- Random Vandals BMWs Captures Silver and Pro-Am Wins
- Bimmerworld BMW Wins Am Class
- Provisional Race 1 Results
It was a banner Saturday for Random Vandals Racing in Race 1 across multiple series at Sebring International Raceway. After the team won the first GT World Challenge America powered by AWS race of the day with Kenton Koch and Connor De Phillippi in the team’s No. 99 BMW M4 GT3 EVO earlier, the Paul Sparta-led team added two more victories with their BMW M4 GT4 (G82) EVO variants in both Silver/overall (Koch and Kevin Boehm) and Pro-Am (Josh Green and Sam Craven) in Pirelli GT4 America Race 1. BMW’s win sweep continued with Bimmerworld (James Clay and Charlie Postins) capturing the Am victory.
Silver Class
Kevin Boehm started the No. 97 Random Vandals Racing BMW M4 GT4 (G82) EVO in sixth place overall, fifth in class and made it to third place early. They were on the same strategy as the No. 39 van der Steur Racing Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT4 EVO, which had Max Hewitt running a lap longer after the pit stop window opened. The No. 97 BMW moved ahead of the No. 39 Aston Martin on the pit stop with Koch taking over the lead, and ultimately controlling the race from there to win by 12.378 seconds.
The battle behind them was for second among three cars, with the No. 39 Aston Martin battling the No. 52 Auto Technic Racing BMW of Zac Anderson and Colin Garrett and No. 68 RAFA Racing Team Toyota Gazoo Racing GR Supra GT4 EVO2 co-commanded by Tyler Gonzalez and Gresham Wagner. Mars and Anderson waged a race-long fight, particularly in the final laps, for second and were separated by only 0.233 of a second at the checkered flag.
Both had a front row-seat to the Pro-Am leader, Josh Green, passing them both at Turn 17 on the final lap. The No. 68 Toyota finished fourth in Silver with the No. 77 VPX Motorsport Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport of Danny Dyszelski and Alex Ellis completing the top five.
“It’s tough when you’re trying to stay in touch with the leaders, you’ve really got to feel it out,” said Kevin Boehm after the race. “ The track was slippery, and I was just trying to figure out how much I could push without it all falling off a cliff. I think I found that limit pretty well and started making some moves. Before I knew it, my stint was over. Huge credit to Kenton for taking over and doing what he does best.”
“Let’s do it again tomorrow!” said Kenton Koch with enthusiasm “And honestly, I’m not exhausted, thankfully the AC works really well in these cars. Big thanks to BMW for making a solid AC system. We even had a fresh compressor in there, and you guys probably caught some of that earlier, it definitely came in handy today. Kevin made an incredible pass on his in-lap. I was watching from pit lane, waiting for him to come in. I thought, ‘Well, that’s going to make my life a lot easier!’ It was a great strategy call for us to stay out when the others boxed, and we got a bit lucky on the out-lap. I am thankful for the Vandals!”
Pro-Am Class
From overall pole, it appeared the No. 9 ACI Motorsports Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport of Dan Sibille and Kay van Berlo would control both the Pro-Am and overall victories. But it all came undone on the pit stop from van Berlo, who led the opening half hour of the race. With Sibille unable to correctly secure his belts, the No. 9 Porsche lost the lead and precious seconds, falling down the order to an eventual ninth place finish in class.
The No. 9 car’s issues opened the door for the No. 69 JTR Motorsports Engineering Toyota Gazoo Racing GR Supra GT4 EVO2, driven in the first stage of the race by Anthony McIntosh and then by Parker Thompson, to take the lead, with McIntosh keen to add a second win of the day to his one in GT America powered by AWS earlier Saturday. Random Vandals had other ideas, as Sam Craven and Josh Green’s No. 94 BMW M4 GT4 (G82) EVO took the top spot with a pass at the end of the 3.74-mile course with 18 minutes remaining. Green executed a three-wide daring pass of the Silver second and third-placed cars on the final lap into Turn 17 to finish in second overall and first in class.
Thompson spent most of his stint holding back the No. 33 Blackdog Racing McLaren Artura GT4 of Michael Cooper, who took over from Tony Gaples. Eventually, Thompson crossed the finish line in second place, with Cooper following suit in third.
“I’m just doing the best I can, and I’m happy to be here talking to you again,” stated Sam Craven. “I used to be a mechanic working on these race cars, and now to be out here competing with guys like him, it’s incredible. For him to coach me and help me get as fast as I am today is just amazing.”
“I heard the commentators talking about my move at the end there, going three-wide,” explained Josh Green. “ I’ll just say, it was risk assessment. I thought about it, and when I got such a big run, I knew I’d clear them by the end of the straight, so I figured, why not go for it? All race long, I was managing the gap. Our car had so much pace, and I felt comfortable hanging back. But when it all came together, and I saw the cars behind and felt that run coming, I just went for it. And it worked out.”
Am Class
The race started strong in Am the No. 606 Thunder Bunny Racing Toyota Gazoo Racing GR Supra GT4 EVO2 of Laura Hayes and Allen Patten, but their race went slightly awry in the pit stop sequence. Between losing the lead and incurring a time penalty of 1.68 seconds for a short pit stop, the No. 606 Toyota dropped to second place.
Their demise opened the door for BMW’s third Pirelli GT4 America win of the day, this time BimmerWorld Racing earning the top spot with James Clay and Charlie Postins sharing duties on the team’s No. 36 BMW M4 GT4 (G82) EVO. The Hayes/Patten Toyota held on for second with another BMW, the No. 188 Fast Track Racing BMW M4 GT4 (G82) EVO Denny Stripling and Judson Holt, finishing third.
“We’re in championship form,” explained Charlie Postins. “ we’re on a roll right now. Let’s see what tomorrow brings, but the car’s been great, and the team is really clicking. It’s awesome.”
James Clay said, “I learned it’s actually hotter in the pits than in the race car! I had fun out there. Charlie drove an awesome race, and I think we’ve got a car that’s really strong in the sun. We’ll be right in the thick of it tomorrow, so we’ll see how it goes.”
Let’s Get Racing
The Pirelli GT4 America field will return to the track for Race 1 on Sunday morning, May 18th at 11:10 AM ET.
If you can’t make it to Sebring International Raceway, 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 #GTSebring.