RACE 1 | WATKINS GLEN | Pirelli GT4 America 2021

foreign [Music] within the rolling hills of new york's finger lakes region lies a gem of a racing circuit watkins glenn international today the pirelli gt4 america championship roars into the stretch run of the season in the series return to upstate new york for round nine of the 14th race calendar hello everyone my name is ryan marine calvin fish is alongside amanda busek is in the pit lane it is a pleasure to have your company clouds have rolled in but no threat of rain with 60 minutes of racing coming your way shortly calvin with the championship very much up for grabs across three classes in pirelli gt4 america we've got a totally mixed up grid because this morning qualifying for this race was wild it's a surprise when we got to the circle to see the track wet and uh these guys were the first up and uh a couple of cars got caught out one significant one being james walker jr and that caused a red flag and has effectively ended the session so only three laps on the board was the most we saw and some surprise visitors to pole positions and uh some of the championship contenders way back and also one of the championship contenders not even here today that's right and that will be a story to chronicle as we get deeper into the broadcast we'll touch on those stories and a whole lot more in just a moment but first the porsche track preview hi my name is jan halen welcome to the porsche track preview here at watkins glen coming on to the front straightaway crossing start finish getting ready to break downhill into turn one deep on the brakes hitting that apex and then watch for track limits here on the exit of turn one getting ready to turn into the famous assets here at watkins glen really fun part of the track in this porsche gt3r going up the hill no lift here onto the back straightaway and then getting ready to break into the bus stop deep on the brakes here close to the 150 signboard and then hard over the curbs here into the bus stop and then back to power into the carousel carousel one of the faster corners on the track harden small tap on the brake and then quickly back to power so much downforce here from the car really fun deep on the brakes here into turn six lots of camber here from the track back to power using up all that exit and then same for turn seven lots of camber here from the track so you can really drive it in deep and then accelerating up the hill ready to get on to this little back stretch into turn eight turn eight one of the best places to overtake if you're in a hot battle breaking down the hill again apexing the corner and then watch for track limits here on the exit and then breaking up the hill for turn nine turn nine being the slowest corner on the track and you'll see not much room for error here on the exit right next to that wall and then into turn 10 which is the fastest corner on the track over 100 mile an hour using all that exit curb pushing the car back over to the left ready for turn 11 last corner small tap on the brake and then exiting right next to that wall onto the front straightaway and that was a lap at watkins glen an amazing circuit with a rich history watkins glen international thanks to john halen for that tour of the track we'll see him in action in the gt world challenge america race later on this afternoon but first it's pirelli gt4 america and on the overall pole it's the am class car from capstone motorsports chris wilson piloted that car his co-driver is on the grid with amanda we're going to be joined by john he's still making his way down here but a little update on this car john actually did wreck in his qualifying effort they have replaced the front bumper the splitter the radiator to get this car ready for this race it almost missed pregit by one minute if that would have happened guys this pole leading car would have started from the back so in anticipation of starting from the pole john allen has decided that he is going to shave his beard today guys right after this race it's all for charity for nick saban's nick kids we know that john's a big university of alabama fan and that is what this pole position means to them well that is a big decision from john he's been sporting that beard for some time now and it's it's taken some dedication to grow it to the length it has grown out to so goes to show just what the poll means to that team and it was a shaken up qualifying calvin so to have that car missed the pre-grid that almost would have been apro pro with what we saw this morning not many laps turned and several big time contenders mired deep in this field there are but certainly some of the favorites up front as well kenny murillo a nice job for merlot racing gig in that mercedes amg on the silver pole he'll start outside of chris wilson there on the front row so uh they're on a roll they got a really strong combination of drivers they've had four wins this season and uh coming off for road america weekend where they had a win and a runner-up finish very strong for them the points leaders in pro-am matt travis and jason hart they will not be taking part in the race today calvin matt travis has wedding officiant duties his sister is getting married today he took part in practice yesterday then left the track he'll be back sometime around 4 a.m tomorrow morning ready to go for race 2. now the good news is they have built a sizable lead in the pro-am championship there is john allen in that beard by the way but back to the the nolah sports star story matt travis and jason hart they will not race today which means that lead will evaporate the big question is to what extent yeah 63 point leads there's 25 points on the table here today so it's all about how far up this field can gregory leah fuji and sean quinlan get they're starting deep in the pack but they are obviously identified this is a prime opportunity to eat at that championship lead i will keep an eye on those points battles three different classes silver pro-am and am all mixed together all in gt-4 cars and as chris wilson demonstrated in qualifying taking the overall pull in an m-class car that you would think would be the lowest of the three classes because the cars are all the same it can get really mixed up and the battles that you have to pick and choose who to fight win the fight especially in out-of-class combat that's one of the crucial elements to pirelli gt4 america it is recognizing the big picture not getting the red mist and getting too feisty with someone that you don't need to be fighting but certainly for chris wilson he's going to want to try and jump out to the lead here really put the hammer down and uh with this pit stop window that happens between the 25 and 35 minute mark of this race you expect when you got the faster driver starting he's going to try and extend that run as deep into the race as he can so we'll have to wait and see how that one plays out today the race format 60 minutes there is a mandatory pit stop halfway through within a 10-minute window it has to be done within that prescribed time and during that pit stop there are no tire changes there is no refueling it is just the driver swap which means that driver one has to make sure there's something left in those pirelli p0s when driver two takes over yeah super important that you don't basically leave your co-driver with nothing left to defend with so perfectly dry track we talked about the wet qualifying session and the damn track that was drawn out for the subsequent qualifying sessions for the other classes here today but this is idea a little bit of cloud cover and uh the grip level here at watkins glen international is absolutely insane the rolling speed we can see that with jan halen aboard that gt3 porsche just incredible how much speed you can commit to around this circuit with these conditions this will be a good one a really quick race 11 turns 3.37 miles around watkins glen we saw the onboard lap in the gt3 car how similar would it look inside of a gt4 car with a little less down force less sophisticated traction control and abs well not quite the speeds in terms of the approach speeds and not quite as much rolling speed through the corners because the gt3 cars do have a ton more downforce but these are really potent cars you can see the aerodynamic styling on all the different manufacturers that we have on the grid here today they do develop significant downforce with these gt4 cars however the nice thing is there's not so much downforce that if you're following a car closely you're losing as much so the delta is less meaning you can have really good close racing a few stories to keep an eye on as mentioned in qualifying the wet track caught out a number of teams and drivers that had some wall contact the four bush performance toyota was involved in one of those spins with some wall content matt bush will start that car back in the 26th overall position also involved in an incident was james walker jr and he and the bimmerworld team they've got a lot of work ahead of them starting 29th overall after bringing out the red flag in that session now the good news is james has been fast his car was very strong and they've got bill auberlin to take over halfway through the race yeah well you know bill he's going to want to try and get to the front if he can so a lot of work to do it needs a really good opening stint here from james walker not leave bill too much to uh try and make up but ideally they're going to need a yellow try and close the pack make some ground gain some track position get a yellow get a reset and who knows what may happen bill has obviously had so much success over the years here at watkins glen including winning the glen six hour here just a couple of months ago another neat story is the debut of a new team 3r povolato racing ross schwest and aaron povaleto the drivers in that car they will start in the 13th spot they've been driving all season with the rentec team had the big crash in the gt america race at road america they use the same chassis for both championships and as a consequence they've been forced to a backup plan this is an aston martin chassis that the team is employing that ross already owned and had an eye on competing with next season but they pressed it into service early got a lot of help from susan inside jerry the north american distributors from aston martin and an extra assist from the dexter racing team which is really going out of its way to help them get up to speed well that's a big help because uh you can get the setups from the dexter racing team that have been very competitive this year so that's a nice alliance there will be encouraged to see how they can do obviously after a pretty decent start so far this weekend the chassis only arrived at the dexter shop in nebraska last sunday not much time to prep that car and then get it sent out here to watkins glen but they've got some experience on that team the the 3r is uh a team that should be familiar to long time fans of the championship they were involved with k-pacs back in the day with the volvo touring car program i think that's the connection to aaron who's part of the driving group and also helping to manage this new team and then also um they they were involved in capex's porsche area era with randy post and others so a lot of experience there dax rob part of that operation they brought in some names that are familiar around the paddock to help with engineering and that could be a team to watch even though they're making their debut plus the aston has proven to be so solid seemingly everywhere we go it is i think it's a great fit for this gt4 platform uh so many of the uh the am drivers especially just find a really comfortable car to drive easy to easier to drive on the limit let's put it that way so not quite as edgy and as we saw last year just tremendous success field on the second of two formation laps it gives us a chance to take a look at the circuit map calvin talk us through this watkins going layout well it's certainly very challenging it does have quite a bit of elevation changes renown for being super smooth and remains that way despite the harsh uh winners up here but um the amount of grip when they did the resurfacing a handful of years ago it just transformed the place in terms of the commitment speed that you could have through some of these corners you see sector one there up through the esses pretty much flat out so that's all about horsepower and low drag but that sector two it can be the differentiator between the cars and the drives in terms of who can get through that much twistier section most effectively here comes the field now behind the lamborghini euros safety car starting to come into two by two alignment again it is chris wilson on the overall pole capstone motorsports that mercedes with big al and the university of alabama engineering school well represented on that machine he'll have kenny murillo starting alongside in the orange morillo racing car then in the second row steven mccleary who's teaming once again [Music] elliot skier with him elliott had a great qualifying effort for race too so that porsche could be one to keep an eye on the race tom capizzi starred along with john capestro dubetz back at road america the last time out he'll start in the fifth spot paul terry new co-driver alongside and owen trinkler here this weekend for wr racing they will start sixth it's a great field of cars plenty of story lines up and down this great and we're about to turn them loose yeah and as you talk your way through the grid there ryan there's so many great stories even though we're past the halfway point in this season so jcd and uh capizzi they're coming off two runner-up finishes at road america can they go one better this weekend they're in the 52 it's the goal but it's mercedes amg power on the front row chris wilson in the white machine kenny murillo in the orange coming through turn 11 the safety car has accelerated away and we're looking for the green flag now down the front straightaway we come 31 cars set to go green flag waves and look at the jump from the second row from stephen here wow chris wilson brought them to the line relatively slowly and uh allowed macklin to get a bit of a gap there between the mercedes and he looked like he tied that nicely didn't jump out early and didn't pass before the stride that was a nice run there a lot of talk about turn one lap one in the driver's meeting yesterday they get through it cleanly mclear has spread it out to the lead but kenny murillo sizing past chris wilson he takes over the second spot yeah he got his elbows out there i don't think there was a touch but certainly very aggressive move wilson comes back at him down this long stretch here that would be in the loop and just behind tom capizzi taking a look as well in the bmw then it's adam adelson just behind in the porsche bit wide there through the inner loop able to wrangle it back online putting the pressure on the 52 machine hamilton really rolling some speed there on this opening lap before the tires are really up to their peak temperatures and pressures right now the kai stevens taking a peek there in that conquest racing silver mercedes looked to the inside of the mclaren just ahead had a great qualifying effort in just his second weekend racing gt4 cars and started in ninth already up to seventh and trying to do one better michael mcaleenan right in front of him in that mclaren but he is putting the pressure on here great to see that conquest racing team here on debut at road america didn't have a ton of time but they just made gradual progress through the weekend defending up on the podium there by the end of the by the end of the day stephen mcelroy starting to run away at the front of the field for classic bmw chris wilson isn't taking this lying down though he's back on the attack it's an m class car chasing a silver class car silver running one two with mcaleer ahead of marillo and morillo's got his hands full right now he does he had to get a little bit defensive there up and in the brakes over turn nine that's going to compromise his lap times and this is not what chris wilson needs if he has a faster race car he needs to try and gap the competition as we see someone hit pit lane i think that might have been makai stevens in the conquest car we'll keep an eye on that certainly amanda will as well as capizzi goes on the offensive he's looking to the outside of wilson who took a peek to the inside of morillo no changing position there this is the 35 car you see pharaoh on the side john farrow is uh part of the ownership group there the penalty is being handed down a drive-through refueling on the free grid that will be costly oh that's disappointing because this is a really good driver combination colin mullin tm team usa graduates as uh this battle is not going anywhere but it's allowed macklin to really skip away at the front this is second third and fourth overall silver and am and pro-am all racing together for the overall honors we drop a little bit further and adelson has cleared mcaleenan so that sets that porsche loose and now mcalee defending here james clay looking aggressive that's a familiar sight yes james clay looking aggressive he's a great racer he just gets his elbows out and he's not afraid to uh make some bold and aggressive moves here same could be said for paul terry who's in that wr racing aston martin just behind he's known to go for any gap that exists and had a great qualifying effort to start in the top ten as did his fellow aston runner brian newell we're looking at that car here i believe that would be the first top ten overall qualifying result from gray starting to round into four as the season gets closer to the checkered flag yeah had a chat with his uh teammate ian james yesterday operation he said grace really doing a nice job we're very happy to see this battle now for second overall this is for the am lead or the am leader should i say trying to make a move on kenny varela marilla really wide drag limit certainly coming into play there and wilson skips around the outside can he make it stick now he's wide and late on the power has to lift out of it that opens the door for murillo and right on cue here comes tom capizzi he goes to the inside it'll be three wide into the breaking zone for turn one wilson sweeps around the outside capizzi backs out of it no position change but here comes murillo he wants that spot back because his class leader is the overall leader and stephen mcelroy is getting away yeah and i was wondering what capizzi was going to do with that move because you get down the inside when it's three wide suddenly you could see that chris wilson car coming back to apex with nowhere to go so i think there's a wise move by capizzi by bailing out of that on the defensive into the inner loop chris wilson trying to keep kenny murillo at bay gorilla right in the tire tracks and it should be equal footing between these two mercedes amg gt4 machines and tom capizzi not going anywhere showing the strength of that bmw m4 platform we had a nice chat with kenny murillo yesterday and he's sharing with us ryan the story between behind the number of 72 it's actually his great grandfather's uh bike racing number so the racing heritage runs deep in that morillo family that's right it goes all the way back to the 1930s and kenny actually showed me some pictures from his great grandfather phillips racing days was a bmw factory rider in motorcycle competition pre-world war ii here is mclean and now in the mclaren he's got james clay to the inside and right behind that's paul terry watching for his chance to pounce he is and has taken james clay basically a lab to try and uh cut pace that same move he was looking at that similar move just a lap ago and finally gets it done see if he can demonstrate a little bit more pace now he's clear for the mclaren terry had to back out of it as mclean and shut the door on him and that brings gray newell into the picture meanwhile chris wilson has built a bit of a gap most comfort he's had all race long and murillo going from aggressor to defender trying to hold off tom capizzi i think settling down a little bit but up front i mean it's allowed immaculate to now uh create a five-second plus gap to the rest of the field now you see adelson making a move down to the inside on the run to turn one for fifth position it's been a great outing so far for that premier racing team adelson elliott skier running together for the first time in pirelli gt4 america last time out at elkhart lake and they showed some pace there but i don't think that was the best track to showcase the porsche cayman here at watkinswood it seems like there's a bit more parody uh as far as the cayman is concerned and they should be a factor especially when elliot gets in he is a real talent we just haven't seen enough of him as of late uh this is uh charlie bellardo i think this is the rs1 car that charlie and trent hinman are sharing this weekend it might be dropping some fluid you can see the smoke trail coming out from behind that car and i know the session was cut short but it's a nice qualifying run by valuato fifth position in class and you know that when trent inman gets behind the wheel of any car that he drives he's going to be uh towards the sharp end so hopefully it's not a bigger problem with that race car than we just saw one other story to chronicle cole carlo and tim barber they are second in silver points but they were one of those that were caught out going back to qualifying and tim has done a great job clawing his way forward from 28th he is already up to 14th and third in class and he's got kevin conway in his sights next for 13th overall a bit of work to do though if he's going to get up and join the rest of the silver class contenders that are a ways up the road including first and third in the overall running order with mclear and murillo but marilla right now can't rest easy and that's one of those corners that track limits becomes a talking point here at watkins glen four wheels over the painted lines and that's where the stewards are going to start taking a close look at things yeah they are and basically got some part of that pirelli p0 inside wheel touching now capizzi gets a better run and just clears him in time to uh inch across and take the line away towards apex so it's taking them a while but just really good discipline to get that move done tom rounding into form it seems like also he was incredibly impressive in his stance at road america and i think it's worth noting that the bmw seemed to be the car to have there but it's carried over to watkins glen and the run of form from him and auto technique very impressive they are the pacesetters for bmw at the moment well sometimes you just find a setup that just clicks and rode america in here not that december in terms of their makeup in terms of high-speed corners and uh similar sort of setups even though this is a little bit smoother but you know and also confident that such a big factor they had such a great race weekend and could have come away with at least one victory but two runner-up finishes they want to go better here as we said earlier in the show and they're certainly demonstrating that with john capestro tibet's going to take over the reigns that auto technique bmw expect him to take it to the front we see sean quinlan entering into the picture for the first time that is the bmw at the back of the shot grey newell taking a peek to the inside of adam adelson and has to back out of it but quinlan and greg leofuge they're in the midst of a championship hunt of their own did not qualify well started 17th in this race but up into the top 10 overall now and looking to pounce a little bit more as adelson gives up the spot gray newell makes the pass around the outside stick and quinlan trying to follow him through that was really nice driving there by gray he got the move to the outside it's not the ideal lane you would think that porsche may have come back at him but he gave him plenty of racing room rolled the speed around the outside and makes that move stick so talking james at the beginning of the year about gray newell and his abilities he said he's had a lot of pace but really impressed with him in in testing but now sticking him in race conditions is going to be the real litmus test and he really showcased there that he's learned a lot quickly well it's true a bit more on the quinlan leahfuge steven cameron racing story they know they're going to make up points this this race because the car they're chasing isn't running today it will run tomorrow that's the matt travis jason hart car it's just a matter of how much ground they could make up and this strong start here in this stint from sean quinlan is exactly what they were hoping for i think adelson must have a problem he's uh losing places rapidly right now after a really impressive start so they tried to peak a little bit moved up with their starting ryan dexter in his first trip to watkins glen driving he'll turn it over to his brother warren father zane is the team principal based out of nebraska they're starting to expect the auto racing then when trans am racing before showing up and doing a partial gt4 schedule a few years ago with a ginetta this is the first year in the aston martin camp and they've had some really good runs especially in the season opener at uh and sonoma yeah a really impressive little team and i mean that in the best possible way they just uh really learning their trade really quickly here in sro competition despite making the move to a different chassis showing similar performance levels entered this weekend tied for third and silver class points nice strong move forward so far in this stint ryan dexter up to 14th overall this is sean quinlan who we were talking about a moment ago he's got the former nascar cup series rookie of the year kevin conway breathing down his neck that's the am class car just behind the supra while we watch them battle it out on track let's go to the pit lane and check in with amanda well you talk about the moves that sean quinlan and gregory lee if you want to make today well that number one car that you were talking about and the points of matt of matt travis and that team well they're not racing in this race uh currently today because matt is actually officiating his sister's wedding and with five wins on the season i imagine that points lead might have a little bit to do with this decision but what a special day for the travis family really cool for matt i know he was very excited about it kind of joking around why why'd you have to schedule your wedding on a race weekend can't you schedule your life changing events around my hobby and it was all said with a tongue firmly planted in cheek he's a funny guy and that team has about as much fun as anybody in the paddock in fact their press release announcing that's what they were doing this weekend was the funniest thing i've read in some time i can only imagine the one-liners of that wedding today well best of luck to matt as he officiates that wedding uh this weekend it will see him back at the racetrack tomorrow for race two but right now the team is probably keeping a close eye on what sean quinlan is doing so they'll have an idea of just what the damage is for missing the race here today kenny murillo piloting the 72 for marillo racing christian shimshak will take over we've reached nearly 15 minutes into this race which means we're about 10 minutes away from that pit window opening i can start taking a look at what the teams might have like to do from a strategy perspective [Music] overall it's not a battle for class between uh makalina and uh grey newell way forward there was big uh fist pumps after qualifying where he qualified fourth in class but this is really the uh ultimate test here is what can he do in race conditions and so far today is moving forward michael mcelwain and driving that mclaren motorsport usa is the team based out of the pacific northwest as is michael he's from tacoma washington finished fifth in gt4 america am points last year running again in the m class alongside dan rogers and trying to keep the pro-am car of gray newell behind him and that mclaren looks stout in a straight line it does and the aston is known for being pretty strong he made some moves on straight away speed graded and uh got a good run through the final corner and now we're seeing an issue here because this is not inside the pit stop window for the capstone racing am leader chris wilson now in pit lane this was the overall pole sitter we saw chris running at the pointy end of the field remember amanda's update they did have some contact in the qualifying session you can see the bare carbon nose on this car they had to make some repairs prior to the race and maybe you wonder if there's something residual from that contact that is starting to rear its head now 15 minutes into the first race of the weekend yeah it's a great point ryan you take a hit like that kind of shock wave through all of the ancillary equipment on that car so that's disappointment there for that team bmw on bmw action here second in pro-am points fighting second in silver points that's tim barber chasing sean quinlan and here comes tim taking a peek to the inside but not up close enough as they enter the boots and we talk about some of these am drivers how they've progressed uh quinlan coming off that 2019 championship sprints with uh greg lee fusion he's just used to hitting winner's circle now so it's giving him a ton of confidence and even though this is not battle for class position he didn't want to give up the position easily just exited the toe of the boot making the run to the heel and now we jump ahead and watch makalini continuing to hold off gray newell but those two bmws not much between them just behind and barbara knows he needs to charge because he's third in class but the leader in class is leading overall second in class is third overall they are fighting for that points uh championship they're very much in the thick of things but still an impressive drive coming from as far back as they have in today's race here we see as i said like cut and pace we saw some other people taking a lap to get the job done and that's exactly what grade nil just did learn from the previous lap times a little bit differently and gets the run down to the inside on the mclaren down at the turn one but now we'll see what kind of power that mclaren has we saw it able to defend that horsepower down the front straightaway if he could stay in the slipstream he might have a chance to make a play into the breaking zone for the inner loop but it didn't look like newell might have solidified that lead instead it's tim barber taking a peek to the inside on the first jig to the right in the inner loop can't get the pass done but stays right there in the tire tracks and it's going to be threatening as they enter the boot portion of the circuit yeah and the entry speed to the inner loop is so quick with these gt4 cars you've really got to have time to move and now he looks down at the inside of the laces that's a nice move there i think he caught sean a little bit by surprise there but trying to get the job done on the inner loop you've really got to be moving alongside the car it's not a corner where you're braking enough just to do a last minute late break into that corner you're bleeding off the brake pedal pretty quickly and flying through there rolling speed that move was for eighth overall and keep in mind tim barber started back in 28th to start this race so up 20 spots in less than 20 minutes very impressive stuff for ccr team tfb cole kerala will take over he's been impressive this season as well those two have been working together for a couple of years now and cole's another youngster that with some experience under his belt is looking to take the next step conway they're running second in the am class a little bit of work to do to catch mackelene who leads that number five that black mclaren that we were seeing in that battle with gray new also it's all about trying to get your teammate in a strong position in the second half of this race you can see how close these cars coming off that final corner of the curb basically runs all the way up to that safety barrier there so you can almost play a game of chicken through that corner in terms of how early you want to commit back to the power and ensuring that you've got enough room on the exit it started off as a promising day for capstone motorsports but we saw the car in the pit lane off sequence amanda what's the story it did start off as a fantastic day for this team and as we were making our way down pit lean we saw the team walking away kind of shaking their head they are out for the rest of the day i'm with the engineer grant barkley who looks over the engineer and strategy what can you tell us about what happened underneath the hood of the mercedes well i can tell you it's a really devastating blow for the team you may have noticed we had an accident in quality ii the crew worked incredibly hard we made pre-grid literally with one minute to spare um and we've just had an alternator belt failure so obviously losing all the power on the motor that drives everything in this car um we're not sure at the moment if it's related to the accident in quality but there's probably a good chance we may have picked up some debris then and that that led to the failure unfortunately i feel so bad for john and chris and especially for the crew that worked so hard to get us back on track but tomorrow's another day and uh hopefully we'll not have any any bad luck tomorrow [Music] tough break for capstone tough break as well for the dexter racing car little off track excursion you see all the grass in the grill of that machine but diffuser damage as well yeah just tried to look around the outside there and uh of schwest and gets a little bit wrong runs out wide you see the diffuser come adrift so that may still be on the racetrack but he's also packed that front grille with grass as well so he's gotta really watch these temps right now remember those are two cars basically running out of the same tent this week and the dexter's went to bat for schwest and the 3r povolito team in their first weekend on the racetrack and uh that was a little tight between those two it was there's a good little race going on there but um just loser we talk about these gt4 cars not having the same amount of downforce as a gt3 car so it doesn't allow you to follow closely but he just washed out there it's a high commitment corner they're coming down the hill may have just missed his marks a little bit when you're following so closely it's very easy to do that let's get ross schwest a shout here too he's running just to the back of this fight he's in the aston martin the white one running right behind the supra there first weekend racing in this new aston martin platform brand new team a lot of new personnel it was a thrash to get it together speaking to his co-driver aaron povaleto he said we got to give tons of credit to jack baldwin the class manager for gt4 america as well as the science susan jerry the aston martin distributors everyone who could lend a hand to help make sure they were here dexter racing as well and he's giving it a good ride qualified 13th running just outside the top 10 right now in 11th and this is a great little dice we're seeing here conway supra looks to be really handling super well really able to carve these corners i have to think he's got a little bit more lamp time available to him if he can clear this traffic really nice driving there from quinlan to leave enough space on the outside conway makes his way to the flank of the bmw this is not for class position conway driving an m-class car there in the heel of the boot able to swing around the outside meanwhile the dexter racing battle is not done yet three rpovaleto dexter racing sister team side by side coming back out into the run between nine and ten well that little off has not deterred him anywhere anyways uh dexter there and despite probably losing a little bit of rear downforce with that defuser being missing he's braving it around the outside and gets the job done then things are going one better immediately nearly made it a two for one quinlan holds him off and might have cut the momentum off a little bit let's see if ross west can come back just two minutes and change away from the pit window opening but the fight on the track is a fierce one schwest deep on the brakes catches a lot of curb at the apex bounces wide but he's got the spot back awesome ryan dexter though on the comeback of his own takes a peek to the inside and they'll be side by side through the s's high commitment high speed part of the race track the underbody from that camera angle is literally dragging on the bottom of that second of the two astons we're looking at right now on screen i'm just curious what those temperatures are doing not an extremely warm weekend up here ambience in the mid 70s so that may be aiding a little bit but looks like some of the grass is gone he's got pretty clear channel there to the very important radiators up front there well they had some issues in practice one that ended up with some overheating and that really cut their track time down i'm talking to warren dexter he was telling me his brother ryan has never been here before and they were hoping to get him a lot of laps and that just hasn't been the way it's played out so he's learning every single lap and they they really credited the strength of that aston package for dealing with the overheating issue that they had back in practice they were afraid it might have done some damage to the engine but everything seemed to be full systems go if we take a look here at the overall leader stephen mclear has run away from this field nine and a half seconds now the gap between mcaleer and tom capizzi in second yeah and looking at his fastest lap he's done 156.7 there's only two other drivers in the one excuse me three other drivers now in the 157 range so that is a dominant display but he is still hustling really hard and i'd have to think you gotta factor in as you said earlier ryan about giving your cool driver some time to work with for the second half of this race you should also make mention of the fact that the misfortune for capstone has promoted macklin into the am class lead but it's now a fight there between mclean and conway the smoog racing supra they now run effectively nose to tail in ninth and tenth and ninth overall so we should have a fight for the am class lead on our hands before too much longer here's tom capizzi though giving this bmw a nice run but it's not copacetic in that car he's got his hands full yeah arms and elbows there a little bit through the second part in a loop so again he may uh the one thing you can't change ties but you can adjust the tyre pressures so that's certainly something that the team can look at on this uh round of pit stops that we expect to be having here pretty quickly i think the leaders will maybe have the opportunity on this lap to nip in i'm not sure yeah michael is just 11 seconds up so he won't be a pit entry yet so i think the whole field be able to make a stop on this very lap if they choose to do so and make the early call on strategy to pit james clay give it a nice run to that bimmer world car he's got nick galante as his co-driver putting some good runs this year at a podium in the first race of the weekend at elkhart lake and some bad luck especially at circuit of the americas that struck the whole bimmer world team and this is the sister car here with chandler hole driving silver class entry and john miller tends to be a rocket ship when he gets in one of these bmws he'll be taken over at the first opportunity i suspect you know the wild day of coda with all three more cars being involved in that incident towards the tail end of the esses and we see a lot of the leaders peeling in certainly with them kapisi is in and then the car in between is a lapped car that's dominic's dark weather in an older sport entry he's sharing this weekend nicolas stayed out so he's uh demonstrating tremendous pace so they try a little bit so time for the crucial driver changes now out comes capacity john capestro dubetz who was a star at road america he's getting in the 52 car now the pit lane minimum time for pirelli gt4 america this weekend 76 seconds so that's from pit in to pit out they must remain in the pit lane for that long there's a little bit to play with with the joker which we could talk about if that becomes applicable here's the stephen cameron car they'll do their driver change sean quinlan getting out and he'll turn it over to greg leofoose wr racing also making their switch and for the first time this season replacing paul terry it's owen trinkler rather than brandon davis who's been with the team for the bulk of the year yeah brian park making his pissed off here and here's spencer popelli jumping on board the trg entry he actually has paul for tomorrow's race so certainly a lot of potential speed with that porsche let's take a look at the pit stop times auto technic able to beat murillo racing out pissed off was about a second outside the minimum and uh technique about half a second up on that so they only left six tenths of a second on the table [Music] just one tenth outside of the minimum stop time you do have a one second joker to play with each weekend in the day was a great opening stint from gray newell and now ian james the savvy veteran gets behind the wheel that aston might be one to watch here in the second half of this race kevin conway has handed it over to john jesbray in the am class points leading smoog racing toyota super they were [Music] the class leader prior to the pit window opening up the motorsport usa can do to respond blitz now behind the wheel of the 34 that was started from the back with james walker jumping out good pissed off from them from the pitman world squad uh 76.5 so just half a second outside their window and for derek deboer spencer pompeli underneath the minimum but they do have one second joker so they are okay so half a second underneath so they've elected to use up that that margin on day one don't do it again tomorrow are you going to be suffering a drive-through this pit window extends from 34 minutes 59 seconds down until you see 25 minutes on the clocks we're approaching halfway through and for those who might be new to the championship calvin what kind of strategies are available to these teams there's no tire changes so you might think well what strategy really is available especially with the minimum delta but there is quite a bit the teams can do especially managing traffic it is i mean a lot of the teams have some software that can kind of create like a ghost car but you're not always a certain as to what the other teams are going to do so it's really dependent on what you're lacking at at that point in real time in the race so you don't want to get buried in traffic the obvious choice is if you have a faster driver keep them in the car for as long as possible or get your faster driver in as soon as possible and there i think we saw mclean coming midway through this pit stop window that's one of the advantages to the silver lineups because theoretically at least there shouldn't be much of a difference between performance of the two drivers in the lineup and that gives you more flexibility as to when to make the pit call big time you can just look at the traffic and analyze that and make the decision based on that not thinking well if i put the other driver in early a couple other changes that have been made because stevens we saw him have to serve that drive-through for fueling in the pre-grid uh but had been on the rebound ever since then he's giving it way [Music] over the minimum time so playing it a little bit safe there todd and ty clark winners in the am class at road america they've made their exchange but they are well under the minimum so that's not going to be good news for them as we look at the classic bmw pit stop stephen mcelroy are handing it over to toby grahovic yeah you got 76 seconds to work with if you just drove through pit lane at the minimum pit stop uh pit lane speed you'd lose 31 seconds so it gives you about 45 seconds to get the driver change done and then it should be just a smooth stopwatch and uh release of the car that's all you're trying to anticipate i believe there are five cars that have not come to the pit lane yet it might only be four now with james clay tim barber the dexter car and uh the the john miller well john miller has would be have taken over for chandler hull so i think there's just a handful that have not made their stops i'm reading this correctly 76.9 so about a second outside the minimum so they're good [Music] avoiding that costly penalty and also when they had such a dominant lead you know why use up that margin with the joke for one second you might need it for tomorrow if you're in not quite such great track position that's a great point as well knowing what their circumstances are it's been a great start to this race that is disappointing this is the maca leaning car that was leading the am class and i'm not sure if they have made their stop before i don't think so and this is the stop so in the event of a problem like this you can change the tire and now we'll see just how quick the motorsport usa crew can be assessing the situation making that change and how much it costs them but this should definitely benefit spooge racing help them get back to the leading class yeah it really depends how late in the lap did that left front go down because they shouldn't lose any time on this pit stop as i said this 45 second to work but they can easily get that that left front changed in that time and who knows could be an advantage if you're wearing on that left run even to have slightly more grip for the second half of this race which is all within the rules clay barber dexter also all in the pit lane pitting from the top three they had shuffled their way forward as a consequence of staying out deep into the pit window i think we've just about seen everything cycle through this is mcaleer make that grohovic taking over for mclear coming and as expected retaining the lead that stephen had built up for him in the first end of the race [Music] a couple of minutes left on the board you just have to be in pit lane you don't have to have completed the service you'll be back out again just cross the inline on pit lane within that 10 minute window that elapses in just under two minutes [Music] outright now dan rogers driven car coming out ahead of these two bmws i think they were about in the same picture prior to the flat tire want to keep an eye on that but this is a battle right out of the pit lane two fresh drivers installed in these cars they've got relatively hot pirellis to work with and immediately nick gallante trying to hold off john miller in the 94 car and miller taking a peek around the outside immediately here in the outer loop you can see just gave up on him a little bit we talked about the glenn and how much grip it has but offline through the carousel or the outer loop as we call it there just couldn't quite make it stick he was brave enough to do it but the car wouldn't give it to him two of the the bimmer world cars racing against one another here behind we see dan rogers drifting back a little bit coming under attack for ian james looks like ian was poised to make that pass will set the lineup as they run when things shuffle through here as the pit window is about to close here is the car that entered the pit cycle in second now with john capestro dubetz driving christian shimshak has taken over for kenny murillo and we might have a battle on our hands brewing here between bmw and mercedes amg should be a good one too so uh up front grakovic has a healthy lead he crosses the stripe right now is uh this is the second overall this auto technic team at road america had two second place finishes started on the class poll in race one at the fastest class lap of the race in race two swap a position here between a couple of aston martins that's warren dexter being passed and i think kitten cook having taken over for brian putt in the b sport racing car yeah and they were one of those teams qualifying sessions so brian pie to come from very deep in the pack came off that brilliant victory at vir so uh they got in the win column this year and they've shown tremendous pace but it is not easy to win in this class this year back we go fight for fourth volante against uh this would be miller i think unless there was a problem for millard he's not shown rutting in that position in fact at 27. yeah he might be a lap down because i know that uh [Music] i think it's a question of trying to get that car back on the lead lap look at this move down the inside that's ian james he's not hanging out no he is not that car is on the lead lap great opening stint from gray newell and now ian james trying to chase down galante this is for the fourth position as they enter the boot and he and james is flying yeah this is the second in class as well so this is where the scene the car really rolls probably got good torque coming off that corner without aston martin and uh maybe in the sweet spot with the gear ratio too sometimes you'll see one manufacturer outperform another it can just be where the engine band is and where the torque setting is with the car and just suiting a corner better than another manufacturer kenny murillo hopped out of this family run mercedes amg gt4 turned it over to christian shimshack and now is standing by to talk with amanda oh and ryan have no doubt there is a monitor in front of us where kenny's been watching to see if this battle is going to go down between that mercedes and the bmw and as you break down this track where do you feel the mercedes has the advantage at watkins glen yeah just driving around just seems like we're strong in sector two we're a little weak in sector one and three you know to the bmw so we're the first non-bmw which is a really big achievement just really happy to be driving racing mercedes amg and everything's going according to plan so i'm really looking forward to getting this race yeah this is now a home track for kenny murillo we think of the murillo clan based out in california for many many years but kenny's just moved up to the monticello area area and he's doing some work at the club track there that is the nola sport entry uh that we were talking about earlier jason alexandris i believe has taken over for dominic stark weather well you gotta cut looks like he was able to continue on and as long as there's not debris on the line we should be able to stay green and keep this fight going wow galente just hesitated momentarily and a little nearly ran over the top of it owen trinkler relishing the chance to jump behind the wheel of this aston martin incredibly experienced driver but don't think he's raced in aston before and here he comes late on the brakes up the inside of galante side by side and somehow they come away without contact that was close that took a little bit of cooperation between both drivers there in terms of nick opening out his hands a little bit to give owen some room and no one's slowing down enough and uh using every inch of the road he had to the inside and then takes to the inside again for this corner can't quite make it stick so velante's hanging tough here this is the heel of the boot now climbing the hill to the left-hander of turn nine trinkler not done gets to the apex he is alongside side by side at corner exit now the run down to the high speed high commitment left-hander that has turned ten and he's got the line galante has to relinquish the position owen trinkler up another spot yeah and very respectful there he didn't wash him out he didn't use up all of the road coming out of the the boot there and just getting a little bit of racing room and that's what it's all about allows you to survive and move forward velocity dropped a couple of spots on that lap as he and james made the pass earlier that moves ian up to fourth he now runs second in pro am trinkler is third in pro-am james is his quarry you can see him just up the road meanwhile grojovic leads overall in silver class as well then the pro and leader runs second the john castro defends christian shimshack second in silver third in the overall running order he and james second in pro-am trinket third in program fourth and fifth there's this battle not going anywhere for second on the road oh cabestro to bed slowed suddenly there didn't roll any speed there is an issue there's that piece of debris that came off the dexter racing aston martin very early in this race still sits on the side of the road so maybe capace just doesn't want to be part of this uh battle and just lets him go and focus on maintaining that class lead right now let's hope that's the case and there's nothing more sinister going on this is also the part of the track that kenny said the mercedes should thrive in relative to the bmw so now it's incumbent upon christian assuming all is right with the beaver behind him to build enough of a gap that he can hold on when they get into sector one where the bmw should have an edge yeah kenny was talking about the fact that the bmw's uh they work on different levels of power sticks there's the electronic uh kind of monitoring system for how much power you can get on a particular weekend so the bmw has downgraded a bit since the power that they had at road america but also lost some weight in the race car so um one works with the other in terms of what it will achieve on the lap time overall so kenny thought that bmw would still be strong inside the final 20 minutes can jcd come back the answer for now is no stay single file through turn one chimshack up to second overall but he has nearly nine seconds to claw back before he can even think about fighting grahovic for the lead yeah i think jcd is i i think he's just sitting there i think the team said listen you got a really healthy lead right now it's about 13 seconds over ian james for the class lead so let's not get in our battle that we can't win but having said that he's not demonstrating that philosophy right now no he is not takes a peek around as a shimshack rather has to go defensive able to fend him off for the moment and we'll see this part here is where shimshack was able to make the move coming up into this next corner and seem to have a bit of an edge in the mercedes over the bmw and if that can hold true that might be the buffer he needs yeah it looked really easy didn't it get by him like uh john was just saying okay take the position i don't want to fight you so maybe there was just a hesitation there with the bmw or he had a little moment that we didn't quite identify on the screen there but it seems to be racy again these are the corner speeds at the bus stop also known as the inner loop here at watkins glen shack fastest on our race vision powered by aws 94 miles per hour through that quick switchback that's where you were talking about it earlier maybe in years past you think of that as a big-time braking zone passing opportunity but even in these gt4 cars they make enough downforce they can flow a lot of speed through that section and it's changed the dynamic of that corner it certainly has a battle here four position in the prime class is uh ken cook looking to find his way around gregory leopoughs we talked about that 119 stephen cameron racing bmw their potential to close in on that 63-point lead that matt travis and jason have coming into this race with them not competing this is not the result they were looking for been a regular podium finisher this year right now run in sixth position and struggling to hang on to that watch the fight one story to update you on it's been a great day for ian james ray newell and the heart of racing team they run fourth overall second in class but i saw a message from race control a moment ago that says their pit stop will be reviewed after the race so that sort of damocles now hangs suspended over that aston martin team and we'll await resolution so i think we said they were just a little bit over the minimum it wasn't like they were utilizing time [Music] that team runs in different championships so again the rules are slightly different very easy to get caught out of being in a routine that you're unfamiliar with i'm not saying that's the case i think there's a lot of different crew available to them with that operation now and it could well be that they end up absolved of any wrongdoing he just said that it would be reviewed so we shall see but that is a bit of unfortunate news just to enter any doubt into the equation about the way that that uh car has been running and what the result might ultimately be because on the racetrack right now this probably is the best weekend we've seen out of them thus far how about this swap a position back how not not waiting around not being conservative at all john capestro dubetz back around to the inside in the inner loop yeah and i'm surprised i'm really surprised with just uh over 15 minutes to go that he really wants to try and extend this lead in class that he has over ian james that's maintained around the 13 14 second mark so it's a healthy buffer but uh he's got his arms out again so it must be just a little hesitation because that it was dramatic the speed difference between shim shack and capacitor bets about three laps ago when there was a move made at the front of this field here this is aaron povaleto on debut this brand new team 3r povolato racing first race in this aston martin and what a ride aaron and rosh west have given it they run seventh overall fifth in pro-am really remarkable what they've been able to do yeah i think he just moved up one spot on that lap so now he's up to fourth and uh the next target is a podium but uh he's six seconds back at owen trinkler right now so we'll have to market at lap time see if he's got anything in hand to try and close that gap and then obviously the clock is going to be the fact that how much time is left on the board to do it right now seeking away past nick gallante as well third place in silver or in the pro-am points kim cook and brian putt entering this weekend and at one podium in the second race of the weekend in elkhart lake but crucially for them that first overall win first class win also in the team's history back in race two at vir and kenton and brian in particular are really riding the wave of momentum stemming from that race here comes kitten cook now team manager and driver he wears a couple of different hats there's a quick switch to the inside tries to get in here in the laces side by side through a difficult part of this racetrack that is really well crafted there i thought he's going to be pushed out wide on the entry there through the laces of the boot and has taken him three corners but finally it looks like he's alongside but he's not giving it up he's been in a lot of hectic battles here today nick gallante trying to hang on track position ken cook the 27 year old from california former class winner at the 24 hours of daytona it's been a bit of a difficult couple of years for him trying to find consistent opportunities and last year with this b sport racing team coming online kenton taking an active role in management as well as driving showing just how good he is on a consistent basis that move there moves him into fifth in class i'll tell you what i'm not sure if nicollante missed his breaking point a little bit or whether he just got that ability on the brakes but he going so deep there i thought he's gonna touch kenton as they turned in to uh turn eight there the heel of the boot see what galante can do he's been playing defense basically this entire stint 13 minutes left to go and here comes greg leofoosh it's been more of a quiet run from him than i would have anticipated he tends to be a fireworks show every time he gets in the race car can't keep our eyes or our cameras off of him and it's been an okay run currently seventh in pro-am ninth overall but this is their chance with their championship rivals not participating here today they need to maximize this day when they know that nola sport won't score points yeah so um i think there's going to be a degree of anxiety in that car oh galente goes straight if you uh miss the inner loop here they got those kind of tie bundles in the way and you don't have to do a complete stop you can just continue as long as you didn't gain any track position there so just forced to the inside there nick valante i wonder you know he's been missing his i saw him come in to turn eight there and get really deep on the brakes i wonder if his brakes are going away a little bit but he's been in one of those awkward races as i call as you said he's been very much on the defense when you jump in a car hard to find your rhythm when you're always driving in the rearview mirror and uh trying to defend your position couldn't defend that one ultimately leofoosh found the way by that then moves leofoosh to sixth in the pro-am class order eighth overall but really the pro-am results are what they care about that's what pains the points towards their championship and they enter with a pretty big hill to climb but they've done it before chasing the same team and i know jason and matt are tired of us talking about it but two years ago they came out of the gates like gangbusters and won a bunch of races built this huge lead and it was quinlan and leofuge that chipped away at it and ultimately won out in the championship finale in las vegas yep they've suffered that fight a couple of years now so they want to go on better and as you said they're probably tired of us talking about it but they'll be happy watching on here jason is on site obviously he did a qualifying session for race two tomorrow so he'll be happy looking at where that 119 car is running and the amount of damage that they'll uh receive today in terms of their points gap we saw a moment ago the smooth racing supra john jez brain that's your m-class leader that's the car that kevin conway started but we go to the front of the field where toby grojovic's once comfortable lead has shrunk dramatically 4.4 seconds and maybe that's why jcd wanted so desperately to get around the murillo car because he knew the pace in his bmw was good enough to threaten grahovic the last few laps he's taken chunks to the tune of one second per lap out of the lead looking at the time remaining and i think there's a chance if he can keep that pace up he might get there gonna be right on in that second lap there should be about five laps to go so uh he's certainly got enough time to get there wonder how much toby is managing this and we also spoke about mclare was really pushing really hard to establish that gap so did he take too much out of the tires or is kobe toby just not quite as comfortable in the car right now at this later stage of the race but he can see them coming pressure is on he's got to maintain that face trying to keep the pressure off amanda is in the classic bmw pits what are you hearing i think you guys are hitting it right on the head there i was talking to steven and he was saying that uh that toby is struggling on the tires he feels that the other cars are better than the bmw on keeping these pirellis with grip later in the race looking at the times in front of us steven does feel that they are going to get caught but they're going to have to rely on toby's ability to defend here to get a trophy toby's got the experience he's not going to find a situation he hasn't encountered at least once or twice at some point in his career so they got that going for them and we talked about it some last season it seemed like he took another step in his willingness to get aggressive when the time comes racing for a touring car title last year and that might be required before it's all said and done today certainly the way it's going right now is going to be required because uh they're cutting in that lead at a rate that will get to toby with a lap or two to go so he's got to respond and then if they do catch him he's got to get his elbows out but as an ex hockey player you would think he'd have the ability to do that now that's right he was a two-time naia all-american hockey player at robert morris college in chicago where he's from and he set the school record of 100 goals over the course of a career that record still stands in fact his number was retired it hangs in the rafters in their hockey venue so yeah racing has come very naturally to toby grojovic but he had an athletic career that was exemplary exemplary long before he got aboard a race car it's a great story great start didn't realize he was that accomplished so uh good stuff here and uh he's certainly getting the job done behind the wheel as well but he's got to dig deep now as he tries to hang off that lead seeing a good run here for colin mullen once again that conquest racing team uh coming back from that drive-through penalty so this is really impressive now running fourth in class it makes you wonder what might have been they had a good start we're running i think just inside the top ten when they had to serve the penalty and he right now is pressuring spencer pompeli which is not an easy thing to do that's the trg porsche he's got the big old silver mercedes amg looming right behind that's this brand new team conquest racing west john farrow canadian businessman and motorsports enthusiast who has the wherewithal to help fund up-and-coming young drivers ran effectively a gong show tried out a couple and colin mullin and makai stevens who started this car were two that were selected from that we know that makai will be in the car the rest of the year collin is running a prototype for this same operation in a different series and he's got those commitments the rest of the year plus he's going to college at ohio state university drove six and a half hours to be here after wrapping up a physics lab on thursday now strapped into this race car and i suspect driving a little bit quicker than he did on the commute to the racetrack that's for sure so really impressive run really impressive team led by eric bashala long time uh indycar entrant and excellent driver himself over the years many accomplishments for belgium man so uh it's pretty impressive i mean and it just shows you that you know you pick the right horse and you get the right riders uh you can make things happen in a hurry in this championship let's also take this chance to commend what warren dexter is doing right ahead of spencer pompeo he's holding off spencer at the moment in a car that we know is damaged we saw it run wide over the curbing and rip off part of the diffuser and he's done a great job keeping the veteran behind him that is for 11th 12th and 13th overall three laps to go here at the conclusion of this one and certainly that gap is coming down but be hanging tough uh until they get right there allows you to just focus on hitting your marks and trying to execute your lap time the best you can as mclare looks concerned there sitting on the pit box alex perry the crew chief to the right of that shot looking on with somewhat less consternation i'm sure he's communicating with toby there's the live gap on the screen let's see if grajovic can keep that gap it's down under two seconds now jcd is closing quickly yeah but only four tenths on that lap so if it maintains that rate or that delta that maybe just didn't happen [Music] to lose any more than that he starts losing seven eight tenths a lap that's going to be really tight well we heard the report from amanda stephen felt like maybe the bmw wasn't as easy on the tires around here as some of the other makes and you wonder how hard is jcd pushing his tires in this bid to try and catch toby would that take some of the life away and can toby then conserve a little bit out in front and maybe have that in reserve when battle is joined yeah big question marks there and obviously different classes so how much will jcd put on the line if he does catch toby to bmw you'd hate to take away two class victories for the manufacturer with one rash move so he's got some work to do here it looks like toby has kind of stabilized that delta that we were seeing in terms of the lap times between these chases and himself and the wild card in the mix is the mercedes that hasn't gone anywhere we've spent all this time talking about the top two but christian shimshack is right there within striking distance and he pulled the surprise move around the outside out of the chute into the laces of the boot about 10 minutes ago and was able to grab second temporarily and he has every motivation unlike the top two who are not in the same classes shimshack if he can get around jcd all of a sudden then he could fight for the class lead as well as the overall lead yeah i think right now he should probably just sit there for another lap and let that gap to the leader you know basically get a raise so then that would give them the opportunity to go for both of them but if he starts fighting jcd is going to inhibit their ability to get to that leader anyway now the great part of this series everywhere you look you can find a battle this is outside of the top ten but andrew davis chasing down colin mullet chasing down warren dexter who just got passed by this being or this porsche spencer pompeli for trg out in front of this group and trying to run down galante for 10th so this is 11th 12th 13th 14th and elliott's skier just in the back of the picture he runs 15th overall several different classes all mixed together giving no quarter ski has come about an issue you saw dropping there earlier in the race or maybe just overheated something and they've had a chance to regroup a very impressive performance by he and his teammate once again here today as we look at the leader up front there is the gap is really now about a lap and a half to go here in terms of the chequered flag and it's interesting that john capestro dubetz has left shaq behind a little bit those two have been tethered together figuratively for the bulk of the last 10 minutes but he's able to extend that advantage now and what that does is if he can maintain it at least you don't have to be thinking at all about defense you can just go on the attack and try and find a way past the bmw out in front the longer shim shack stays in the picture the more difficult it becomes to have that kind of confidence that an aggressive move wouldn't open up the door for you to lose a position yeah i can't even try to begin to understand what jcd's philosophy is here today because i've got it wrong already so i'll just let it evolve and let it play out in terms of uh he has the class lead he has a victory in his hand right now does he want that overall win bad enough to risk throwing it away and it will come down to the final lap as they come out of turn 10 here with less than two minutes remaining they're running lap times around 156 so this should be the white flag it gets a big run there grakovic has to go on the defense down the front stretch into turn one that's going to compromise his speed and entry point into term one and jcd is going to try and set this up gets a little bit close gonna roll speed here through apex try and get the run up through the esses here we go tom hansing waved the white flag ahead of this battle here comes john capestro dubetz door shut in his face as they climb up the hill through the asses that brings shimshack into the fight one two and three final lap at watkins glen does that mercedes have enough grunt here he's getting a big draft here punching the hole by those two jehovah bmws defensive early can he roll speed here what can jc do do with it through here through the inner loop can he make a brave move down into the boot toby gracovic racing for classic bmw it's the auto technic bmw of john capestro duvets to the outside in the outer loop he'll have the side here through the laces shim shack waiting in the wings beautiful just timed that beautifully well crafted rolled the speed through the inner loop got to the flank of the classic bmw and has made it stick by the time they got to the brake zone that's not a change in class position however so this now becomes the fight for the pro am lead grahovic and shim shack bmw versus mercedes halfway around the final tour of watkins glen headed towards the heel yeah and this is another question mark in terms of the big picture championship leader here shim shack does he want the victory bad enough to throw away for someone who's not really in the championship picture right now in terms of grojovic and mclaren john capestro dubats made his bid for the lead and made it work around the outside he's jetting away grojovic loose on corner exit in turn nine that brings shim shack right up to the rear wing of that bmw yeah trying to hang on here with his tires in the late going one more time through turn 11 in the drag race to the checkered flag shim shack setting him up but john capestro dubetz tom capizzi they take overall victory at watkins glen drag race for the pro-am win and it goes to grahovic by 84 000 of a second what a battle that was fascinating just to look at the different approaches and the overlapping classes great stuff never disappoints here absolutely amazing battle for the lead there at the end we drop back further this is dexter racing versus gmg warren dexter versus andrew davis further back in the field for 13th overall not for class position field streaming across the line to take the checkered flag one note to make got a race control report driver of car 50 report to race control post race that would be aaron povaleto who brought that new team home with a fifth place finish and a podium result in pro-am not sure what the race control message is all about but as it stands a remarkable result for them on debut it really is and he had a bunch of ground to make up on trinkler there i think it was about three or four seconds when he did move into fourth position so somehow he made that stick in the final moments of this race that is the car right there brand new team with some help from dexter racing and also the crowd strike fastest lap of the race so aaron maybe that's why he's got a report to the stewards like where did you find that laptop good day for aston in a lot of respects you see ian james that's also a car though that has to go through some kind of post race scrutiny here because they had a pit stop that needs to be reviewed but ian james second place in pro-am for ian and gray newell i think their previous best finish this season was seventh and that's a second place class finish and fourth overall so great run for heart of racing here today well with that in mind uh trinkler and co cook shouldn't go too far because there's two of the podium finishes right now yeah i've got to report to the stewards room interesting stuff so very provisional but these are the results as they stand what a move it was john capestro dubetz maybe not a name that we should be more familiar with his name i think given his abilities and we saw them on full display with that high commitment move it goes to show what an overall meet win means it doesn't pay any extra points but he put it all on the line he did and uh watching him compete against one of the best like bill oberlin at road america it's great to have that benchmark there someone like an oberlin where guys like the matt travis and the jason hearts and the gregory leaf and the jcds could compete and say this is for real i'm not just winning the class here today i'm competing against the very best there's a couple of those in this field you throw spencer pompeo's name into that uh kyle marcel he probably deserves consideration as one of those drivers you can benchmark yourself off of andrew davis as well and they're sprinkled all throughout this field it goes to show just how good the talent is some of it's young and up and coming some of it has just been waiting around for a chance christian shimshack another one a lot of experience maybe not in a lot of high profile situations but he's been a revelation over the last three seasons he has lots of smiles down there that was a great day for that team auto technique it really made this move to gt4 and doing it very well yeah a long time touring car america team making that step in recent years and right now looking like they're capable of carrying the torch for bmw that's exactly what they did this weekend up against the likes of bimmerworld and classic bmw that have been doing this for a very long time i imagine it's going to be a great interview john capastro dubenz tom capizzi they take victory overall they're standing by with amanda well i don't think tom has stopped smiling or shaking since he got over here guys not only is this a big win right here watkins glen it's a big one for tomba because it's his first professional win ever and when you look back on this moment tom what will come to mind it took two years to get here i have an amazing team auto technic literally two years to work on getting this day right now this moment and john jcd my coach my co-driver the whole thing is epic i couldn't be more happy i'd say i'm speechless but i'm not i keep going if you keep the film going johnny came into pit lane holding the number one how fun was that last lap for you as you guys all got battled together oh man that was that's a dream come true that's what every racer dream's about right last lap make it happen and uh really hats off to toby for giving us the room to get that pass done and yeah i mean tough competition here so it's an honor to be at the top step congratulations a memorable one nonetheless thank you guys for everything now john brings up a great point it takes two to tango and toby was as clean as can be put up a great fight but had the respect and we all were rewarded for it with a great show yeah it was just running out of tires that you could see it through the last couple of corners even once he lost that overall lead they're just really struggling to keep the car underneath him and uh as you mentioned a real drag race to the line between he and uh shimshack but he just held on for that class win so he'll be happy great result for that group second win on the year it was a dramatic last slap for tobi rehobic let's hear about it down with amanda as you talk about the dramatics of that last lap no one knows that more than that than toby grovik we saw you sliding around there at the end you had another win this season as well how difficulty would you rate on this one yeah this one was flat out every lap just trying to keep it together and keep it in the front stephen mcelroy did an awesome job on the start going from third to first going into turn one it was awesome i got to thank classic bmw eric moss moss family john cabell for putting us in this car and letting us run this season it's awesome and we get to bring home a win i gotta thanks alex perry and robert lee justin clark and nick for helping us out and scott doing taking care of the tires these guys are awesome they give us an awesome car and we're able to bring it home first i guess those defensive skills of being a hockey player worked out for you huh oh for sure i had my elbows up for sure not to make it easy for them to get around congratulations thank you great stuff from toby gracovic 84 000 of a second the difference between first and second in the silver class you wonder what might have been if they had run this car this pairing at sonoma they they debuted at coda it was supposed to be a one-off they finished third and second and those two races went on to get a second in a win at vir elkhart lake was not great for them but nevertheless fourth in points coming in in in silver despite missing two races and they got another win here let's go back down to victory lane well we're talking to the super team that has won at every single track here this season five wins uh for this team collectively and john when you look at the performance today what will you use from this race that you'll forward to tomorrow well tomorrow is going to be a tougher race we start a little bit further back due to uh just not getting a clean lapping and during qualifying so figuring out how the car really likes to be driven around this track towards the end of the race was really really helpful and i think it's going to help us at the start tomorrow when you look at this kid what joy does it bring to you to see his success it's amazing to see what this kid's been able to do and this is one of the only tracks that we didn't test at before the race so his first laps here ever or yesterday in practice and to be able to continually just crank out great lap times and make consistent laps and make good decisions on the racetrack his first time here is a testament to his talent and this whole team has just done an amazing job we're very thankful for toyota and smooth racing and ave motorsports everybody that helps this program along and makes it happen kevin john congratulations thank you five wins on the season now in the am class they have a stranglehold on the points lead kevin conway brings a lot of experience from stock car racing sports car racing to the table but john jesbray's got an older head on his shoulders than you'd expect for an 18 year old so we look back at the highlights yeah he certainly demonstrated that in his driving and also his attitude i learned a lot today that i'll take and move forward with tomorrow here was the start to the race stephen mcaleer with a jump to the front after starting in the second row he sprinted out to a huge lead the overall pole sitter was chris wilson but they did not go his way despite this great duel at the front early yeah and then we saw a battle here and uh tom capizzi jcd's teammate there just certainly uh used a lot of patience and that put them in the strong position at the end here's an offer thanks to racing aston martin there through the laces of the boot but they were cut for a nice drive brian dexter with that wild ride came home in 13th did that car side by side a little bit further back there were battles all throughout this field this though was the huge move that put john capestro duvets back in front of christian shimshack he then went to try and run down tobig rehobic as the battles continued further back in the field this was kenton cook going around the outside of nick delante with greg leofoose looking on but this was the moment of the race yeah just timed it beautifully toby is struggling with the grip there with the tyres and jcd just a bold move around the outside gives him that inside lane and then he just took off to the checking flag wild race one and watkins glenn john capestro dubetz and tom capizzi win overall and we'll do it again tomorrow [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] you

Channel: GTWorld

Views: 25,090

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: _norfH0Op98

Length: 85min 40sec (5140 seconds)

Published: Sat Sep 18 2021