- Silver Class Lewis and Gonzalez Set Best Time Overall
- McQuarrie, Walker Jr. Out Front in Pro-Am
- Sparta, Wilson Fastest in the Am class
- Practice 1 Unofficial Results
With 45 minutes on the clock, the Pirelli GT4 America field took to the track for the first Practice of the weekend. It was not an easy session as the drivers on the track were plagued by rain showers in the closing stages, though the final minutes were spent under the bright sun.
The No. 68 Smooge Racing Toyota Gazoo Racing GR Supra GT4 Evo, co-driven by Corey Lewis and Tyler Gonzalez, set the tone for the session, clocking in the fastest overall and Silver class lap time. The No. 82 BimmerWorld BMW M4 GT4 was the machine to beat in the Pro-Am class, as Tyler McQuarrie and James Walker Jr. went quickest. The Am class was dominated by the No. 98 Random Vandals Racing BMW M4 GT4 of Paul Sparta and Kris Wilson.
Silver Class
Kenton Koch led the charge early on in the Silver class, moving up to the top of the overall leaderboard in the opening fifteen minutes on board his No. 97 Random Vandals Racing BMW M4 GT4 G82. However, with just under thirty minutes to go, Corey Lewis moved up into first in the No. 68 Smooge Racing Toyota Gazoo Racing GR Supra GT4 EVO with a time of 2:17.156.
Colin Garrett began inching towards the front later in the session, securing the second-quickest time overall in his No. 51 AutoTechnic Racing BMW M4 GT4 G82, followed by Koch and teammate Kevin Boehm in third.
RS1’s John Capestro-Dubets and Eric Filgueiras were steadily making progress as the time elapsed, completing Practice 1 in fourth position in the No. 28 Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport. Demi Chalkias and Jake Cowden rounded off the top 5 in the Silver class with the No. 34 JMF Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT4.
Pro-Am Class
Michael Cooper was looking competitive in the No. 9 Blackdog Speed Shop Nissan Z NISMO GT4, asserting himself as the frontrunner in the Pro-Am class while challenging the overall leaders in the opening laps.
Matt Bell was in the mix as well in the No. 43 P1 Groupe Mercedes-AMG GT4, showing strong pace. However, as the session progressed, the pairing of Tyler McQuarrie and James Walker Jr. topped the Pro-Am Class charts with a lap time of 2:18.026. The Blackdog Speed Shop machine was relegated to second place, edging out Bell and Alex Vogel in the P1 Groupe entry.
Matheus Leist and Michael Auriemma went fourth fastest in class, commanding their No. 89 RENNtech Mercedes-AMG GT4 to the 8th overall spot, and sat just a mere 0.011 seconds off Bell and Vogel’s time.
Rounding off the Top 5 was the No. 7 ACI Motorsports Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport of Kay Van Berlo and Curt Swearingin.
Am Class
In the Am category, Paul Sparta and Kris Wilson continued to set themselves apart from the rest in their No. 98 Random Vandals Racing BMW M4 GT4 G82, going fastest in class and nearly breaking into the top 10 overall.
The BimmerWorld pairing of James Clay and Charlie Postins, equipped with the No. 36 BMW M4 GT4 G82, were just a mere 0.052 seconds ahead of Robb Holland and Jaden Lander in the No. 099 Rotek Racing Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport.
The margins were slim between fourth and fifth place as well, with David Peterman and Lee Carpentier positioning their No. 52 NOLASPORT Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport narrowly ahead of Wisconsin native Nicholas Shanny and teammate Chris Walsh in the No. 20 Carrus Callas Raceteam BMW M4 GT4 G82.
Let’s Get Racing
The Pirelli GT4 America field will return to the track for Practice 2 later in the afternoon on Friday, August 16th at 5:15 PM CT.
If you can’t make it to Road America, be sure to tune-in to SRO’s free livestreams all weekend long on YouTube (GTWorld) and Twitch (SROMotorsports) and follow all the action through our social media channels and the event hashtag #GTRoadAmerica.