- Dome Motorsport, Mercedes Tops the chart in Pro-Am and Overall
- JMF Motorsports, Aston Martin Strongest in Silver
- Thunder Bunny Racing, Toyota Shows Speed in Am Class
- Practice 1 Results
The first practice session for the Pirelli GT4 America field was intense as teams and drivers tested their limits around Circuit of The Americas on Friday morning. Two red flags briefly interrupted the 45-minute session in both the opening and closing fifteen minutes, but the green flag running was able to resume quickly.
Newcomers Dome Motorsport made a statement in Practice 1, going quickest in Pro-Am and overall. JMF Motorsports were not far behind as the fastest Silver entry, while Thunder Bunny Racing set the tone in the Am category, breaking into the top 10 overall in the process.
Silver Class
It was a strong session for JMF Motorsports, who occupied the first and third spots in the Silver class. Mike David Ortmann went quickest in the No. 4 Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT4 EVO with a time of 2:14.071, with Jesse Webb securing the third-fastest Silver lap and fifth-best time overall on board the No. 3 machine. In between them sat Alex Ellis in the No. 77 VPX Motorsport Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport in second position.
The top 5 in class was further completed by Gresham Wagner in the No. 68 RAFA Racing Team Toyota Gazoo Racing GR Supra GT4 EVO2, and Hannah Greenemeier in the No. 26 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT4 EVO.
Pro-Am Class
There was a lot of back and forth in the Pro-Am class, with multiple drivers exchanging spots at the top of the leaderboard as the session progressed. However, it was Marc Miller who surged to the top on the final lap, putting his No. 37 Dome Motorsport Mercedes-AMG GT4 into first overall with a time of 2:13.960.
Returning champion Kay van Berlo went second-quickest in Pro-Am, this time driving the No. 9 ACI Motorsports Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport. In third was Adrian Comstock in the No. 15 Archangel Motorsports Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT4 EVO, who put himself just marginally ahead of Sam Craven in the No. 94 Random Vandals Racing BMW M4 GT4 (G82) EVO just 0.063 seconds behind.
After taking home a win in Sonoma, Tony Gaples and Michael Cooper are back in the hunt, finishing fifth in class with their new No. 33 Blackdog Racing McLaren Artura GT4.
Am Class
The Am Class have strong contenders once again this season, and the competition is shaping up to be tight. The newly formed Thunder Bunny Racing team had proven themselves at Sonoma one month ago, and they are continuing to assert their dominance this weekend. Allen Patten and Laura Hayes set the fastest lap time in class aboard their No. 606 Toyota Gazoo Racing GR Supra GT4 EVO2, also claiming the 8th quickest overall time of the session.
Local heroes Lone Star Racing set the second-best time in the Am category with their No. 22 Mercedes-AMG GT4, co-commanded by Jason Golan and Marc Austin, accompanied by Dwayne Moses and Tim Savage in third with the No. 007 ProSport Competition Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT4.
The margins were tight, with Michael Garcia and Alex Garcia, as well as Paul Sparta and Michael Kanisczak, following just behind in fourth and fifth place respectively with their No. 07 Skip Barber Racing Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT4 and No. 98 Random Vandals Racing BMW M4 GT4 (G82) EVO.
Let’s Get Racing
The Pirelli GT4 America field will return to the track for Practice 2 on Friday afternoon, April 25th at 4:35 PM CT.
If you can’t make it to Circuit of The Americas, be sure to tune-in to SRO’s free live streams all weekend long on YouTube (GTWorld) and Twitch (SROMotorsports) and follow all the action through our social media channels and the event hashtag #GTCOTA.