The SRO GT4 America and TC America series traveled to Wisconsin for races at the Road America circuit this past weekend of August 17-18, 2024, and the BMW and MINI teams came away with wins and podium finishes in their respective races as the series now heads into the final four races.
The GT4 America races went well for some BMW teams and poorly for others. In race one, BimmerWorld Racing driver James Walker, Jr. triggered an accident into the first turn that led to damage to his #82 M4 GT4 as well as damage to the #98 Random Vandals M4 GT4 when Paul Sparta ran into a Mercedes that spun in front of him. Sparta suffered two compression fractures in his back in the incident. It was a major blow to the Random Vandals Racing team, who were leading the Am class championship with Sparta and Kris Wilson, as the damage to the car caused them to miss the second race as well.
Once racing got underway again in race one, there was a great battle between the #97 Random Vandals Racing M4 GT4 of Kevin Boehm (shown above) and the #51 Auto Technic Racing M4 GT4 of Colin Garrett, as they went fender to fender battling for third. After pit stops, Kenton Koch got into the lead in the #97 car after the leading Toyota was given a penalty, with the #51 driven by Zac Anderson finishing in second for a BMW 1-2 in the Silver class. “I managed to stay in touch with the guys and wanted to make it easier for Kenton when he took over the car,” said Boehm. “We had some work to do, but I knew Kenton would do a great job with it. It was a crazy start, and what a way to finish it!”
Colin Garrett and Zac Anderson finished second in the Silver class in GT4 America race one.
BMW teams also performed well in the Am class, with BimmerWorld drivers James Clay and Charlie Positions finishing second in the #36 M4 GT4, followed in third by Nicholas Shanny and Chris Walsh in the #20 Carrus Callus Raceteam M4 GT4. The Am class was won by the #099 Rotek Racing Porsche. The highest finishing BMW in the Pro-Am class was the #53 Auto Technic Racing M4 GT4 of Matt Million and Tyler Stone, which finished in eighth. The Pro-Am class was won by the #7 ACI Motorsports Porsche.
James Clay and Charlies Postins finished second in the GT4 America Am class in race one.
The #97 and #51 M4 GT4s looked set to be in the running for podium finishes again in race two, but both were given penalties that took them out of the running. The #97 was hit with a pit lane speed violation penalty, while the #51 driven by Colin Garrett was penalized for avoidable contact with a Porsche. The #82 BimmerWorld Racing car of Clay and Postins looked set to be on the Am class podium but fell back with a car issue late in the race. The #20 Carrus Callus Raceteam had another podium finish in Am, with Chris Walsh and Nicholas Shanny finishing second behind the winning #099 Porsche. The best BMW finisher in the Pro-Am class was the #82 BimmerWorld car of James Walker, Jr. and Tyler McQuarrie, with the win in that class going to the #24 Aston Martin.
Carrus Callus Raceteam drivers Nicholas Shanny and Chris Walsh finished third and second in the Am class the GT4 America races.
With four races left in the season (a pair each at Barber Motorsports Park and Indianapolis), Random Vandals Racing drivers Kevin Boehm and Kenton Koch are in second place in the Silver class championship, just four points behind Porsche drivers John Capestro-Dubets and Eric Filgueiras, while Auto Technic Racing drivers Colin Garrett and Zac Anderson are in third. In Pro-Am, BimmerWorld drivers James Walker, Jr. and Tyler McQuarrie are third in points, but are 60 points behind the leaders. Despite missing out on both races at Road America, Random Vandals drivers Paul Sparta and Kris Wilson still lead the Am class championship, though the gap has closed to only 13 points between them and the second place Porsche drivers.
The big news in the TC America championship at Road America was the announcement that for 2025 the series will do away with the TCA class (which had only three entries at Road America) and combine the TCX and TC classes into a single class, as well as shorten the races from 40 to 25 minutes. The series also mentioned that new cars will debut in the class next year, including “a new BMW M2.” The development of that car was then announced on August 20th, though the BMW press release said it would not be available until the 2026 season.
Coming in 2026. . . .
For now, the F87 generation M2 CS is still the only BMW in the TCX class, but the numbers have dropped to only two entries at Road America. Chris Walsh is handily leading the TCX class championship in his #104 Carrus Callus Raceteam M2 CS and finished second in both races at Road America behind the #22 Acura Integra Type S of Celso Neto. Aaron Kaplan was entered in the #18 M2 CS of Kaplan Racing Systems but was taken out in an accident in race one and didn’t compete in the second race, presumably because the car was not repairable in time.
Chris Walsh has a commanding lead in the TCX class championship.
The MINI JCW Team shined in both races at Road America, with Christian Perocarpi putting in fantastic drives in both races in the #37 MINI to win the TC class and finish third overall, while PJ Groenke won both TCA class races in his #62 MINI.
Christian Perocarpi stays in front of championship leader Jeff Ricca in the TC class.
PJ Groenke won the TCA class in both TC America races.
With four races to go in TC America, Carrus Callus Raceteam driver Chris Walsh has a commanding lead in the TCX class championship, while Chrisian Perocarpi has moved into second place in the TC class championship behind Hyundai driver Jeff Ricca, who has a 28-point lead. PJ Groenke is leading the TCA class championship. —David Haueter
[Photos courtesy SRO]