gap he's going to be on early clay will be starting from what will be now the fourth position and he's very aggressive on these opening laps tom hansing on the picture-in-picture box there he's no stranger to this flag stand he's flagged several indianapolis 500s and he throws the green on the second to last round at the borelli gt4 america championship the field accelerating down towards the breaking zone in turn one great getaway from the pull sitter stephen mcaleer but it's side by side behind and as soon as we've seen this year you get uh mclaren up on the front row when he kind of takes off a scolded cat everyone kind of tip two and here through these early corners tire temps aren't quite there yet as james walker in the red line oil bmw just a little bit off track but able to wrangle it back looks like three wide further back into the sequence through turns one two and three now this is the run towards that new loop five six and six a that crucial corner that will take them on to the holmen boulevard everyone kind of settling in right now feeling their way through haven't raced this sector before for most of the drivers in the field here this weekend so they got to kind of find their way you can see they're allowed to use all of that concrete area off to the exit of 6a but up front macklin big date deep dive there that's tim barber in the 22 he runs wide that opens the door up there for james clay to jump through and move into the second spot and it punches the field up behind big change there but it's all behind stephen mclear who continues to lead now this is a battle here between the conquest racing car of makai stevens that's the silver mercedes he's got the dexter racing car of warren dexter to the outside give the spot to dexter yeah and they're p4 in the championship right now only two points behind p3 so they're on the attack and i think the reason we saw tim barber going for it he's got to certainly have a big day here otherwise that 11 car that leads this race could take over as we see the 79 with drama here early that's chris gumprekt i believe behind the wheel of a car he shares with kyle marcelli and we go full course yellow here just two minutes into the race the biggest gains here at the start but that's heartbreaking for the rintec motorsports team calvin that's had so many difficulties really not of their making as this season has gone along a lot of heartbreak for them with crashes and mechanical issues and never really a chance to show their true potential yeah and been a bit of a surprise actually because marceli is an ace in one of these guys won a gt4 championship in north america last year so well we expected more certainly we heard from amanda busick earlier in the show she'll be back with us later in the weekend but filling in abele down in the pit lane for us here this afternoon is kyle heyer welcome to the broadcast kyle hi ryan thanks the number 16 was driven by chris wilson for capstone motorsports but that car did not leave pit lane it has a broken pedal box adjuster so the team tells me that they're going to replace it but they're going to start a couple laps down with chris wilson behind the wheel oh wow that had to be dramatic you put your foot on the gas pedal and suddenly the whole pedal box probably slid forward that's why he jumped out he realized chris is not the tallest guy in the world he wasn't going to be reaching those pedals when they're deep into that foot box this yellow might help them at least a little bit not losing quite as much ground while they make that fix in the pit lane this is coming to a halt if there's another car involved here cause i'm surprised that looks like the left rear is kind of taking a bit of a hit didn't look to be at the right toe in there on the left rear i'm not sure if anyone else was involved they went yellow very quickly didn't they rather than waiting to see if that car was going to get back underway well we're behind the safety car it is stephen mclear the pole sitter who continues to lead the big mover on that opening lap though calvin was james clay he was very opportunistic able to pick up a couple of spots going up three positions overall he's also the leader in pro and yeah and as i said before the start he's typically very aggressive on the opening laps but um it wasn't so much that i think that was the aggressive move by tim barber that kind of opened up the door for james to take advantage of now good start from him you could see a couple of bmws there back to back two of the classic teams pun intended classic bmw now fast track racing and bimmer world right there they've been campaigning bmws against one another for a very long time yeah and uh it's kind of fun to see that kind of that rivalry between two big teams that are using the same brand and manufacturer of course so so you can come up on top today but since this 11 car appeared on the scene a little bit later in the season they've certainly been a factor it seems every single weekend looking at the running order and it's makai stevens who is perhaps the biggest loser there dropping a couple of spots in the second mercedes to come through the picture we'll have at least one more lap behind the safety cars the lamborghini huros remains on the racetrack pretty good start as well though it must be said for matt travis the champion elect in pro-am able to jump up a spot he's now in eighth we were i think both surprised to see him qualify as far down in the order as he did but this is a pairing certainly to watch they've had some success in the past of course coming close to those championships they don't have to race with the championship weight on their shoulders here though this weekend they don't uh they've got an unassailable lead there so uh they're in great shape but you certainly want to finish off the season on a high you don't have a championship win seven wins on the year and go out with a whimper so you know they're going to want to try and get back up in the top standings there had a pole and a second place finish here at the indianapolis motor speedway one year ago they seem to think that this different track layout might be to their benefit when i spoke to them earlier on the weekend also a bit of a manufacturer battle going on even though all of the drivers titles have been sealed in all three classes porsche lead bmw by just 15 points so that is still very much up for grab there's a seven point swing between first and second and two races here this weekend a couple of bmws out in front at the moment with the top porsche being that matt travis carr running back in eighth so that's uh certainly something to keep an eye on here in both of these races still to come and today what a thrill it is for so many of these drivers to get the chance to race at this same speed but you think about the history and of course you think first about the oval built in 1909 and for many years that was the only show in town but if you go back to the early days the initial design for this track actually involved an infield road course going all the way back to the first decade of the 20th century that was something they planned never got around to doing because they had so many issues with paving on this circuit but it's kind of neat to see that it took 80 years but they didn't get that that dream realized one race here motor gp indycar and nascar now all racing on the road course here too and it seems fitting to have sports cars as part of the program it doesn't it races well by that i mean there's good overtaking opportunities it asks a lot from the driver and the race car and if you need straight away speed you need about carry speed through some of these long duration corners but also you need change of direction braking ability so it has a lot of the whole car and towards the end of the race certainly if you get any tie degradation then you're going to see some more places on the track where people can make some moves here we see macklin getting ready for this restart he's got everybody bunched up behind him now he puts that pedal down and accelerates towards the yard of bricks in the green flag once again flies over the indianapolis motor speedway stephen macular leading james clay kenny murillo running in second but coming under pressure already forced to take a defensive line into turn one the kai stevens pokes the nose to the outside it's two by two in the battle for third as well as the battle for fifth you can see there makai took it in really deeply i think he going to the abs a little bit looked like the front end went numb on it a little bit just that he wanted to turn in so he lost the front end turn in ability of the race car barbara nice start up there grabs another spot after that first lap little miscue down in turn seven that's the blue and pink ccr by tfb bmw that made the pass around the dexter racing aston martin just a moment ago the pink accents new on this car going back to sebring certainly there for breast cancer awareness month in the month of october but paul carollo tim barber's co-driver his mother also had a brush with cancer as of late i had a nice chat with cole earlier this weekend and sounds like the diagnosis and prognosis is quite promising but the team unveiled this brand new livery for them at sebring in honor of his mother and brought a smile to a lot of faces well it's great news that she's doing a little bit better as we now focus on the 35 car here kai stevens we talk about what a run they've been on sweep in the last weekend as sebring two victories but five podium runs from six races they burst out of the same midseason young man from the chicago suburbs makai stevens who might have thought his racing career had passed him by but was thrown this opportunity in a shootout to try and win one of these two seats and seize that opportunity with both hands and colin mullin have each been revelations not a huge surprise i suppose with colin given his championship in the silver class one year ago this is what must be such a thrill for a lot of these drivers in this field coming down that front straight across the other bricks admittedly the wrong way compared to the indy 500 but still just the whole ambiance of seeing that massive trance down there this is the first of many races on the docket this weekend jam-packed event all culminating in the indianapolis eight hour on sunday many of these same pirelli gt4 america teams and drivers and some of these same cars in fact will be participating in that race but the battle here for second is starting to heat up is james clay who was so opportunistic and snagging that spot on the opening lap has fallen into the clutches of kenny murillo well the mercedes typically is just really good on the long green flag runs it's very compliant has really good balance in the race car and doesn't seem to use its tyres up but still early in the game we've had some yellow already and we're just over 10 minutes into this 60 minute event and these tires have to go the whole distance there's no tire change during that mandatory first off for the drivers nascar cup series rookie of the year and now corelli gt4 america m-class champion elect kevin conway behind the wheel of this smooth racing toyota supra john jezrey will be taking over once the driver change happens and this has been a great performance out of kevin to qualify the car as well as he did starting up inside the top 10 and running seventh right now very much hanging on to this battle between the the silver class cars and the pro-am cars up ahead well it's kind of ironic when he says this this is a weekend with the championship already decided we can see how we really stack up with the rest of the field in terms of the uh more established classes with the silver and pro-am lineups and uh he's done that this weekend i think this is the best qualifying and best early run of the race so far this year this is one of the few tracks kevin told me that he has not raced on previously he has however raced the oval he raced to the brickyard 400 one time this is something completely different so he's been learning actually from john jezrey who raced in mx5 cup weekend here and then they've got jack hawks as their fourth driver for the eight hour he has plenty of experience on this circuit in an indycar that's going to be cool to see jack hawksworth i think he's one of the fastest gt drivers in north america currently to to see him work with toyota come back and uh run one of these cars here this weekend uh will certainly be an eye-opener i feel in terms of for him to adjust and also uh to showcase his speed to the rest of the paddock just how quick he is nice scrap here just outside of the top ten overall that was sean quinlan trying to keep chris kugnuzzi uh sorry that's tom capizzi behind him but back up front here and james clay who continues to run second with a bit of a breathing space now built over kenny murillo let's get an update from kyle in the pits the vimeo world number 36 has had an up and down year but i'm standing here in the pits with nick gallante it's a strong start to the race here but still a long way to go how has the season been for you can you summarize it in just a couple words yeah it's been up and down uh coming into the series from the you know the other series that i've been racing in uh it's been a little tough getting used to but we've had some up and downs but we've we had a nice podium at road america things are clicking well so we're capitalizing on the first stints here james clay is out there running a great great job he's running first in class so we're looking to capitalize on this first race which seems to be our strong point especially for this car in this series but uh moving forward really really fun series and i love the professionalism in the series especially the bmw and the car that bimmerworld puts on the track you know it's pretty good a strong start at the brickyard guys hi to erica and my little daughter andy back over here thank you nick is a former champion in other series below the gt4 level but has done a nice job here in his first year racing as he said in peru gt4 america and the last two weekends have been the best of the season so far for this duo the podium that he referenced race one at elkhart lake had a fourth in race one the last time out at sebring and james clay certainly knows what he's about not only running this team but a veteran driver as well yeah big plans uh there's roommate they're gonna switch it up to gt3 machinery for next year so we'll have to wait and see what happens there if those plans come to fruition but it's a great team and uh james has an outstanding business alongside that so the fact that he can run that business and run this race team to such a high level is really a testimony to his multitasking there could be some more change coming with the announcement recently bmw working on a new version of the m4 gt4 we know the m4 gt3 is coming next year and it sounds like sales of that car have been brisk but looking ahead to 2023 there should be a new gt4 version of the m4 as well which i'm sure has a lot of folks excited i think it does and i think i think that we're talking a couple of competitors in the paddock that it may be even more of a race car i think this m4 is really based more around the spree street car and uh turned into a race car but with so many of these manufacturers now they're trying to get a lot of that race car technology and transfer it the other direction let's keep an eye on this fight here james clay continuing to hold off kenny murillo who from time to time has been coming under pressure from makai stevens and the thing i'm interested in seeing is the bmw straight line advantage has that been neutered somewhat by the balance of performance from previous rounds that's been kind of a consensus that the bmw won't be quite as strong in a straight line and certainly we didn't see james clay leg out much of an advantage over christian shim shaq's co-driver kenny murillo there you see inside on the box there watching on as his teammate who's they're just a great driver pairing and it's great that kenny murillo is getting this opportunity his dad runs the team he was an excellent racer himself back in the early 80s in the single cedar competition but just one of the best in the business in terms of uh running these race cars they always seem to be well engineered kenny's a great engineer himself the young driver behind the wheel right now good with the data and everything else as we see that uh aston martin uh starting to put some pressure on tim barber there that's a battle for the fourth in the silver class right now it's right behind this trio and you're right kenny murillo when he's not driving is the team's data engineer and he would have been in that role when christian chimchak won his sprint x east and championship back in 2019 but this is the fight you were talking about tim barber and the blue bmw he's got the gray and blue aston of war and dexter right behind us is a class battle as mentioned in the silver category and the dexter started the year with a win and a runner-up finish at sebring went through a bit of a slow patch middle of the year but they bounced back and top four finishers in class in the last four races including a couple of podiums it's an impressive little team from nebraska not exactly in the heart of what you would consider sports car racing territory they ran janetta's for a really long time in trans am and in this series too and actually they have one of the new genettas in the paddock racing in gt america we'll see them later on in the weekend race vision powered by aws top speeds and it is still a bmw affair as far as the top speeds go and that's not a huge surprise look that's going to be the advantage of this car the question is just how big of an advantage it maintains over the rest of the gt4 field and here you can see tim barber they're trying to hold on to that position right now but you see the aston martin is carving these corners a little bit more effectively and again i think uh galante alluded to it the fact that the first stint the car is pretty good and then they're just hanging on towards the end and that could just come down to uh the weight of the car and obviously how it handles uh how it handles and consequently the balance goes away maybe a little bit towards the end of the stint dexter to the outside at the breaking zone for holmen boulevard and he makes it stick around the outside of turn number seven but barber keeps the fight up he was still alongside before dropping the wheel and now has to settle back in line that's what's so cool about that complete sector between turn seven and turn 12 how you can kind of run side by side through there and trade punches pretty cool piece of racing now this is going to be a crucial sector for the aston to build the gap because you would think especially with the slipstream to work with that i surprised him yes that was sweet that was right up the inside into turn 13. and now a drag race down the front straightaway where we expect the advantage to be with the bmw that was a nice move and if anyone else is watching this race right now he's running a different class different championship i probably want to mimic that move because we didn't see that too often last year oh here comes makai stevens looking up the inside couldn't quite get there and marillo did the right thing didn't go for the apex just going to turn through that corner a little bit wider radius to give makai a little bit of racing room but certainly seems like his car is really strong right now and is coming on a bit later in the stint we expect him to be right with the leaders but maybe they just got that car set up for the longer run look like the exit from murillo might have been compromised you could see his gloves flashing in the windshield he had his hands full and stevens is unrelenting in his pressure battle here for the second position in the silver class murillo has it stevens wants it that's six minutes from the pit there window opening and again as we said the lower graded driver is designated to start this first race so he may see some pro-am combinations make that early pissed off here probably in about three to four laps and the way the pit stops work it is a minimum time that you must spend on pit lane 98 seconds for this particular race track and within that you have the the time that's that you're you spend making the driver change you lose about 53 seconds at ryan coming down pit lane at the correct speed of course two cars out on the racetrack and then you're looking at uh 45 seconds as they allocate every single weekend for these gt4 competitors to get that driver change done you are allowed to adjust tire pressures things like that but you cannot change the tires unless one is damaged yep you have to be able to prove that another internet scene bmw battle here a little bit further back in the top ten james walker jr and chandler hall back in the championship had to miss the round at sebring they had european commitments in hungary i believe uh two weeks ago but good to have him and john miller back walter currently running third in the pro-am class travis is running second and james clay leads that class right now he's running second overall walker in auburn had a lot of pace this year one win couple of podiums probably should have added at least one or two more to that win column but things haven't always gone their way global and his team is approaching close to 500 races with bmw machinery i think that number is going to come up in the first quarter next season just that an incredible history with that brand and all kinds of different cars too everything from prototypes to gt4 cars probably some touring car starts mixed in there if you go back far enough or in dexter trying to get that spot back this is where we got it done the last time but barbara able to hold him off and that's bringing kevin conway and also matt travis into the picture too yeah very much so and you can see you're just compromising your line to maintain the track position but it's allowing other cars to get into the mix at the same time maybe warren learned a little something from tim he might be able to repay him back in kind he is awfully close here coming back on to the banking in what is the south short shoot of the oval bmw versus aston martin and you can throw toyota and porsche into the mix as well yeah it's a real melting pot with so many manufacturers in this class and i think from a cost perspective too it's a real sweet spot with a lot of the gentleman drivers it's the sort of budgets that they can kind of um get to gt3 racing is obviously a lot more expensive so this i think this is why this class is blossom has been so popular here over the last two or three seasons car counts right around 30 give or take a couple it seems like each and every weekend and the competition is fierce you never know what you're gonna get week to week and even day to day it seems like race one and race two have totally different complexions as we kind of heard from nick gallante earlier and they're just cool race cars i mean so many of the manufacturers during these turnkey platforms so they're beautiful race cars they have good downforce they're very drivable and in fact they're able to follow a little bit closer without losing some of the aero efficiency like a gt3 car so i think that's why we see such spectacular racing weekend and week out up front stephen mcelroy continues to lead by approaching 10 seconds now over james clay then you get to the battle between clay marillo and company and stevens also in the mix and then you drop back a few seconds that's where you find these four cars scrapping it out with tim barber holding fifth overall fourth in silver fifth overall or make it fifth in silver and sixth overall warren dexter then kevin conway and matt travis tell you what this is quite the drive here by stephen mackley we've seen it several times this year but i think he's 37 years old comes from scotland got an opportunity to race over here and he's just really worked the system well networks well great coach great mentor and that's why he gets in so many opportunities currently he's a busy boy he's running in some prototype championships couple of uh gt championships at the moment but whenever he's there he's typically running at the front always fast that's for sure and that's been on display ever since this pairing came together in the second round of the championship in circuit of the americas james clay doing everything he needs to do to keep the murillo car the conquest car behind him but again of all the cars i think the bmw is the one that you worry the most about as far as tire fall-off is concerned and the more pressure he's under you would think the harder he's pushing those poor pirellis well i mean what he's trying to do he's trying to gap the pro-am feel as far as he can you got travis who i believe is about seven seconds back so we trying to create a gap for nick gallante we spoke to a little bit earlier in this race so it's then up to galante to try and hang on to that gap if they can execute a good clean pit stop be close to the minimum time delta and then it's all about hanging on morillo is close but not close enough to poke the nose out and make a move not so for warren dexter he's coming to the inside or at least that's what he wants tim barber to think ultimately has to settle back in line under breaking as barber shuts that door in his face they're in turn seven bob is really deep on the brakes they're using everything up you can see him coming scrambling here two mercedes getting a bit of a run on clay and then through the acceleration run you can see that gap extend just a little bit my steam has got a good run on marilla but no one where to go with as they turn into turn fast change the direction let's think about what that move that baba did bad makai stevens could surprise morello there on the turning point look at that just that acceleration and murillo's right on him makai stevens is going to get a run here and while this is happening the pit window has opened yes stevens with a great run it looks like something might have caught kenny out just a little bit coming out under the front straightaway side by side here in this battle for the second spot in silver third overall stevens trying to go the long way around but morillo keeps him at arm's length yeah good racecraft there i think he just checked up a little bit he got run on james clay and then suddenly had to hesitate a little bit as they came through the final corner on the front stretch and that allowed makai stevens just to really set him up and just roll through that corner with a bit more apex speed and pick up the draft on the front stretch and now it looks like marilla's been unleashed to go and put the pressure on clay at least for the moment but as i say that here comes stevens back into the mix couple of tankers here in the early going into the pit lane and matt travis was able to hit it i think he was the first of the front runners who got to that first that means jason hart will take over that could be a big moment in this race as far as the pro-am fight goes yeah we call that the undercut and lotto will depend on where they come out in traffic so you know jason hart will be up on the wheel quickly but will he have any clean air to work with whilst these others in his class are trying to find out here before they get back to pit lane of this lead group who do we expect to be the first to come in cal um well with the silver silver lineups i think macklin will stay out he's got great pace right now morello to shim shack i mean they've got track position so many of them are so evenly matched there's really just a toss up there's no big delta between the two driver lineups clay to galante here we see murillo makes the move for pit lane i wonder if he's feeling like he was held up a little bit there and they want to try and find some clean track for him for uh for shimshack once that move once the pit stop takes place looked also like stevens was trying that move to the inside of him too but that might just have been the barillo car making the duck down to the pit lane this fight continues unabated however tim barber and warren dexter with kevin conway right behind [Music] looking at the minimum pit stop delta here matt travis to jason up 97.6 so they're underneath the minimum but by not more than a second so they can use their one second joker you're allowed one of those each weekend so they're using up right now and i think you're spot on ryan they're trying to make take advantage here of trying to do the undercut as we call it getting jason out back out there finding some clean air and cutting some fast laps see if that elevates them at all here comes the pit stop now for the morillo racing crew that's how long it takes to trundle your way down this pit lane at 50 kilometers per hour kenny murillo getting out and now assisting christian shimshack with those belts in the radio plug a whole lot that goes into these pit stops these days so many things that need to be taken care of and still not a ton of time to get it done even with the regulations that are in place you can see how calm and well uh rehearsed they seem to be which is all great until something goes wrong and you can't suddenly get the uh buckle connected and then panic starts to set in see they got that blower they're just trying to keep those brakes nice and cool through the brake ducting there on the front valance now it's all about the software that you have set up in these cars some have a v-box they're pretty close to the end there so it shouldn't be much adjustment there needed to try and hit the number let's see what they come across the line at 98.1 so just one tenth outside that's a nice clean stop but you can see with the length of the pit lane here that's allowed the 11 car to put a lap on there that could be important potentially if there were to be a yellow flag i suppose that would be the incentive to run as deep as possible if you are the leader because i should most of the field follow lap down until the flag comes out you do your pit stop after everyone gets bunched up you basically don't lose that track position that you've gained here's an interesting moment james clay mikhail stevens side by side at the exit of seven this is eight yeah and that's where that mercedes is just carving the corners i mean this car looks stronger than the merlot racing the orange machine they're just uh ducked into pit lane so conquest racing west again put a great car right there on the track this weekend it's been the case all season long despite the fact they've only come in for the last three race weekends they're already up to fifth in the silver championship on the strength of all of those podiums and then a couple of wins going back to sebring two weeks ago just looking at some excellent pit stops everyone hovering right around the minimum there's about four teams that have ducked underneath the minimum but using up the joker no one's uh out of band so to speak in terms of gonna be getting any penalties that's what you'd expect at this stage of the scene everyone's just uh well-versed knows what to do to make it happen got this software dialed in some software will kind of you release a little bit too early it'll tell you how much to slow down and try not to uh break through in terms of the minimum stop time doesn't look like either of these cars were held up at all in that stop uh leaving about in the same order or certainly the same order but with about the same distance between them as they are 0.8 so here we go this is kind of how they left the racetrack a little bit earlier but with uh that pass by makai stevens on james clay good in-lap that's now giving colin mullen the track position over the marilla racing car with shimshak now behind the wheel and it was a little bit of a slower stop actually that changeover from clay to kalantay was about four seconds over the minimum so that is costly cost them a position and a ton of track position as well we'll see exactly where they shake out here in about four minutes when the window closes but big gainers early at least certainly conquest in part because of that bold move by makai stevens yeah and that's big because remember now you see in the backdrop remember we talked about that eight second gap the clay hat over matt travis will now look at the gap they're the two cars we're looking at in the backdrop there that's galante now with basically no gap over jason hart so that comes down to just uh that strategy by bringing the nola sport porsche in a little bit early and then also a relatively slow start for the bimworld team well and again the noah sport team had the benefit of the timing when the pit window opened relative to their position on the track the leader does not have to have the first opportunity to come to pitt lane unlike what it has been in previous years so they just happened to be in a position where the window opened right as they were in this part of the race track here and they could make that early call where the cars ahead of them could not look at mcalee here he's really stretching the hours they're trying to use every possible minute of his stint here he's been absolutely flying keeping him out running the risk of a yellow but as you said he's got a lap basically on the rest of the field so whatever happens even if there was a caution for some dramatic moment they'd still be in great shape so he's going to be turned over toby grahovic and what a great day that would be for classic racing hart was able to make up that spot moving around galante and did so relatively easily coming up on to the front straightaway through turn 14. it looked like gallante was able to close back in into turn one but hart fended him off and this is where the porsche should excel yeah i noticed that galante's car is kind of rolling around a little bit he's kind of struggling to keep the platform underneath him and uh see that porsche staying a little bit flatter through the curves and that typically means that the contact patch of those probably p0 is going to work a little bit better a couple of front runners making their pit calls now the dexter racing team warren dexter giving way to ryan dexter top two in am also in the pit lane kevin conway and smooch racing that'll be john jesbray taking over michael miller will be giving over the second placed car the aston martin from automatic racing paul keebler his co-driver and they're making that change as we speak mackel is going to have to pay he didn't have enough time on the board to do another one he'll have to be in this lap from the lead just 97 seconds left in the pit window you only have to be in the pit lane before that window expires here he comes yep but i don't think they uh you're right they could not have done that one more time so he makes the pit call now the overall leader stephen mcaleer and classic bmw for the last time fast track racing as it will be known they come to the attention of the crew driver change underway two wins on the year and toby just uh easily walks up to the car no panic just want to get in a nice routine some teams elect to have the driver help with this driver change others will have a an assistant kind of a trade-off here toby's been through this many times before team goes to work just bleeding out a little bit of those pressures in the front end probably means that they've picked up a little bit of understeer just trying to control that by bleeding those back down a bit toby grahalwick former touring car champion back in 2016. behind the wheel now and looking for win number three on the season they release him and now the long drive down this lengthy pit lane all at 50 kilometers per hour it feels like it takes an eternity it does it's a long long front stretch here and all of the time you're concerned did we leave any on the table did we cut it too fine of course you got that one second joker to work with on day one or day two if you didn't use it on day one of course but here you see colin mullin riding over those curbs uh the steward said in the meeting this morning that you've got to kind of keep that inside curb at least touching some of the blue and white paint there so you can't completely be straddling it so we'll be looking at that one movement in that car he's ringing its neck you can tell sliding all over the racetrack we'll see where he comes out relative to the bmw of grahovic time on that pit stop it was not great cal no they gave up two and a half seconds there it seemed like an eternity didn't it he's like he's got to be gone while he's only just released but he'll maintain the track position but uh certainly that gap has been diminished a little bit now the good news is they had built that massive gap so they could afford to be conservative at least it seems that way with 24 minutes on the clock but colin mullin is awfully fast we've seen that throughout the course of the season ever since this program got started oh here's a moment that's jason hart contact with the trg porsche and around it goes that was a bit earlier yeah we'll have to have another look at that one see how that one developed but certainly um if uh that was what they'll say avoidable contact the students will take a look at it it's really to have a good viewpoint on it the car dr jim rappaport shares with todd hetherington that we saw go for the spin and back to colin mullin who continues to run second overall second in silver in fact as the pit stops have shuffled through silver class cars now run one two three four five overall the leader in pro-am it is jason hart so they were able to use that strategy to perfection to jump up a couple of spots gain some track position as well they now lead their class yeah now the concern is that contact so i have to wait to see if there's any uh review being made on that moment right now our timing and scoring uh in our booth is showing that gorilla was leaving but i think that didn't account for his pit stop at the last moment so this is the man who's leading right across the stripe there toby grahovic then you see the gap all the way back there to colin mullen this is not only for overall it is also for the silver positions top five right now or in the silver class but the gap is shrinking by about one second on that last tour of this 14-turn circuit so colin mullin he is on it at this stage making inroads the gap down under 11 seconds now yeah a lot of laps to go as well so uh we'll see what develops here we've got about 12 more laps here in this race so the way he's trimming into that lead right now could be game on before we see the checkered flag here this afternoon here we go this is john jesbray who's up on the wheel of that smooch racing toyota supra as they are mixing it up with the pro-am and silver category cars as he has done much of this season quite possibly the revelation of the 2021 season across all of the sro america championships had one year of racing anything in his cv coming into this weekend or this year i should say going back to last year in mx5 cup that's all he had ever done no carding nothing flashing the lights i love it and as we said the championship has been sealed and delivered so so many times this year i'm sure they've been in similar situations but had to be circumspect about what is the big picture we've got to think about the championship points in the m class but right now that's done now they can just go racing have some fun this weekend as we said before just see how they stack up with this tougher competition in the other classes i think that was the best stint we've seen kevin thompson this season running right around that top 10 overall the entirety of his stint and now john jesbray has been given the reigns and he is pushing he looks to the inside a little bit late to the table there but nonetheless he's thinking about it but it still compromised the exit for galante and that's allowed jezreel to pull up alongside very similar power plants in these two cars despite the fact that it's a bmw and a toyota side from delante he's got the inside line and just stretching the gap a little bit look at that though two cars punching a hole in the air and this lets john miller into the picture oh that was deep deep deep and makes it stick just about that was total commitment there by john miller nice job two for one awesome stuff that's the card chandler started up two spots in one corner there into turn one and now he's off trying to chase down his next victim all big move up the inside valentine hassa khloe who is a french aston martin jr driving alongside paul terry this weekend announced his presence first time ever in the u.s period is this weekend he qualified on pole for race two tomorrow and he's looking racy here he looks really racy he's using every inch of the racetrack and a little bit more and the man right behind him is bill orbel and he's on the charge as well they'll probably be thinking who's on board that car in front of me i haven't seen anyone drive like that this year now valentin won the french gt4 championship this season that's already wrapped up he is the reigning gt4 european series silver cup champion raced into silver cup gt3 in the total energy's 24 hours of spa is part of a young driver lineup for aston martin it is going to be a name to keep an eye on a 25 year old from france paul terry called up aston wanted a little help this weekend and this is the gun they sent over look at jazz bright looking down the inside he's not intimidated by the names that he's running around aublun tucks up the inside but he's barked there by the bmw of galante that opens the door for hasa khloe to get through but look at oberlin immediately switches over red that perfectly could see it wasn't going to work and then allowed the acid marks to open the door for him as well fantastic stuff here a little bit deeper in the pack uh running now eighth second in pro-am auberlin third in pro-am and he's looking to make the move around the outside of the frenchman oh he's in deep can he bring it together now he's in too deep as to bale there is an opportunity to rejoin just beyond this tire wall here oh boy it was a little cleaner than i feared it might be yeah now i could see he just took it in so deep as like if he can pull that one off he's a magician now if anyone can do it it's bill auberlin well the problem is the abs just kicks in at a certain point and then you just along for the riders taking brake pressure away so you you don't lock up the front wheels but obviously you're not going to get to the apex here comes john jesfray working on galante now got to the outside but couldn't quite finish off the move with the way that the track comes back auberlin dropping a couple of wheels in the grass on the outside headed onto holmen boulevard here well thinking about the dynamic they're down into term one i think auburn was probably a little mip by how much uh kind of uh aggressive driving we are seeing with the defense from the aston martin and just thought no problem i'll send it but just missed it a little bit a little bit off the normal line as well in terms of the grip level available to him under braking by the way we should know that up at the front colin mullin has chopped the deficit down to about half of where it was before last lap it was six and a half seconds we'll check it at the line here and it has come down even further 4.2 seconds now the difference not just the fight for the overall league but also the lead in the silver category yeah he's really taking big chunks out of that lead right now it's just going to be hard for toby to hang on to but again as some of the other drivers alluded to it's late in the stand for the bmw's gonna back up a little bit and that's where these mercedes are so strong it seems and it seemed like the car i think in terms of the starting pressures because makai really didn't get going in the first two or three laps ryan and then suddenly start to find his momentum find his speed and now that's been uh taken over by colin mullins as well in this second stint now running some really good lap times at this stage colin mullin the reigning silver cup champion in this series going back to last year in a mclaren that he shared with jared andretti kind of fitting that they clinched their championship here andretti autosport the andretti name jarrod the son of john emotional year for the end ready family and losing both john and aldo andretti john's father mario's twin brother back to this fight valentine has to cloak continuing the charge he has now passed cole carollo john miller working on ryan dexter that's warren's younger brother gets up to the inside of the aston but not up alongside enough he got the mega front plow going on there didn't he ask for a lot of front turn and suddenly he just gave up on him and he has to just kill all the speed to not get into the side of the ass and these two better take notice of this wr racing aston that is close again that's a team that gets some support from dexter racing they work under the same tent on a lot of weekends but the young frenchman balancing has to close i was excited to see what he could do in his first u.s start having seen him a little bit in europe and yeah he is everything that was advertised yeah he's really aggressive uh has great speed someone die for pit lane there um but anyway this aston uh coming through here on the front straight i'm trying to look at the gap between him and the leader jason hart and he's coming down i think he's running faster lap times than jason hart's we'll try and give you an accurate reading here so he's now seven so six and a half seconds behind jason house we'll look at their lap times comparatively see if there's a chance he can catch our pro-am leader and you were right it was the dexter car that came to pit lane right here so problems for ryan dexter he pits from just in front of that battle he was running fifth overall i believe at the time of this pit stop this will drop him well down the order but oh boy it's going to be spicing up quickly in the battle for the lead toby grahovic now the gap down under three seconds to colin mullen 2.3 seconds at the last speed trap yeah and mullen's taking over a second lap out of that gap so he's just got to be patient here but you never know if there's a late caution you could lose a lot of the race time that's available so you don't want to hang about you want to try and get to the tail and make the move early and then hang on if you can just took another half second out in that second sector closing in even further under the breaking for turn 12. now the left hander of turn 13 which leads right back up onto oval turn one road course turn 14 and the dash to the art of bricks it's worth noting if it comes down to a drag race the start finish line is pretty close to the exit of turn 14 here on the road course you don't have a ton of time to get that drag race done update from the pit lane now and kyle hi ryan was just chatting with makai stevens who was previously in the number 35 mercedes for uh conquest racing west he is extremely confident that colin can get there and after coming off of a sweep at sebring a couple weeks ago he says we're always optimistic he's an optimistic guy you can tell that and speaking with him he's busy writing a lot of blogs kind of chronicling his racing his return to racing and that kind of bleeds through it's on the background of that shot eric bachelot the team owner who started the indy 500 on a couple of occasions and his team certainly was a fixture in that race for many many years fight here though is on stephen cameron racing with a different driver lineup here this weekend really uh disappointed to have to bring the news that greg leafous a broken collarbone had to sit this one out so tom dyer filling in admirably this weekend yeah quinlan leah fuji won a sprint next championship a couple of years ago and uh running second this year but it's very tight in the points here he's final standing here goes mullen looks to be inside grojova gets his elbows out a little bit and defends former hockey players gonna have to use some of that kind of uh action i feel to defend from this mercedes that's been cutting some really fast lap times here even his hockey skills might not be enough with the pace that colin bolin has shown we shall see toby grihovic holding the lead but colin mullin has closed in the gap was over 11 seconds about 11 minutes ago this is the gap now nice run out of turn 14. he'll be in the slipstream mercedes versus bmw down the front stretch in indy well he's got the run he's got the draft but that's kind of neutralized there with the speed of the bmw you see toby uh stretches it out by at least a car length there even though the mercedes is in the draft but again that's all about balance of performance you can't expect to be fast down the straightaway and fast through the corners so you're going to get that kind of ebb and flow that concertina effect over the course of a lap there's a look to the outside colin mullin floats a lot of speed in working around the outside turn four crosses over oh this is tough on toby he's just being worked over right now marlon's got so much confidence in that mercedes underneath him tell me goes defensive here this is a long duration sweeping left-handed corner now this jerk to the right here is crucial don't throw it all away i mean you just gotta time this there shouldn't be any need for a risky move at this stage he's got pace you know you can see shim checks in the shadows there i mean theoretically he could start to put some pressure on from behind but i would think you got a good two or three laps here you can just kind of figure this one out and just try and execute a nice clean move without doing a late dive down the inside top three in silver they're the top three overall here he comes to the inside this is gonna be tight but toby gives him room yeah but he's over that inside curb and if you read into the rule book or into the uh steward's notes before the meeting you're not supposed to straddle that so we'll wait and see what they say uh did he take advantage with that track limits there to uh make that position stick and that does change the whole trajectory through that corner it really helps you get flat and stay flat early in the portion that comes up onto the banking if you can use that part to the inside of the curves there wait and see look like a nice clean move but let's take a look at it and watch his right side tires they're saying that some part of your inside tire has to be still up on the curb and i don't know i don't want to point a finger but i'd say that's taking advantage a little bit yeah if that is the the letter of the law i would have to agree but for now colin mullin out in front of toby grihovic no chance to rest because christian shimshak has arrived should update you that jason hart now leads in pro-am but he's got the hard-charging valentine hassa khloe right behind or closing in i should say about six seconds adrift then john miller who runs fourth in silver sixth overall and john jesbery continuing to lead in am now currently back a little bit further in the order 15th overall and i think jason hart has responded our pro-am leader he just ran his fastest lap of the race so him and hassa khloe uh that gap really hasn't changed much we talked about a few minutes ago in a six and a half seconds it's now about six so he's not catching him at a rapid rate here comes shim sheck looking to the inside gives it up rehobot has traffic to deal with i think for shimshack he could see that traffic up ahead there could see that sensor could maybe get a little bit ugly as well if they went three into that corner mary in just his third ever gt4 start at the professional level that was the capstone car that had the issues with the pedal box at the start of the race [Music] less than 10 minutes to go let's go down and get an update from the pits and kyle the smooch racing number 68 is currently leading the m category 15th overall standing here with kevin conway who jumped in the car at the start still leading kevin things are looking really good what would it mean to you to win at the brickyard man to win at indianapolis motor speedway is i think every racer's dream right you want to stand on that iconic podium and man smooth racing has given us another epic toyota supra and we're really excited about the opening stint we had a good opening stint and john's done an awesome job to maintain that lead and actually build that lead over second place and really just try to maintain and hold out here at the end we've got about eight minutes or so to go so hopefully we can bring it home for jezreel group cooper natural resources in toyota only a couple minutes left for the number 68 smooch racing super guys what a great season it's been for them showing up i think everyone just wanted to know what is a smooch and we found out that john jesprey i guess as an infant was a little bit on the larger side that was a big thing but here we go fight for second shim shack trying to make it stick goes out really wide there give toby a little bit of racing room but i think he's gonna have the inside line for this next right-hander coming up and away he goes so give second overall and in silver to marilla racing the champions elect in that class but toby grihovic strengthened that bmw in a straight line able to at least put the challenge on into turn seven trying to hang with him but it just seems like those mercedes late in the going here just have a little bit more bite through the corners and that corner there we talked about maybe colin mullin kind of using the inside of that curb there too a good effect toby's kind of doing it by himself right now so maybe that team conquest racing will be pointing at that to say well he's doing every lap now so what's the big draw about us using it to grab the lead this is the leader though colin mullin looking to put together a third consecutive overall win and you know as good of a season as it's been obviously for the champions in the silver class look at the performance late in the year and and the flag bearer for mercedes in this series has shifted right it started out with the murillo car without a doubt but you look at what conquest has done over the second half of the year and they're making the case that if this program is back in this same order we expect that to be the case next year they might come in with the favorite tag series yes yeah i mean it's such a good car i mean it's so user friendly i think it's in my mind anyway it seems to have a big sweet spot in terms of the setup you never really see seem to see a mercedes team really struggling any particular circus that's what you're looking for that car that's good everywhere we run good in all of the various uh components of a racetrack maybe he struggles a little bit maybe compared to the bmw down the straightaway but overall for the lap very very tough to beat pro-am leader here jason hart great pit strategy from them that we chronicled early first pick callers among the front runners running just inside the top 10 overall and down the order slightly in class at the time but now champions elect there jason hart and matt travis running fourth overall and with the lead in pro-am the chasing car is the car flashing those headlights just a little bit further back in the shot valentine has to close wr racing aston martin yes now down there about five and a half seconds so um he is excuse me it's now under five seconds so he is closing a little bit but he's got some traffic to contend with well he's got some uh speed right behind him as well so as fast as he is kent and cook is on the charge as well running third in class this is now a battle for that runner-up position so we're focusing on uh hassa khloe and uh his uh charge through the field and closing on the gap to the leader but kenton cook has had a big charge here well this is a great advertisement for the skill of ken cook because i think aston martin thinks incredibly highly of hasa khloe he's part of their academy young driver academy and cook has given him everything he can ask for and then some kitten of course has his advantage he's raced here before albeit in a slightly different configuration going back to last year and knows the team knows the car etc but still showing great pace and again he's another one of those guys kind of like stevens and mullen oh oh spin right in front of them there's paul keegler going around but cook was a guy who weren't quite sure what his future looked like and this beast racing team that he hopes to manage along with his wife on behalf of his co-driver brian putt the team owner it's really been a great opportunity for him to showcase his ability well significantly they come into this race just three points behind uh sean quinlan and greg leopold's leah who's not being here so basically three points behind sean quinlan for second in the championship and right now they have a four-point swing to their advantage the way they run as of now so if he could get that next position with that as martin in front of him that would be a six point swing and give them a three-point lead going into tomorrow the quinlan car that you referenced now driven by tom dyer just at the back of that picture there the orange and blue uh stephen cameron racing bmw running fifth in class [Music] cook he's really carving these corners his car looks really strong so brian park did a really nice job in the opening stin left a bit of life in those pirelli p zeros but kent go on the attack here late look at the move he's making to the outside wow that's in the breaking zone for turn 12 but can't quite stay up alongside through turn 13. huge speed through there kenton cook trying to snag second away two more laps i think the leader may be getting the white flag next time but i'll be tight until that lap these two had been collectively running down jason hart but they lost nearly a second fighting between themselves so that definitely will help hart consolidate his lead in the pro-am class fourth on the road behind the top three in the silver category i think for house of chloe he may have uh abused his ties a little bit because he's not able to roll speed like he was earlier in the race and uh that was demonstrated by how kenton had that big run on him at the turn 12. i think he's having to overslow the car a little bit otherwise he's losing the balance [Music] great battle here in the waning moments of the second to last race of the season valentinosa club the newcomer kenton cook the series veteran moving to the outside this is the rundown holman boulevard big breaking zone awaits at the end of this straight away yeah you can just see hassa khloe kind of bobbling in the middle of the corners here he's just having to rest that speed a little bit he recognized the car is not going to give it to him he's going to give up on him so he's just kind of controlling his apex speed a little bit but this track is so raceable you can take these kind of variety of racing lines here and make a move stick potentially to get down to the power quickly spits you back out briefly onto the oval before diving back for turn 12. that's where kenton made his move the last time but up front here we go do we see the white flag we do the white flag waves for colin mullin out in front but here comes kitten cook to the inside of hasa khloe and give him second spot that is awesome that turn 13 is a legitimate passing opportunity on this racetrack there's not many people have tried it but everyone who does has a 50 50 shot i'm making a stick it seems like it's not done yet though hassa khloe in the slipstream kenton cook goes defensive aston martin versus aston martin front straightaway at ims headed down to the heavy braking zone of turn number one cook laid on the break same for hassa khloe can he stay up alongside no you could see it there just when he asked for a little bit more right now in that 59 aston martin just gives up on him he asks for a late break and a late turn in the front end just washed on him a little bit had to wait on the throttle but he's going to give it everything here it's been a tremendous debut for him and paul terry will be very happy with his teammate here but he wants that runner-up position but i think cook has got a little bit too much for him right now and remember that blue red and yellow aston will start on the pole tomorrow courtesy of a great qualifying effort for hosa club but he's not concerned about that right now on to holman boulevard for the final time not close enough it appears to challenge kitten cook who took away that second spot just a few moments ago i think hasselhoff will have learned a lot in terms of this pirelli p0 tire and this format here in terms of how hard you can push so i think tomorrow he'll obviously want to try and get the jump at the start grab the class lead but then manage those tires a little bit better for his teammate here we are the overall leaders leader in the silver class colin mullin strong opening stint from makai stevens mullen onto the front straightaway and conquest racing wins at indy christian shimshack will follow him across the line the champion in the silver class finishes second here in the second to last race of the season 3.7 seconds behind here's your pro-am leader the champions in that class already locked in coming into the weekend and nola sport picks up the victory at the indianapolis motor speedway and kenton cook celebrating a hard-fought second just ahead of valentine hasselhoff who wraps up that class podium here we go to the am class fight john jesbray has the lead that's the car at the back of this picture he and kevin conway smooth racing in their first season pick up yet another race win this time in indianapolis tremendous stuff from all of our champions strong strong runs here today battles throughout this field everywhere yeah this is uh for second i think it m give it to the keebler car ahead of ty isaac in the zaylou's car and four bush was very much in the mix as well in the supra everyone there crossing the line very close together isaac holding off for bush by less than half a second for the final podium spot in the m class the position this tight is in that silver class is currently a second position held by the number 22 ccr bmw the 13 point swing coming in just four points taken out of that by this grakovic mclead duo so they really needed the win here it wasn't to be otherwise it could have been super tight tonight so they got a bit of work to do tomorrow if they're going to think about grabbing second in the championship yeah these two start back in 18th race two tomorrow but crowdstrike fastest lap of the race here for the fast track racing team that'll be the new name for this program moving forward although it's always been the racing arm of classic bmw [Music] nice podium run i'm sure they'd love the win but uh great pace there in the opening stint from stephen mclear these are the race winners and you see the pharaoh on the side of this mercedes and john farrow the canadian businessman he's really the one behind this program a motorsport enthusiast a track day enthusiast he's got a lot of laps behind the wheel of this car himself but he wanted to support young up-and-coming drivers who had the talent but not the opportunity he put that shootout together and colin mullin and makai stevens i think have repaid him several times over with the pace they've shown and now a third straight overall win yeah he certainly made some great choices didn't he in terms of the team led by eric bachelot and that crew and the two uh drivers tremendous stuff three on the bounce here three on the try is uh pretty formidable with the amount of competition in this field and another great performance from this team again not the best qualifying effort but we've seen them overcome that time and time again this season matt travis jason hart such a good powering and noah sport as good of a porsche prep shop as you will find in the country again we saw the graphic there john jazz break kevin conway winners we heard from kevin earlier talking about the significance of winning here at indianapolis doesn't matter what car you're in it's something special to pull into victory lane at this place final results provisional at least for pirelli gt for america second to last race of the season this is how they came across the art of bricks [Music] that's a great racing there mercedes look awfully strong let's see if they can repeat tomorrow or the other team can do some homework tonight and come back a little bit stronger chances some rain tomorrow as well so that will be a different track to race on for sure now these teams at least got a chance to sample the track in the wet yesterday during one of the practice sessions there was a brief downpour and it was right in the middle of the pirelli gt4 america sessions so they at least have some idea of what to expect if the forecasted rain does arrive but we hope it stays away for a nice day for track activities as well as the parade that's set to go on in downtown speedway indiana just outside of the confines of the indianapolis motor speedway that is scheduled for tomorrow here's a nice show of sportsmanship christian shimshak the veteran congratulating the up-and-comer colin mullin who's about to get a big hug i suspect from his co-driver makai stevens here's brian putt with the hat on celebrating with kenton cook john jayspray out of the car as well let's hear from our race winners now with kyle the number 35 is on a mission at sebring and now at the brickyard colin mullen and mckay stevens are victorious at indianapolis colin you brought the car home take me through your day in the synth that you had in passing the race leader oh thank you i mean it's just another testament to the car and the uh you know this mercedes amg and all the work the jmf motorsports and cockpits racing group has put into it you know uh our our main strength here is definitely tire management and you can see it over the course of the stint you know we may not be the quickest car at the very start but this mercedes is so good on his pirelli tires we just keep reeling them in lap after lap but again you know huge thank you to eric bachelart john farrow for assembling such an amazing group of people here really uh makes us able to go out and fight for the race wins out there and you know it's pretty amazing to do it you know three in a row and hopefully tomorrow it can be four in a row but amazing job so far and makai you were in the car at the start a pretty frantic start and a track layout that is relatively new tell me what that was like starting in a pack this big in a track layout so unknown yeah very fun very very fun entertaining i mean massive amount of respect to all the competitors out there which i think is what makes this series so beautiful so colin myself everybody from jmf conquest racing we're just all very fortunate to be a part of the series we're living we're learning every time we go out there and if we can continue to push things forward then that would be quite the pleasure so we uh we just appreciate everybody's hardship out here and having a great time conquest racing in victory lane once again guys what a great pairing colin mullin an engineering student at ohio state university just down i-70 from here at indianapolis pretty easy drive for him and makai stevens who i said earlier he was out of racing for a while and might have thought his career was done spent some time working at a fine art and furniture conservation company in chicago for a number of years also worked construction for a while and just had to find a way back in and this was the chance and he has seized it well they're two amazing talents that at times you can see your career or maybe it's all slipped through the net and uh someone catches you and uh just a great effort i mean showcasing how much ability they have how much speed they have what great team they have underneath them and again mercedes looks good here for the weekend that they do beautiful shots of the speedway kyle buckle up you're about to talk to two of the more interesting interviews in the paddock i suspect if we've got our pro-am winners lined up with matt travis and jason hart best of luck bud sorry about that i guess we got the ams here let's go to you kyle doesn't sound like we've got kyle so we'll hopefully check in with him i i don't blame him if he went for the ams first you never quite know what you're gonna get with jason and matt they're a fun loving bunch they like their movie quotes and uh you got to come in prepared for for that interview hopefully we get the mic situation sorted out what a team this has proven to be and i am super excited to see what they do in the eight hour in the gt4 class with jack hawksworth on board and the riley motorsports pit crew ready to go to work for the pit stops in that endurance race well there's a lot of savvy people down there working for them this weekend so they could pull a bit of a shock there in the gt4 class of v8 out this weekend so toyota looks good i think it's going to be good on the tires you've got to do a little bit longer stint 65 minutes um so we'll wait and see what happens but i'm excited to see hawksworth how he blends in with that group what sort of pace he can show and uh you know he's never afraid to get his elbows out if there's a race win on the line amazingly i think this will be his first time in a gt4 car certainly his first time racing one and it sounds like he's been waiting for that chance hopefully we'll be able to check in with the race winners here momentarily and already a chance to get down and kiss those breaks a tradition that actually started with the nascar race here at the indianapolis motor speedway i think 1998 was the year dale jarrett won the brickyard 400 and took todd parrott and the rest of that crew out there and it's something that's been mimicked ever since by anyone who has had the pleasure of winning at this place that's eric bachel out there the uh belgian former racer himself great racer and uh now a great team leader he celebrates with his boys morillo racing that's kenny marillo senior there congratulating the winners on the day uh they'll dig deep they'll work on that car and they they were coming i mean it's not like the conquest car just took off from them i mean chimchat got a nice strong run there at the end certainly did good pace out of that machine sounds like we've got the microphone functioning once again and our m winners are standing by with kyle the smooch racing toyota supra is in its first season of competition in the am category and now both john jesbray and kevin conway are winners at indianapolis john you finished up the car you're hot you're sweaty you just got out a lot of great work there congratulations what's it like winning in indianapolis thank you well it's probably one of the most historic tracks we've been to besides sebring but the history of indy specifically like the yard of bricks is like it for me it's there's no better place to win than indy and the massive straights are super fun getting into turn one like 155 it's uh it's an awesome experience and those supra the supra has incredible breaks and it's just like rips your face off each time you break so i'm uh very happy with how the car performed today it was flying towards the end and uh but yeah i mean the experience of winning at indy is above anything else might take a little while for it to sink in kevin you were in the car earlier now you're you jumped out and got to watch the team car win again take me through your feelings here winning in indy winning at indy in any any series is very very special and for us to be able to continue our streak of winning at every racetrack we've been to this year uh to be able to kind of crown that at indianapolis motor speedway is it's a racer's dream you know to be able to win here and it's one of the first things i asked john we got out i said you're gonna go up we're gonna go kiss the bricks and we're like absolutely you don't get a lot of opportunities to win at indianapolis anytime you do it's very special and just to be able to see the progress that this kid has made all year long and this whole team has just gotten better and better and better each week as we continue to learn more about this gr super gt4 race car but really excited to be here at indy and we have the opportunity to you know focus tomorrow learn a lot about the car today to we can take into the race tomorrow and also for uh for the eight hour on sunday smooth racing in victory lane once again guys great performance once again from that team and a lot of pride on the face of kevin conway he's a family friend of the jazz brace and has shepherded john along and i think it gives him as much joy to see john succeed as anything else yeah it's very cool dynamic when you are mentoring someone tutoring someone and uh seeing them rise to the occasion in terms of the speed but also the pressure of the situation all right let's hear from our pro-am winners in champions elect with kyle matt travis and jason hart winning in pro-am already had the championship locked up but now it's just icing on the cake to win here at indianapolis jason your experience today winning at indianapolis a little bit of unfinished business from last year we really wanted to get the win or a win here this year something that's really cool about matt and i is there are days that i feel like he carries the car to the win and there's a days that i feel like i carry or he feels i carry the car to the win a very fair statement and that's what's really cool about our driving uh program and really at the end of the day i mean it just summed up by saying you know if you don't like big red then french fries haha you thought it was coming safe loved it come on i'm too drunk to taste this chicken there you go anyways killer dave when it indy like who doesn't want to win it india are you kidding me like every time you go across the bricks but boom you're like man this is cool you get like little tingles every freaking lap so cool big smiles on their faces thank you kyle congratulations on surviving your first interview with those two i did it for a couple of years so you never quite know what you're gonna get but a fun loving bunch and uh i think jason's comments were really on point today it was his turn but we have seen matt carry the load before as we take a look at the highlights from the race today didn't take long to fan out there at the start did it it didn't and uh maca there from the polls certainly showed impressive pace there during his opening stint james clay up on the wheel early as we expected and tim bob was making some strong moves but couldn't quite make them stick on the opening lap no but here they come funneling into turn one couple of cars bouncing over curves there was some contact there gmg racing aztec going around off the front of the random vandals racing bmw we did have a full course yellow as well this was the ensuing restart stephen mcelroy out front and he accelerated away in this great battle between warren dexter and tim barber yeah there's some fantastic battles here and then that mercedes from conquest racing just came alive makai stevens doing his stint this is a move on james clay big move here this is bill auburn trying to get around that wr racing aston martin just takes it a little bit too deep has to take to the escape road ultimately had to settle for a ninth place finish overall fifth in class it was a good run for the dexter racing crew they were right in the mix until having to pull into the pit lane late and the checkered flag flew after 60 minutes for conquest racing here at indy that raises the line and a couple of other classes smooch racing taking the win and am and a lot of happy faces at the foot of the famous pagoda at ims celebrating victory here at this famed racing facility still one more day of action for pirelli gt4 america to go the season concludes tomorrow we hope you join us for it there might be some rain to spice things up as well but here in the second last race of the season colin mullin makai stevens and conquest racing reign supreme america championship another fantastic evening of racing and it's great to be back here at the brickyard we're gonna begin we're gonna begin our podium ceremonies with our silver category and like to welcome up our third place finishers striving for classic bmw steven mcclaire and toby graham [Music] finishing in the second position drawing for morillo racing in a mercedes a and shin [Music] and victorious once again for the conquest racing west team and mercedes amg your winners makai stevens and colin mullin amazing job by our silver competitors fantastic racing all weekend long so far hold those trophies up nice and high for our photographers here wonderful job again to our silver category now it's time to spray the champagne and don't forget to go see your friends and family down at the edge of the podium once again round of applause you're silver podium finishers classic bmw with stephen mcelroy and toby grohovick morello racing comes in second with kenny murillo and chris jim shimshak and winners conquest racing west and mercedes amg for makai stevens and colin mullin wonderful job we'll reset and up next we are pro am podium all right ladies and gentlemen now it's time for the pro-am podium and let's welcome up our third place finishers driving for wr racing and aston martin paul terry and valentine husco finishing in second also in and aston martin for b sport racing brian putt and kenton cook and taking victory for nola sport your pro-am champions for 2021 matt travis and jason hart wonderful job for our pro-am podium finishers for race one here at indianapolis motor speedway fellas let's grab those trophies hold them up high oh he went early okay let's try that again did you get the photo you didn't get any photos all right backwards we sprayed the champagne now let's take the photo and hold the trophies wonderful job as they drip from champagne on the podium your pro am podium finishers round applause for wr racing b sport racing and nola sport we'll try this again guys for our am podium up next oh all right it's time for our am podium for race one in the pirelli gt4 america championship let's welcome up third place finishers for zay loose motorsports sean whalen and ty isaac [Music] finishing in the second position driving for automatic racing paul keebler and michael miller and victorious for the smoosh racing camp in a toyota supra john jesbray and kevin conway [Music] wonderful job two r and podium finishers grab the trophies guys no champagne first we'll make that clear and we'll hold those strokes up nice and high for some photos all right now you may now spray the champagne and sparkling cider round applause for your am podium finisher sean whalen and ty isaac paul keebler and michael miller and john jesbray and kevin conway another victory for the smoosh racing and toyota team [Music] [Music] [Music] you

Channel: GTWorld

Views: 27,630

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: NSP1bVgUfh4

Length: 94min 25sec (5665 seconds)

Published: Thu Oct 14 2021