RACE 1 - ROAD AMERICA - PIRELLI GT4 AMERICA 2021

[Music] [Music] scenic elkhart lake wisconsin has rolled out the welcome mat for the cars and stars of pirelli gt4 america just a few miles down the road from the scenic village lies one of the finest road racing facilities in north america road america america's national park of speed hello everyone my name is ryan marine calvin fish is alongside amanda busick is in the pit lane as we get set for the first of two races this weekend at road america the seventh and eighth of the season for pirelli gt4 america fantastic race track fantastic grid of cars 38 set to do battle here calvin and we'll talk about that in just a moment but first for late developing stories down on the grid let's check in with amanda busick good morning guys and i can tell you if qualifying this morning was a little bit chilly it is not now i can tell you we can feel the heat out here the humidity is high the temperature is rising but i want to point out the 16th entry of the am category chris willis wilson and john allen they are third overall on the grid that's 10 spots higher than the next am entry you also see in that orange mercedes that's your points leader in the silver class but i love it we've been talking about the power of the bmws here this weekend so it's no surprise that you have two bmws leading off the grid here today in the the gg4 class but what i love right here stephen mclear it's his birthday today i talked to him prior to the race and i said what gets this race win he said well it's very different conditions than we saw this morning i'm gonna just try to hold on create pace and make sure i hand this over to toby in the lead thanks amanda and yes conditions definitely a story line calvin because when we went qualifying earlier this morning not only was it cooler the track was still fairly damp from some rain overnight and into the morning hours so very different conditions now as we get set for the race yeah the uh pull time by macular was about nine seconds off what was set in the second session here this morning so it was definitely a drying circuit add to that we had a red flag so it was limited track time so really experience got to the top there was steven macklin getting that flyer in and claiming that pole position but great to see him grohovic they're third in the points now missed the opening rounds of the championship but definitely have the momentum right now this is a look at the road america circuit 14 turns just over four miles or six and a half kilometers making up this fantastic and world-renowned racing venue calvin it's a great challenge because you have such a mixture of high-speed and low-speed corners you do and long stretches obviously from the last corner up over the start finish line that's about 4 400 feet got a big run from turn three as you finish sector one there down towards turn five but big deep braking zones as well so high speed nature of the race circuit a lot of elevation changes 20 stories of elevation change on this circuit believe it or not and obviously that final sector they're climbing the hill you've got to exit that final corner turn 14 to uh get the exit speed there and maybe in position to make a move on that front straightaway into turn one amanda made reference to this car chris wilson with a great job in qualifying to start third overall and on pole in the m class for the third time this season it's an interesting grid because yes there are multiple classes but they are broken down by driver ratings not by a different type of car so in the case of an m entry like this one if they put in a great result they can be fighting for an overall podium they certainly can that's what makes it so spicy in terms of when you get that mix up with the driver change that will happen halfway through this event mandatory pit stop between the 25 and 35 minute mark of this race and the pit stop dealt here today the minimum stop time from pitting to pit out including that driver change is 86 seconds so all of these teams are typically well versed but we've had a big break brian in the action nearly three months so may take a little bit of time to get these teams back onto that stop watching getting that really close which can make a big difference in your role position as to how effective you are executing that pit stop here today everyone's chomping at the bit to get going and get racing around this 14-turn road course and let's take a tour of the track with john haywin and our porsche track preview hi this is jan helen with the porsche track preview here at road america coming onto the front straightaway getting ready to start a lap here at road america long straight away and a long ways from the start finish line into turn one always makes for a lot of good action at the at the start of the race sixth gear 162 mile an hour down the fourth gear really fast turn one using all of that exit curve really fun corner and then into turn three laid on the brakes down the second gear and then getting ready to uh set up for a really good exit onto that long back straightaway into turn five getting ready to go under the bridge here and this straightaway is all about setting up for a late deep breaking into five lots of um good overtaking opportunities here hard on the brakes at the 200 sign sixth gear all the way down the first sharp left-hander and then up the hill into turn six very short tap on the brake here car gets really light on the uh on the exit of the corner and then into turn seven just a short lift back to power and then flat out down the hill into turn eight breaking right at the 200 down the second gear using a little bit of that curve at the apex and i'm ready to enter the carousel long sweeper right fourth gear really fast really fun here in this porsche gt3r with all that downforce and then exiting the carousel setting up to uh to enter the kink is uh one of those famous corners here in america really fast fifth gear 137 miles an hour at the apex and then down into canada corner braking is going to be right at the 300 again a good place to uh to make some moves hitting that apex curve and then again using all of that curve on the exit and then setting up for billy mitchell super front corner blind on the entry and then using all that curve on the exit laid on the brakes for turn 14 making sure we set up for a good exit and then on to the front straightaway and that was a lap here at road america thanks to john hayward at right motorsports for that high high-speed tour of road america and calvin the thing that stood out to me how many times did he talk about fun fun corners there's there's so many of them around this place it's one of the reasons drivers love coming to elkhart lake such a big lap to put it all together it's certainly unqualified but just a great raceable track as well we talk about long straightaways big heavy brake zones that's where you make some moves certainly to turn one even though the speed entry there has certainly increased over the years with the grip from the prolly p zeros and how effective these gt4 cars are in terms of downforce as well but down into turn five is a big one down in the turn eight and certainly canada corner is not so smooth down into canada to turn 12. so that's a great one to maybe have an opportunity to sneak down the inside as the grid scrolls across the screen a few story lines to highlight one amanda made reference to the strength of the bmw m4 gt4 five of the top eight in qualifying calvin are that bmw platform and maybe some of that has to do with the conditions but we look at this track layout and we do think yes there is a lot of equalization with balance of performance but this should be a track that suits that platform it should i mean long stretches over four thousand feet three times you hit in terms of run acceleration running around this circuit so that's gonna be a good opportunity for those bmws but you also need a car that's gonna be really good over the long run here today so doing it over one lap is very different to maintaining that entire performance and not having too much high degradation over the long run same set of pearly p zeros have to finish this race so there's no uh tire change during the halfway point drivers uh leave their partners this what you got to finish the race with another couple of story lines to keep an eye on the pro-am points leaders they've won all but one of the races so far this season in their class matt travis and jason hart they start all the way back in ninth overall third in class and then the tenths place starting car let's welcome conquest racing back into the championship it's a great debut from them with makai stevens and collin mullen last year's gt4 sprint x silver class co-champion part of that driving lineup it's a great program we expect to hear a lot more from them in the years to come with a big commitment from eric bachelhardt and the rest of that team but we're coming through turn 14 here for the final time under pace car speeds the lamborghini euros safety car has already departed the racetrack in the field is under the command of stephen mclear the pole sitter in the classic bmw number 11 ccr racing team tfps tim barber starting alongside row 2 the m-class pulsator of chris wilson from capstone motorsports and kenny murillo for marilla racing in the orange mercedes starting third and fourth it's that long crawl waiting for the green flag and there you see baccalaureate pushes the loud pedal green flag waves and we are racing and road america yeah he tied that to perfection he's got a little bit of a jump there on barber and he leads the way to be able to go online there and kind of arc into this corner chris wilson down at the inside of morillo there 52 machine having a good run that's tom capizzi looking to the inside of morillo is kapinzi the red nose on the front of that bmw drops a wheel off has to back out of it and is swallowed up as a result it's three wide further back in the field sweeping through turn three for the first time yeah really tight there down in the entry of uh turn three one of the mercedes almost got in the grass there but everyone's through there clean so far so up front it's mclare continuing to lead from tim barber jostling for positions behind looks like wilson has got that third spot here comes john miller down the inside almost gets into the back of the mercedes busy goes wide able to wrangle that car back but he's going to lose his spot in the process wilson has consolidated that third spot overall but he's not racing for class position as amanda talked about way up the order as far as the m class is concerned he'll turn that car over to john allen at the pit stop mcaleer able to get away here in the early stages barber slots in in second this is the best fight here at the front of the pack with kenny gorilla on the charge but trying to hold off john miller who's on the charge here we go this is the difficult part of the racetrack the commitment needed here through this blast sweeping carousel corner p0 should now be coming up to pressure up to temperature and then you've really got to train your brain to be confident and committed here through that high-speed right-hand king a little bit more concrete to work with on the x as you see there and that's miller i believe he's off and back on probably target fixation there from behind you look at these other cars up ahead of you having a moment if you lift off and sometimes loses your grip and performance from the car underneath you dexter racing on the attack the brothers dexter ryan and warren sharing that gray and blue aston martin number 062 john miller on the defensive after that scary moment at the exit of the king but he gets away with one in a place that isn't usually that forgiving yeah trying to get his tires cleaned up probably something else in the car he's cleaning up as well that was a scary moment for him and there's a couple other cars that went off behind him as well but settling back in now he's going to be defensive here up this front straight away be proactive in picking that line but here comes that bmw power getting around kenny murillo very easily there how about that first lap from james clay who makes the pass on morillo up one more spot he's up to fourth that car started eighth so the veteran james clay behind the wheel on the charge here early the world machines very fast here this weekend auburn will start from the front row tomorrow in the sister car james walker had a nice qualifying run here this morning as well he's started from 11th drop back a couple of positions here on this opening lap however looks like john miller still trying to defend from ryan dexter who gets the start in the dexter racing aston it's not been the smoothest of weekends for john some travel snafus he lost his bag so he's using entirely borrowed gear none of which fits he tells me but he's just happy to be here racing at one of his favorite tracks right now though he's got his mirrors full we drop a little bit further back this is a car to keep an eye on sean quinlan behind the wheel but his co-driver greg leofeuch secured the pole for race two meanwhile and aston off to the right of the screen yeah i think that maybe paul terry possibly off uh on the exit to turn five and you saw quinlan there very deep on the breaks he may have gotten at the abs there and that allowed tim pappas to make that move on him paul terry co-driving with brandon davis and you do see damage at the front of that race car and you have to wonder where that came from who might have some damage at the back of a race car as a consequence and wr racing team entered the weekend in uh in the thick of the points battle but not a good start here and same can be said for harry godsacker making his return to the championship this is the car that usually joe rubow shares with ryan eversley and that might go some way to telling us exactly what happened to terry as we go full course yellow for the first time here you would assume that maybe terry got into the back of gotsacker and i was pretty excited about that combination of he got sacker and tyler max and sharing that car two really fast young drivers filling the slot of uh eversley and his typical partner so uh not great to not see eversley and company uh out here this weekend but i thought they're gonna have a great run but so certainly early problems for them with him stuck in the gravel now that will cause this first delay of the race full course yellow with just over five minutes just under five minutes gone in the early going and look at you can see it on the graphic there james clay up four spots at the beginning bryce and lou also very impressive welcome back to the championship to bryson who had to miss the last couple of rounds with some medical issues those have been sorted and that's great news and he picked up a bunch of spots there on the first lap now running 13th this is bad news for chris wilson what he really needs is a really good green flag run here he's got that slot sitting in third overall maintaining that m lead the class lead but he wants to come into the pits and give john allen a nice handy buffer to work with and that just keeps getting erased here with these cautions potentially let's take a look at the start of the race it was a great jump by the pole sitter stephen mcaleer as is he's right and that leaves everybody else scrapping for position further back it was pretty clean on that opening lap calvin although there were some close calls yeah you see here two three wide there coming down in the brake zone for turn three a little bit deeper in the pack when the mercedes almost got in the grass there right there just trimmed the grass edge but kept it together didn't get to the side of anyone and down into turn five look at that nearly in the back woolsey may have nudged him just fractionally but uh kenny marillo gets on the power early and maintains that fourth position he did for the moment ultimately fell victim to james clay but look at these scary moments a couple of bmws offline in the kick you can see some tire tracks that's been done before this weekend i think fortunate that the sun has come out and dried the grass there calvin because that is a treacherous part of the racetrack in good conditions but if it's wet through there you're just hanging on yeah it's uh one of those ones you're trying to survive and grab the t-shirt from a moment like that but um look like everyone got through there pretty clean everyone settled back in took a while to get those tires cleaned up for john miller so he's got a little bit of a chance to reset here think about what his car's balance is and uh coming through that corner you need so much focus ryan to hit your marks hit your turning point get to that apex and if you're just distracted suddenly with a car up ahead of you having a bit of a moment so easy to follow suit and go off the road yourself we called attention to matt travis starting in the ninth spot and you can see he's dropped a couple of positions here in the first lap and a half before the full course yellow now sits in the 11th position overall that's a pro am perry they've been the dominant pairing of the championship to date but qualifying did not go their way in either of the two qualifying sessions earlier this morning and they've got their work cut out for them to still score a lot of points now the good news is they've got a very healthy points lead coming into this weekend within their class but they're out to try and pick up race wins they're not one to to wait around are they they're not but i think for them they have so much experience i mean there's really a cut and pay scenario with them from what they had in 2019 2020 with just unbelievable starts to the season and they've always come up that little bit shy but they've got a 70 point lead right now they have to realize this is maybe not the perfect match in terms of this race circuit and that porsche that they drive so it's all about damage limitation just try and score as many points as you can here's harry godsacker able to make his way back to the pit lane as you can see sharing there with tyler maxson harry does have plenty of experience with st racing in this car maxson does not he's been primarily racing touring cars here and in other championships getting the call up to join st racing for the weekend it's apparently a one-off as far as we know and this is a pairing that both of us thought had a chance to be pretty special but not off to a good start here and it looks like possibly problems with the tire so you talked about the pit stop earlier this will not count as the mandatory pit stop normally you do not see tire changes but you are permitted to make a change if there is damage or a puncture or something like that to the tire in question yeah mechanics having a good look over here the high speed nature of this circuit you certainly want to make sure the car is safe for harry to get back out there once we go green flag running again see any language that seems to indicate that there's anything to a miss there but we'll have to wait and see doesn't look like any bodywork damage either the dive planes are intact the splitter looks all right that is encouraging it's just going to be a long recovery drive here for the rest of the 50 minutes and change and it looks like dropping a lap that's what's going to be proved to be more costly yeah really that's uh disappointing but it takes a while to get out there safely get the car extracted and then get back to the pit lane long lap here just over four miles so uh they'll probably use this as a bit of a test session see if they can tune on the car a little bit make it a little bit stronger for tomorrow grid positions already set for tomorrow of course fast land and things like that mentioned it somewhat at the start as the world team looks on from their pit wall but the conquest racing addition to the lineup here and makai stevens making his debut in the championship he's partnered with colin molin who paired with jared andretti last year and they won a championship in pirelli gt for america together but this is the first race weekend for that tandem and for that team and mikhail got a great start jumping up a couple of spots he runs eighth right now yeah they got to be happy with that eric bachelet is the team owner for conquest he's excited about this program and uh two really uh tremendous young drivers both have been part of jeremy shaw's team usa program and uh i believe there's a young canadian driver marco kasich who's going to be running the rest of the year in place of mullen but just a great start for them and uh let's see if they can get onto the podium here one of the two races this weekend the kya stevens is an interesting story 29 years old from evanston illinois and had this ambition to be a racing driver he was actually working construction and mentioned to a co-worker that that was the dream and the co-worker told him well go do it find a way to make it happen and he was late getting into racing relative to many of his peers but was found as you mentioned by jeremy shaw and went through that team usa scholarship finished third in the very prestigious walter hayes trophy part of that scholarship is getting to run formula ford races over in the uk and going up against some really established talent from europe in in those races in the uk and really represented the united states well did some open wheel racing but it's been out of it for a while and then this opportunity more or less came out of the blue when john farrow who is really the financier behind this decided he wanted to support young racing drivers and effectively had a shootout six drivers came to the shootout and three of them were selected you mentioned marco kasich earlier and who we expect to see but then stevens and mullen also distinguish themselves and so they've been doing some club level racing over the the last couple of months in a build-up to this and they plan to be full season next year yeah it's great to see that with someone who obviously has a passion uh for racing and for cars that the owner does to give these young drivers an opportunity because it's so difficult it's hard to maintain that momentum even colin coming off a championship years his uh entries into races this year been somewhat sporadic so great to see him uh have this opportunity here today and you know he'll be chomping at the bit here to get behind the wheel and maybe uh push that car even further forward and four wins and 11 podiums last year to colin mullin paired with jared andretti that was in a mclaren they are racing here this weekend in a mercedes amg gt4 and it's the plan for the foreseeable future and i had a chance to chat with colin a little bit earlier in the week and he's he said well having some gt4 experience didn't hurt but these two cars couldn't be a whole lot more different yeah and that's that's a big adaptation that you have to do and but when when you're not running uh regularly you're just gonna grab it with both arms and embrace it and just figure it out it's uh sometimes as a young driver you're given these opportunities and you have to shine so uh colin will definitely be up to that task here this weekend did get an update from amanda in the pit lane from the st racing side they there is some concern that perhaps there is some damage to the exhaust on harry godsnacker's car so they'll be keeping an eye on that still not entirely sure what led to the incident we only saw the outcome with paul terry and harry godsacker stranded there but it would seem like likely there was a coming together of some kind yeah they were separated by a couple of positions on the grid paul terry qualified 12th overall and harry was uh 14th so we'd have to assume maybe a little bit of aji bhaji down there in the break zone for turn five ryan and um if there's exhaust damage maybe just got punched in the in the tail and uh resulted in front-end damage to this wr racing casting martin but um shame to see them both having drama and as we can see this car which as you said was in the thick of the points championship battle um is not going to score points here today you have to do 75 percent of the race distance to be classified i'll have to go back to work and get that car turned around hopefully repairs can be enacted and they'll be able to race again tomorrow shane we didn't get to see their full potential here today just about 15 minutes in to the race and hopefully this cleanup is just now wrapping up but going back to the leader of this race stephen mcaleer he'll be turning that car over to toby grahovic when the pit stop takes place and this pairing made its debut back at circuit of the americas and it was kind of a one-off deal at the time but they've been really strong together as we anticipated and that was one and we've talked about it several times throughout the season calvin when that pairing was announced everyone stopped and took notice and we're starting to see some of those results that we were expecting from those two together yeah they went third second second then a win so and they didn't enter the first two races so they're very strong i mean toby has so much experience stephen mcelroy you put him in anything he's always going to run at the sharp end of the field so uh they're going to be tough to beat here today but you know everyone's going to have to execute and do the job and there's a lot of really strong cars out here this afternoon no question about that this class probably gt4 america has become just such a good proving ground i i talked to brian putt he's currently 14. he drives with him cook and he was pointing out that gt4 america has turned into just an interesting mix for for some drivers like brian he says this is a destination series this is where i want to race but looking around there's a lot of young pros that are trying to make their way into gt3 racing and everything in between and it's it's proven to be fascinating all season long watching the ebb and flow between the pro-am lineups and some silver lineups and then even having some really fast ams mixing it up at the front like we see with chris wilson right now well the cars are fun to drive there's always great competition the field to keep i think it really hits a sweet spot in terms of the budget that it takes to run a gt4 car versus a gt3 and also hats after jack baldwin who just does a tremendous job as class and series manager here to uh really focus on what the teams need what they want and keep them happy and is really resulting in massive fields here lights are off on the safety car so we are about to go back to green it was a great initial start from stephen mcelure we'll see what he can do on the restart or if perhaps tim barber learned a little bit of something from that previous exchange then it's james clay one of the biggest movers of the race so far lurking just behind in the white and purple bmw and don't forget about kenny murillo in the orange morillo racing mercedes running in fifth another strong start from mclear but barber is within striking distance and he's in the slipstream calvin as they roar towards turn one under the green flag yeah about two car lengths back but i'm not sure he's gonna be close enough as they head to the brake pedal side by side here again that mercedes a little bit vulnerable there down this front straightaway looking at the fourth car back look at baba putting the pressure on his car has come alive a little bit quicker than mackel is right now putting the pressure on as they head down to turn three they've been hanging around in the points championship tim barber and his co-driver cole carollo a couple of podiums the last time out at vir maybe using some of that momentum carrying over into this race weekend mcalee are able to keep him at bay under the sargento bridge roaring down the moraine sweep towards turn five you can see it marilla was dropped the spot miller's got by him deep into the break zone james clay you know that wilson is looking in his rear view mirror james clay is not shy and getting his elbows out trying to make a move so he's got a factory in his class position if clay gets a little bit closer and kenny murillo would love to get back past john miller we lost that spot it was looking very aggressive forced miller on the defensive and for now morillo is held at bay by miller here's another fight though james clay anxious to get around the am class car of chris wilson so he can track down those ahead of him although he is the leader in pro and right now the top two are both silver class runners yeah second and third in pro am right now is tom capizzi aboard the number 52 oral technique bmw sitting in ninth overall travis has moved ahead of walker here on this opening lap so he now sits in the third position 10th overall will keep an eye on that injury as they race for the pro am championship they've been the dominant pairing so far but this has been a difficult weekend to this point for matt travis and jason hart stephen mcaleer out in front the scotsman who's been based in the states for several years and has formed a great partnership with classic bmw but he's got his mirrors full of a fellow bmw runner tim barber the veteran right behind he does we're only just over just under six minutes away from that pit lane opening for that mandatory pit stop window look at clay he's got a big run here on wilson as they come up this front stretch pops to the outside kenny clearing by term one easy pickings we talk about that bmw strength here at road america there you see it on display clears the mercedes it's not a fight for class position either that is the pro-am leader play around the am leader chris wilson and wilson didn't put up too much of a fight not sure there's much he could have done those bmws look extremely strong down the long straightaways that run from turn 14 to turn one 400 feet one of three full throttle sections at least 3 800 feet long around this race track yeah and if you uh took a template for building the perfect race track this would be pretty close because i just love these long straightaways big heavy brake zones into relatively slow corners that's what allows for great racing and overtaking as we can see throughout the field people continuing to go side by side looks like travis lost that spot back to james walker so the third place position in pro-am has changed hands yet again the ebb and flow around this track with the porsche probably stronger in some of the tighter corners and then that uh the strength of the bmw as we've seen has been in a straight line ryan dexter here having a nice run aboard the 0-6-2 aston martin clean exit they're out of tourney you swing in here just crack the throttle a little bit just trying to balance the car feel when it settles down and is ready to go again when can you pick up the god will be full commitment out of here getting the exit speed on the rundown to the king winners in the season opener at sonoma have had a couple of podiums since then very much in the thick of the silver class points championship we'll keep an eye on them as they run but as we do so let's go back down to the pit lane well as we count down the minutes to the driver change i'm sure no one's more excited about this and jason alex andreas he's going to get back in a car for the first time since 2019 and jason what's going through your mind right now well amanda um i got to tell you i haven't been in an sro race in a couple years i'm really excited to be back the fields have grown to an incredible size i'm with a new team motorsport usa and i have a new co-driver kevin o'keefe and um just before we were gonna chat with you guys i saw that uh my car pulled into the pits here uh for some type of stop-and-go penalty which i'm not sure what happened there yet but uh we're gonna find out and i couldn't be more thrilled to be here and i want to thank my sponsor rebounders for for helping me out and i'm glad to be here rebounders is an indoor trampoline park that jason looks after that is his business now and really enthusiastic about his racing a great competitor has a history of playing volleyball at a very high level actually played professional beach volleyball for a time and he told me when that came to an end he needed a new outlet for his competitive spirit and he's founded in motorsports so great to have him back in the championship he's really enthusiastic about what he and that motorsport usa team can do yeah he's a great personality and i know it's been tough on a lot of businesses so great to see rebounders uh on the rebound so to speak and even with that pit stop call maybe they can bounce back here today and have a good result but hopefully we'll see more of them this season but this battle is not going anywhere as they climb the hill up to turn six oh look at this stuff chris wilson doing his best to hold off john miller who got shuffled back a little bit at the start that's a look at the capstone motorsports team that looks after chris wilson and john allen and wilson doing a good job as you'd expect the veteran to do it's almost a misnomer calvin to put him in this am class he is because of driver ratings he is a bronze and maybe that has more to do with date of birth than anything else with some of the intricacies of the system but you look at what he's done the races he's been in over the years and he's still just as enthusiastic as ever well he's just the ultimate driver coach and mentor and just great partner to have for john allen so he's always smiling has a great attitude about it and there you see him i think he's just trying to get out of the way here he doesn't want john miller to get too frisky with him here all he's trying to do is just create the biggest buffer he can the biggest gap between he and the other m competitors to turn it over his teammate to go to work and try and hang on to that lead here before the checkered flag this afternoon he's holding miller off for the moment and that's bringing kenny murillo into the picture and the orange car just at the back of that previous shot here is wilson in the mercedes he's got big al the elephant from alabama university of alabama on the front of that car that's part of a great program that his co-driver john allen has put together with the engineering school at the university that he attended but for the moment he's got his hands full john miller eager to get by so he can give chase to the top four yeah catches him a little bit later than we're seeing some of the other moves here today but takes it to the outside can he hang on his flank he does nice move there by miller uses all of that track exit here comes wilson again he has the inside lane the inside line down into turn three interesting to see these two fighting this hard not for class position i'm sure that's not sitting well with john miller right now but you can't blame chris wilson the car is fast now here comes kenny murillo sneaking up on the back of them and just behind tom capizzi who got past ryan dexter on that previous lap he's watching a very interested spectator wilson goes defensive into turn five can miller make it work around the outside that was deep late on the brake pedal there for miller can't quite make it stick look at that experience and racecraft there by wilson now fully on display admiral without taking a peek to the outside through turn six that blind left hander as you crest the hill settles back in line single file now the high speed run through turn seven down to hurry downs and towards the sharp left hander of turn eight which leads into the carousel i think wilson believes if he could just hit his mark and pick his ideal line as opposed to being defensive he's probably got a little bit more pace good maybe stretcher but camilla's certainly on the attack and uh i think these guys just need to think about the big picture them fighting is costing them lap time that's just minimizing the gap that they're able to build on their competitors behind well and miller needs to get this pass made because the top two overall are the top two in the silver class that's what john miller is racing for silver class honors and so every moment he's trapped behind this mercedes that he might have a bit more pace than his time that he's losing to the leaders in his class yeah miller's getting aggressive slides it down to the inside that was late you got to be careful almost getting in the side of him here comes murillo he gets a bit of a run but nowhere to go with it credit to wilson who saw that late charge coming and gave just enough room to make sure they got through there cleanly murillo is closing in capizzi is closed again it's a four-way scrap now for fourth fifth sixth and seventh window is open interesting call by murillo to get them out of this fight calvin and hopefully some clean track on the other side well the key is all about your driver pairing and he's got a really good driver mate in uh christian chimchak so he'll have pace as well so kenny murillo he's brought his son in and uh here we go this battle is not going anywhere you expect alan to stay out there as long as possible on this stretch here so he's probably going to be out there for much of that eight minutes that's left on the board as he can use john miller can't get it done wilson holds him off yet again now trying to cross him over on this rundown the moraine sweep 3 800 feet from turn three under this sargento bridge down to turn five it's a big not run close enough again we've seen some of the other mercedes versus bmws being a little bit easier pickings for the bmw pilot so morello's in his shim shack 86 seconds we're looking forward to be as tight to that as you can you have a one second joker to work with per weekend not each race typically on day two you'll try and use that up as well if you have it still to play with orillo and shimshack broke through for an overall win in the first race of the weekend at vir their first overall win of the season their third win in total while they're making their driver change this continues to rage on john miller is wrangling that bmw and the thought that comes to mind no tire changes in these pit stops here calvin he's got to make sure he leaves something for chamber hall that's a great point we know what time change has happened during this pit stop so if he's using the mop and he's off the road there on the exit the carousel he's certainly pushing really really hard to close in on him on the run through the king down in the canada corner break zone maybe kapisi can think about making a move this is exactly what wilson wanted to see now we can test that theory if he doesn't have to play defense the whole time and he can run the ideal line can he keep these two behind that car is looking evil for john miller at the exit of canada corner he was pointed directly at the tire barrier yeah now he's uh arms and elbows right now capizzi's really putting the pressure on so they can do a tire pressure adjustment so if they're over inflated maybe they can just crack some uh pressure out those rear tires and maybe make a little bit better balance for chandler hollow will take over the reins here when they do finally stop they stay out on track and that's part of the strategy here for these lineups capizzi with the big run up the inside and from the hunter to the hunted goes john miller and he's got that similar bmw m4 with the strong straightaway speed to his inside he knows this outside line though from the last few laps when he was going on the attack can he put that knowledge to use i think the pz's got the line now it's going to be tough for uh miller to come back you know he's going to keep digging and he does takes it around the outside he is not giving up on this track position right now he wants to keep it and maintain it till they get to the round of pit stops a fierce battle raging on track here these are two of the best behind the wheel of a bmw here comes capizzi looking to the inside pops back in line miller goes defensive capizzi will try the outside not close enough to get it done will slot back in single file through turn five what a fun race this has been for john miller so far today he's had a couple of scary moments but as you can see this has allowed wilson to kind of stretch his legs a little bit i felt he had a bit more pace i think some of that is true and also i think that miller is struggling even more as he gets deep into this run look at the advantage that's given wilson i think you were exactly right calvin when he didn't have to worry about being under attack he was able to run his line use the strength of that mercedes and he's pulled out a big gap right now top uh four top three had not changed mclear barber and clay have yet to pit a couple have made stops james walker's pitted he's got billy overland behind the wheel so typically with the pro-am driver prayer rings you're gonna let that pro in the car as soon as possible with the silver lineups and the am lineups obviously slightly different strategies employed there more flexibility in the lineup when there's less of a variation between experience levels of the two drivers it's worth noting mclear has really pulled out a gap over barber it wasn't that long ago oh could spin right in front of the leaders that's not what you want to see behind the wheel i think they may have been in and done the driver change todd started the race [Music] that's right they did make a stop just a few laps ago this is tim barber called carlo the youngster will take over and it's another one of those instances where the way this race format works with the two drivers having a chance to to get to drive alongside your coach so that they're feeling the same thing you are they can give better feedback that way i think it's one of the success stories of broadway gt4 america that we've seen and the reason we've seen it grow so much well it's the perfect scenario i mean driver coaching has become so prevalent in our sport over the last few years and to have the ability to literally drive with your driver coach he can tell you what the car is doing you can look at his data you can play it over yours and see what you're missing out where you're losing time so i think that's what's so attractive to this sprint x format in the two driver format now tom capizzi has come to the pit lane he was the one challenging john miller for position not so long ago for fifth overall they bring him in and here is the driver change underway should be plenty of time to get this done you're looking at about 40 seconds i think is the typical pit loss here at road america in terms of uh coming down pit lane so it gives you about 45 seconds to work with on a simple driver chain so unless you completely mess up you should be good to go that was a really good stint from tom they'll hand it over to john canestro de vets who is no slouch behind the wheel and we'll do so in a great position as we saw a couple of cars leaving 11s on the racetrack some slide going on with the rear wheels who haven't pitted yet we'll need to come in this this time there's not enough time to put another lap on the board and be inside that pit stop window which closes in just under two minutes any of the pit stops that have taken place so far catch your eye whether they're fast or slow in general they're all looking uh pretty slow no one's really close to the the minimum so we'll have to wait and see if some of the uh leaders can execute a little bit closer to that minimum stop time keep an eye on that see yes our leaders do indeed peel off as we anticipated so stephen mclear will be handing over to toby grahovic oversees this classic bmw operation but definitely can get it done behind the wheel and this is a track he knows inside and out it is and uh he's going to be looking for great things here grahovic was brought up here he spent his time watching his uh family race here over the years so to have the ability to go for a race win today is pretty exciting time for toby kenny murillo has turned that car over to kristen shimshack the marilla racing mercedes now he's going to try and do what has been very difficult to do hold off a hard charging bmw m4 here at road america and at m4 making its way to the pit lane amanda is standing by well you remember as we talked at the top of the show steven mackler wanted to bring this bmw into pit lane and hand it to toby gracovic in the number one spot and that's exactly what he did he macclaire is racing for that birthday win guys but toby is as well this is his home track as you just alluded to cal but something else special he won here last year in the tc category so to go back here with wins in road america i think that would make the hometown kid pretty happy no question about that here is the pit work from capstone motorsports john allen set to go behind the wheel chris wilson with a great opening stint running in the overall top five as the top m-class runner now we'll see if john can hang on to that spot there should be some hard charging ams coming through the field in the second half of the race and here come the leaders pit stops complete calvin yeah and we actually got an update that the minimum stop time was uh up to 91 seconds and we just saw play de gallante at 130.9 so they'll be using the joker there one tenth of a second underneath but a lot of the other front runners doing it in about a second over the minimum time so not a big switch up there but certainly bimmerwell very much on top of the game that should be a fun pairing to keep an eye on too james clay the veteran passes it over to nick vellante who was due to the championship earlier this year and has fit in quite nicely christian shimshack here trying to hold off the hard charging bill auberlin one of the most experienced and decorated bmw drivers anywhere on the planet and here comes bill around the outside yeah very much into a rhythm right now he's one of the early stops in terms of james walker coming in and turning it over bill oberlin qualified second fastest in the second qualifying session here this morning so we'll start on the front row tomorrow but bill is all about winning he loves winning races particularly behind the wheel one of those rondelle bmw powered machines big smile on his face all weekend coming to road america and bill auberlin up one more spot to get around christian ship shack that is looks like for the fourth position we'll see how things shake out after the pit stops have totally completed the pit window as you can see is closed it looks like everyone is out off the pits at this stage that was beautiful watching overland flow through that sector there through turn eight just using air through turn seven excuse me using every inch of the road just very much into a rhythm here here's grahovic trying to get into his rhythm early in the spin right now how much of a skill is that to be called in cold off the bench in the middle of a race and be on it right away well the good news is he he did that qualifying session a little bit early also the tires will maintain most of their tire attempts when you go back out there everything the cars up to temp the tires are up to 10 so it's just really hitting your marks you got to be careful with the rhythm of dealing with traffic like you had to kind of focus on then but now he's got clear road ahead and just settle in start to hit your marks he's not under any pressure right now but uh he can't afford to relax too much there's not too much of a gap there at the front to me that nick gallante had made it around cole carlo and indeed that is the case that is not for class position but it is for overall so grohovic leads overall and in silver over galante who's the pro am leader cole carlo now dropping to third overall but second in the silver class and then you get bill aubrey so how about this for a theme four bmws holding the top four spots then mercedes with christian shimshack and jason hart slowly but surely moving his way forward for nola sport that's the car that matt travis started currently holds third overall sorry third in class in pro am but sixth overall up four positions here in the last couple of laps and that's where that experience shows with that nola sport team despite not qualifying that well i think jason's even deeper in the field for tomorrow's race they're just gonna maintain their poise just all about damage limitation it seems like the porsche is not quite as quick as some of the other manufacturers here this weekend but score as many points as you can that's really the focus in a championship win if you can if you can't finish first finish second and on down the order sometimes a fifth or a six is the best you can achieve on a certain race day but it's all about focusing on the big picture and just grabbing points as best you can one thing to note we saw the dexter racing car dropped 10 spots on that last lap they had been well inside the top ten they're now running 16th overall and should also mention that john allen the leader in the am class taking over for chris wilson he's eighth in the overall running order his closest pursuer is john jensbray in the smooch racing toyota supra and that car is currently back in 18th so it'll be interesting to see how much progress jezree can make over the course of his stint he's been a bit of a revelation in his first season of gt4 racing this year he really has very impressive young man but he's about 15 seconds back so he's just got to focus forward just click off those lap times and see if he can reel john allen in by the end of this race two-thirds of the way through the race here's a challenge possibly for position i think that's the new conquest car it is colin mullin behind the wheel running 10th and he's challenging chandler hall in the car that john miller started this is a fight for ninth overall and fourth in silver let's see how it compares now we've seen the bmw make some moves around the mercedes emg machines here today up this front straight away about marlins now picking up the draft from the bmw i'd have to say that miller's speed didn't look as impressive as sun on the other bmws you've seen out here this afternoon so let's see how they stack up here well we saw just what a handful that bmw looked like for john miller and that doesn't appear to be a whole lot better we saw chandler hold sideways through a couple of corners coming onto this front straightaway look behind them look at that battle coming up in the turn one almost four abreast there yeah you're right chandler's struggling with the grip here as well mullen looks to the inside takes it in deep tries to tuck in and it's all about just maintaining that lane maintaining the line here not overshooting the corner and giving the bmw a big run they come down the moraine sweep we are getting reports and you can see it just visually that some rain is headed this direction whether or not it arrives in the next 19 minutes and seven seconds well that's really the question here but uh that would definitely throw a giant wrench into the works in the final third of the race nola sport the championship leaders in pro-am at the front of the field that's the cayman you see with the big cougar on the front and the big me a throwback to the famous livery from talladega nights we know matt travis loves his racing movie references so we put it all over his car and he's at the moment that's jason hart behind the wheel trying to hold off john capestro dubetz in the bmw that's what's cool about that newer sport team they take it very seriously as we know in terms of races every single weekend and trying to play the big championship this year but they have fun doing it which is pretty cool to see this is impressive as well cole carlo in the blue beamer at the back of this shot it started to reel in those in front of him he was giving up some time early in his stint but has fallen into a nice rhythm uh and he's got uh galante out in front actually it looks like he's lost a spot there to oberlin excuse me but hanging right with them here and he might be in the mix to bring the fight to galante before this race is over two bimmerwall cars now running first and second in the pro-am class that's galante come up the hill there bill overland on the prowl well here comes bill up the hill with just 17 minutes to go and he can sense an overall win is potentially in the car it's just four seconds up the road is the race leader toby grahovic oberlin to the inside the car squirming under the brakes galante giving him just enough room to the inside auberlin giving enough room on the outside did they make it through turn one cleanly give the spot to bill auberlin yeah he really felt that one out he had the run i think any other competitor who just barreled it down the inside he wanted to make sure that nikolante was going to give him enough room i think they probably are thinking back to uh coda when they had three bimmerwell cars all in the first lap incident want to play nice and clean with your teammates and it was nice and clean that's good to see auberlin now up to second and he begins the pursuit of toby grahovic some four seconds up the road but still 16 minutes in change to work with that's plenty of time for a driver of bill auberlin's caliber yeah it really is he's going to try and hunt down he'd love to get that over a win but right now he's got the class win this is really deep on the brakes there with spencer pompeli aboard the trg porsche cayman lasalle solution machine on the march great drive from this team derek deboer started the car spencer pompeli jumping in they had some issues in qualifying that left them lamenting what might have been but clearly there is some pace in that cayman as derrick had a solid opening spin and here comes spencer bumpelling up the inside of chandler hall and he's able to make that pass stick wow that was impressive just really late on the brakes didn't like he was even fighting the car as he got down to the apex so he has pace right now trying to clear this 23 machine alexandr alexandris gets it done around the outside in the carousel where it bottles up the rest of these runners chandler hull able to finally make the pass colin mullen follows him through and alexandria wisely backs out of it to let these front runners swarm past colin mullin looking to pick up one more spot he's been working on chandler hole for the last couple of laps big lap here from pelly though i think he's moved from the sixth position in class up to fourth that's what you expect from the veteran so many laps around this place in all kinds of different machinery including nascar xfinity uh race here earlier this summer i had a big break issue lost breaks going down into turn one had a massive crash i think that's on the back of your mind when you uh entered this corner at high speed even one in one of these gt4 machines yeah saw spencer running the nascar race at ims just a couple of weeks ago perhaps getting a little extra track time there for the pirelli gt4 america's stop but boy you can see just how much the mercedes is giving up in a straight line as colin mullin is getting freight train down the front straight away wow that's gotta be super frustrating after really impressive start to this stint for him so nothing you can do you can see there's just a big delta in terms of the terminal speed of the cars here however he's got another car guy cosmo diving down the inside taking advantage of uh mullen getting a little bit out or out of rhythm with all of those cars passing him up into turn one that's a program that came together rather late for guy cosmo and chris cagnazzi but they've been pretty good together and guy cosmo another one with tons of experience putting it to use colin mullin a former champion in this series but doesn't seem to have the car quite to his liking battle for the lead is on calvin billy oblin down in the inside gets around toby grahovic i have to think that toby grahovic is thinking of the big picture and those silver championship points so that's the overall lead now pro-am carve bill orbin the number 34 machine leaving a silver class car of toby gracovic identical machinery essentially but they're battling for different point structure one thing to keep an eye on is there is some smoke coming out of the back of this car i've seen it a few times earlier and it's definitely picking up in intensity so that is something in the back of their minds meanwhile let's get an update from the pit lane and amanda well there might be another battle that the teams are going to face here soon enough guys the weather i know it's been a battle here already this weekend but i actually talked to john miller after he got out of the car with the driver swap uh with chandler hole and he was telling me that it was raining on his way in especially in the canada corner as you head into that mitchell bend but you can see teams kind of anticipating it i did talk to classic as well prior to this and they said that they're ready for it if it happens but teams are wanting to see what's going to happen with the weather here too those go a ways towards explaining why we saw that car slipping and sliding so much if there was moisture on the track here comes christian shimshak now showing that there is some strength in that mercedes amg gt4 relative to a bmw he's hanging tough here trying to get closer to nick gallante and try and get that overall position again these two cars not battling for the same class position right now it's a little bit complicated when you've got all these fast drivers here into the end shack wants to catch grahovic that is the leader in the silver class they're separated by that one car and a couple of seconds now we check in with jason hart once again the nola sport driver championship leader in pro am it's been a nice recovery drive for them a lot of that first stint was spent outside of the top ten but jason now has that car running in sixth overall challenging for fifth overall although the fight that you see on the screen is not for class position no he's looking way ahead there but not that far in terms of uh time delta just a couple of seconds in front is nick gallante holds down second in the pro-am class so that's the car that he's focused on but he's obviously got get around these two cars that are beating that sandwich should also update the am class battle has changed i'm not sure what happened to john allen but john jesbray now leads and second belongs to thomas merrill back in 18th 17th and 19th respectively that was close there so colin mullen lean on chandler hull there on the brake zone for turn six that's a tricky one not a lot of room there with that bridge abutment but they made it work give mullen the spot and that's also allowed this uh number 15 aston to enter the prey as well kent cook driving and he's going to be on the charge a lot of momentum with that team the blue sport team coming off a great victory at vir in the last event admittedly back in the memory distance in terms of nearly 12 weeks ago since we competed here but still that will really put a spring in their step certainly has talking to kittens that was the long-awaited first win for them and that program meanwhile chandler hall still coming under attack this is chad mccombie coming by good to see him and pf racing back in probably gt4 america chad of course a veteran of nascar racing for many many years and then made the switch ransom mx5 cup and what i find interesting is he and stephen mcelroy co-own an mx5 cup team and there's a chance the two of them could end up racing against each other at least their cars over the course of this weekend well they've won a championship together and another champion in another series so uh they know each other very well but there is battles going on everywhere right now so greg leofooge certainly has pace he has pole position for tomorrow's race so there is a lot of speed in that stephen cameron racing run bmw the orange and blue machine right there heading through the apex of turn one here's mullen settling back down again after losing a few oh no is that grohovic we saw the telltale signs earlier and it looks like the power train has given up and toby gracovic has pulled the erstwhile race leader off to the side of the racetrack with a plume of smoke behind hopefully he's able to locate a safe area to stop that race car and we can continue under green for the final nine and a half minutes that is devastating for the driver combo we're really charging up the points order despite missing the opening rounds of this championship season and then they'll have to go to work to make sure they can have a car ready to go for tomorrow that's where if you have an issue in race one of these double header weekends the problem can compound itself if there aren't the appropriate spare parts or if the damage is too significant in the case of an accident to enact a repair overnight jason hart here time running out just under nine minutes to go can he chase down that bmw that we're looking at nick gallante not really making a lot of headway [Music] [Applause] he's still a podium run at this stage of the day though right so carrallo in the bmw he's working his way around now this is not for class position galante though just up the road uh would be that's gonna help though shimshack getting to the inside of galante so that's gonna stall him out a little bit and this is that fight here side by side shim shot is there a touch a little puff there i thought as they uh going to the turning part of billy mitchell bend this is really going to give jason hart a little uh more spring in his step right now as he can see that bmw two cars ahead is the one he's trying to chase down oh here comes the counter attack though up the hill the speed in a straight line of the bmw on full display shimshack works so hard to get that spot and he's gonna have to give it back with no recourse in a straight line and now shimshack on the defensive john capestro dubetz takes a peek up the inside christian gives him tons of room jcd ultimately backs out of it they'll settle back in single file but boy how frustrating must that be for shim shack to work so hard get that spot and then be blown by jcd he's kind of quietly snuck up here in that podium spot got around jason hart so he's having a brilliant run here he comes around the outside of shim shack that would be for the fourth spot third spot overall i believe here's your am class leader john jesbray and this supra doing a great job moving forward he's up to 15th overall now yeah really super impressive catch that damn champ uh class leader and uh stretch the lead right now with seven minutes to go out front bill auberlin has extended his lead to over 10 seconds and valante holds second at the moment that's the car at the lead of this train and then you bring john kopestra dubets into the picture followed by christian shimshak and jason hart has latched on to the end of this train he's looking for a couple more spots if possible just to try and like you said salvage a weekend on an event in which this porsche just might not be the best weapon to have in your hand yeah auburn's in a different zip code right now with that 10 second lead but look at these two bmw jc d is on the march right now he's got a bit more pace in that oro technic machine it seems like but galante doesn't want to give it up that's going to allow shim shack and hard to get a run on these two bmws here comes shaq he's been strong in this section through billy mitchell bend before we saw him make an outside pass jason hart looking trying to plot a way past as well oh there's a peek to the inside from kapestro dubetz backs out of it looking to get that big run up this drag strip that is the front straightaway yeah don't be surprised to see this little gaggle trade some paint here before the finish here today they're all fighting really hard look at heart there big run so we talk about the bmw space with the draft jason hart slides around the outside of shim shack he wants to go and attack those two bmws and they're side by side as well gallante goes defensive to the himself watch the run the heart will get right here if he can execute didn't quite get back to power as quickly as he needed to and now suddenly jason hart's in the picture that would be four class positions wide he slipped there going through turn three that gives jcd the run and here comes jason hart as well he's got two cars breaking the air for him big draft there that should bring shimshack into the picture as well cole carollo not too far behind side by side in the run down the marine sweep to turn number five he's looking at that battle up front he says keep battling but time is running out for spencer under five minutes to go looking to see who made it out of there out in front in that scrap and it's still galante able to hold off the attack from jonker pester dubetz jason hart right behind as his shimshack who takes a peek to the inside of the porsche backs out of it though before turn six yeah sometimes just the gear ratio in the different car can make a difference as you accelerate off a turn if it's in the sweet spot really impressive that nickelante has really just uh settled back in here and he's determined to hang onto that p2 position there's shim shack this car is strong through the carousel here he's able to hang right with jason hart trying to take that spot back but it's really hard who's the aggressor at the moment john capestro duvets who just a few moments ago was challenging to take that spot away from galante settling in trying to hold off the hard charging cayman looks to be spot on right now this late stage of the race at least 60 minutes on this set of pearly p zeroes his car's a little bit stronger through the corner it seems but he's still a little bit weaker to the bmw's down the straightaways how does he plot his way to the front of this pack right now keep in mind there is the threat of weather looming too we'll keep our eyes on the skies but for the moment it appears still to be a dry race track no rain reported as of now but some is in the area and could definitely throw a wrench into things but it's a train of four cars a pair of bmws a porsche and a mercedes fighting for second third and fourth as well as fifth in the overall running order here comes capestro de vets another big run flicks it to the outside as they get down towards that brake zone am class leader john jesbray still getting it done out in front of his class 15th in the overall running order he's got the recovering dexter racing silver class car behind trying to make his way back forward thomas merrill continues to run in the second spot in him but what a pairing john jensbray has proven to be alongside kevin conway this year the two of them jumping onto the scene with a brand new race team with some support from the ave group meanwhile we have had a change of spot here because jason hart i think has made the pass on kapestra do bets but now is going to have to fight to consolidate it he does but now he's getting to that sector too where the porsche should be a little bit stronger down the long straightaways where the bmw has the upper hand i'll really focus on here just getting the power down early through six rolling a bit more speed through turn seven and maybe having a crack at it as you see the brake lights come on momentarily there for galante through turn seven does heart risk everything and look to the inside no he doesn't feel he's close enough right now the one pass he's made though like investors that is for third in pro am so it's now pro am one two three four overall it's big in the championship haunted look at the strength of the cayman yeah just hugging that inside line there he's got the grip he's looking to the inside this is gonna be a big deal here who's gonna give it up on the entry to the kink heart has the inside dils gallante roll the outside yes he does he's trying to hang on again oh that's going to open the door here comes john capestro duvets he'll get hart can he make it two for one in the run to canada corner side by side kapestro dubetz in the red car it's galante on the outside in the white and purple car and give the spot to john capestro duvet side by side his heart still trying to make the pass around the outside through billy mitchell bend galante tries to hold with him there's side by side hearts out of room he's in the grass and that allows shimshack the run to the inside jason hart losing positions here we're just overlap to go bodywork flailing there on the tail end of nicollante's bmw just like that the championship picture can change around a loss of a couple of spots possibly looking to go up two positions in pro-am instead drops back a couple more and here comes cole carollo not a class position but working his way to the outside as the white flag flies it is for class position though with spencer pompeli in the trg porsche right behind yeah spencer's right there he's going to give it his all here on the last lap essentially final lap for everyone out there [Music] has a lot of speed in that trg porsche cayman now going to try and set up heart he runs the wider entry there can he get the extra speed coming off a turn three there he is going to pick up a punch in the air from those cars up in front of him flicks to the outside of jason out really early in the run hart doesn't want to give him the lane look at that spencer pompeli does find the gap though slides up what will become the inside for the left-hander in turn five up front bill auberlin leaves by 15 seconds but this fight is fierce spencer pompeli up another spot around jason hart he's gonna try and make it two for one of the hill can he catch nick galante and get that final spot on the podium what a run here for spencer pimpelli great start by his teammate derek de board they're looking for a podium run here final lap of the race spencer pompeli gets around cole carlo he's got christian shim shack just up the road that is not for class position but galante would be in the bmw event he's long ahead of the orange mercedes since he made the pass john capestro dubetz has driven away from this fray so he seems to be solidified second overall and in pro-am galante holding on to third overall and in pro-am shim shack your leader in silver but he'd like to get on the overall podium watch pompeo what will he do down in the canada corner he's been demonic on the breaks here this afternoon is he going to be close enough we'll find out soon enough meanwhile to the front of the field a master drive from the master bmw driver in the field bill auberlin took this car to the front he and james walker are set to win overall in pirelli cheatsie for america race one it rode america up the hill goes bill auberlin checkered flag awaits and yet another victory for awesome bill bill takes the checkered flag and wins race one of the weekend here comes the charge from pele this is not for class position but he's going to try and make it anyway shimshack goes defensive drag race to the checkered flag christian shimshack will hold off spencer pompeli or will he it's a dead heat at the line wow use a little side draft maybe some nascar action coming into play there that was pretty cool it didn't matter as far as points or class position but pompey does take fourth overall by seven thousandths of a second over christian shimshack who wins in silver cole carollo wins or takes home second rather in the silver class there's smooch racing across the line john jensbray secures yet another class win for himself and kevin conway 15th overall holding on by just eight tenths of a second over thomas merrill who had a nice run himself a nice second place finish for merrell in the m class yeah really impressive he burst on the scene there in those closing laps with that porsche see what they can do in tomorrow's race maybe you'll want better they certainly have the pace in the race car it seems my goodness probably gt4 america and road america what a combination doesn't disappoint no sir weather held off didn't need the weather to spice this one up no we did not you know it's almost lost because we had such a great fight going on behind but first of all the first stint from james walker jr to put that car in position was noteworthy and then overland wasted no time at all knifing through the field to take the lead and once he got there he just waved goodbye well it's a combined effort i mean you need your ant partner to do their job in terms of the track position initially with the qualifying run and then good clean opening laps maintain as high position as you can and let him let that pro go to work and billy oblin boy to the uh on a clinic here crown strike fastest lap of the race came early stephen mcelr with the 220.193 unfortunately that's the car that he and toby hovik share that had differential issues that caused them to drop out while running second overall what a disappointment for them calvin they look primed to challenge for a win possibly overall certainly in class and it all goes up in a puff of smoke yeah it's a big shame because the championship was really heating up with the run that they'd been on including that great win at vir so they left the dust themselves off try and bounce back tomorrow score some big points and uh long way to go in this championship though we're only at the halfway point well here are the provisional race results what a race it was bill auberlin james walker jr winning overall pro am taking the top four positions in the overall running order with tom capizzi and john capestro dubetz great run for those two to come home in second james clay nick gallante third overall your silver class came down to the wire with christian shim shack and kenny morillo holding off paul carollo and tim barber tim had a great opening stint in this race their fifth and sixth in the overall and what might have been for matt travis and jason hart the good news is they had a massive points lead entering the weekend so finishing off the podium for the first time this season isn't going to hurt them too badly but they know they've learned their lesson from the past couple of seasons where they've had big leads cal and ultimately as much as they hate to hear me say this time and time again coming up just short each of the last two years i think they know each and every point is valuable and that's why we saw jason hart so aggressive yeah you can't afford to relax um no points lead seems to be safe if you start to struggle i have dnfs towards the end of the championship yeah the good news is even though they finished off the podium for the first time this year their nearest competitors didn't have great days brian putt and kenton cook well done the order and obviously we saw some retirements here as well today for brandon davis and paul terry helps to mitigate the damage and again congratulations to smoog racing with another win john jaz bray and kevin conway the ex-nascar rookie of the year what a pairing they've proven to be by all accounts they're ready to go again for next year and there is the man of the hour bill auberlin adjusting the hair making sure he's ready for the camera ready for amanda puts the pirelli hat on and i think amanda is standing by with our overall winner starting at least with bill operlin bill on that last lap you had a 15 second lead calvin fish described it as you put on a clinic how would you describe that drive for yourself i think calvin's being pretty nice i mean it was easy i was here a couple of weeks ago in a bmw gt4 and it is so at home here on this beautiful road america circuit it knows how to get to victory lane i just got to let it do its thing it drove right to the front my co-driver james walker did what he does great job gave it to us in the front perfect pit stop off we went the perfect day we've been talking about how the drivers find this track as fun what's your favorite part uh my favorite part shoot there's so many good i like 13. if you have a good car in 13 you rip it through there and also you put two wheels on you're like a little too much but so fun congratulations that kind of enthusiasm is what has made him such a fan favorite there is his co-driver james walker jr big result for them i'm not mistaken that would be james first overall win i can't think of one at least in gt4 machinery um through his career and he's really come on strong in the last couple of seasons and what a pairing these two make yeah it's really good and uh as we said it's all about the combination of both drivers and james is the amp partner in this car did a superb job in qualifying this morning admittedly in a shortened session but you still got to execute and get the job done he did that with i think he qualified 11th overall and then just a really nice opening stint down to the pit lane once again let's hear from our silver class winners well i took the helmet off and christian said that was super fun describe the battle that you had there in the last couple of laps oh that was crazy there were so many cars there i didn't know like what position i was in or what was going on but it was a lot of fun when you think of we're halfway through the season at this point uh you guys started with the second and third and points ahead of you how important was this win it was yeah it's really important i think we weren't like incredibly optimistic going in because it seemed like we were a little bit off in qualifying but i think what we learned is you just gotta keep going in the race and just just get every little thing you can out of it and good things come your way i believe we can say you did that congratulations thanks so much christian kenny murillo the winners in silver cup and calvin i think he brings up a great point he's in the midst of that big battle five or six cars fighting all in different classes how do you even know who you're racing against and which battle is four position which one isn't well i think you're relying on your pitbox and the communication process there between the team manager or the engineer in terms of telling you listen you you don't need to fight that car in front of you but they're all races they all want to try and finish as far in front as they can or get the overall win like billy oakland did and james walker but sometimes you think of the big picture they have the championship lead in the silver class right now another win they'll extend that points lead here tonight win number four of the season in the m class for smoog racing amanda has caught up with our am class winners kevin in seven races this season you guys are the owner of four wins what makes this pairing work so well you know john has done an incredible job in his first year in the pirelli gt4 america series and we're excited to be here this kid's got a ton of talent even though he's got a very limited amount of experience and we keep talking about that but it's just incredible what he's been able to do and i got to tell you the gr super gt4 has been an amazing platform for us to learn and grow with and really thankful to toyota and jezreel group and cooper natural resources and fousey and everybody that allows john and i to come out and have fun and a great championship day for the points and just very thankful for the opportunity to uh be a part of this kid and his career and i think you're gonna be hearing a lot more of them in the future john when you hear that from your teammate and you think of your own talent what motivates you um well i know that i have a lot more to learn than just about everywhere else or anyone else on the field so it's uh i really have the most i feel like i have a lot of room for improvement and uh you know to be teamed up with him i get to learn every race and we're just improving and throughout the year we'll see where uh see where we stand so congratulations on your fourth win thank you it's been a great season for them a wild season so far which has reached its halfway point seven down seven more to go and the next one is coming up tomorrow for pearly gt4 america here at beautiful road america more coverage of the sro america championships coming your way still today so don't go anywhere thanks so much for tuning in here at beautiful road america [Music] [Music] so [Music] you

Channel: GTWorld

Views: 26,719

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, RACE 1, ROAD AMERICA, PIRELLI GT4 AMERICA 2021, GT4 AMERICA, PIRELLI, GT4, GT racing

Id: O6JZdiYN7Og

Length: 81min 5sec (4865 seconds)

Published: Sat Aug 28 2021