The SRO GT4 America series held the second race of the season at the Circuit of the Americas (COTA) in Austin, Texas, with the Lone Star Enduro. The COTA race is one of the most important on the schedule. It’s the longest race of the season at three hours, and scores double points toward the season championship.
None of the teams were able to put down a fast lap in qualifying due to an early red flag in the session, so the grid was set by the fastest lap times in the second practice session. The #19 Auto Technic Racing BMW M4 GT4 EVO of Stevan McAleer and Roland Krainz started second overall and first in the Pro-Am class, followed in third overall by the sister #51 team car of Francis Selldorff and Kevin Boehm, which was second on the grid in the Silver class. James Clay and James Walker, Jr. started on the Am class pole in the #36 BimmerWorld M4 GT4 EVO.
James Clay and James Walker Jr. won the Am class from pole.
The opening two hours of the race were relatively incident-free, and there was some great racing going on in the field. Francis Selldorff had a great battle going on with Luca Mars in the #28 RS1 Porsche for second place, and four BMW entries were running nose to tail for several laps in the Am class.
The action in the last hour of the race changed the complexion of the race and the results. Kevin Boehm was at the wheel of the #51 BMW and running in second behind the #28 Porsche driven by Spencer Pumpelly. Boehm made contact with Pumpelly that initially gave the #51 second the lead in the Silver class, but the BMW was penalized for the contact after the race, which dropped them to fifth in class and gave the class win to the #28 Porsche, which was able to continue after the incident. That incident also moved the #98 Random Vandals Racing BMW of Josh Green and Bruno Columbo into third in Silver.
Josh Green and Bruno Columbo finished third in Silver.
Meanwhile, the #94 Random Vandals Racing BMW M4 GT4 EVO of Kenton Koch and Sam Craven (shown in top photo) had run toward the front in the Pro-Am class and inherited the overall lead and win after the incident in the Silver class between Boehm and Pumpelly. Before that happened, Koch held off intense pressure from the #39 Mercedes-AMG to maintain third place, which put him in position to take the lead. The #94 also won in the Pro-Am class. “Sam and I both had our fair share of effort in this race,” said Koch. “That was quite something. I don’t think we had the best overall pace today, but we had some luck on our side and we made it count when we needed to.”
Kris Wilson and Zach Lumsden finished third in the Am class.
BMWs were running at the front all day in the Am class, and the BimmerWorld duo of Clay and Walker, Jr. came out victorious despite a penalty with less than two hours to go. It was Walker Jr.’s third consecutive class win in this race, with the two previous class wins in the Pro-Am class with Tyler McQuarrie in a BimmerWorld M4. With the double points, it put the duo back in contention in the Am class after a disappointing season opener at Sonoma. “We’ve got a great car this season and we showed it here,” stated Clay. “The double points matter a lot. It’s too early in the season to say more, but I think we’re on a good path right now.” The #413 Flying Lizard Motorsport BMW of Kris Wilson and Zach Lumsden finished on the podium in third in the Am class. The #38 BimmerWorld BMW of Tyler McQuarrie and Michael Petramalo also had a solid race, finishing fourth in Pro-Am.
BMW drivers (and two Toyota drivers) celebrate on the Am class podium.
The next SRO GT4 America race will be at Sebring International Raceway in Florida on May 7th-9th.
—David Haueter
[Photos courtesy SRO]