Rennsport One Earns Pirelli GT4 America SprintX VIR Sweep

Rennsport One’s John Capestro-Dubets was able to jump over AutoTechnic Racing’s Colin Garrett in the pits during a rare round of stops under yellow Sunday (July 21). From there, he was able to hold on with Eric Filgueiras to win Pirelli GT4 America SprintX Race No. 2 at VIRginia International Raceway and earn the weekend sweep.

The margin of victory was 2.049 seconds over Random Vandals Racing’s Kenton Koch and Kevin Boehm. OnlyFans Racing’s Matt Bell and Alex Vogel were third, then ACI Motorsports’ Curt Swearingin and Kay van Berlo. Rotek Racing’s Robb Holland and Jaden Lander ended up fifth.

JMF Motorsports’ Jake Cowden started from the overall pole in his Mercedes and led Filgueiras and Anderson early on. Further back, contact in turn 4 resulted in TechSport Racing’s Eric Powell spinning out and Rennsport One’s Austin Krainz going off the road. Both drivers were able to continue, but Krainz ended up with damage on his left front corner and was forced to stop.

Unlike Saturday, the Rennsport One No. 28 was not infallible. Anderson was able to get past Filgueiras, then went up and took the lead away from Cowden.

Filgueiras quickly got by Cowden and went after Anderson. The two drivers battled for lap after lap. 20 minutes into the race, Filgueiras made a move at turn 1 for the lead, but Anderson successfully defended it.

22 minutes into the race, Carrus Callus Raceteam’s Chris Walsh slid off-course at the Oak Tree turn after he hit fluid. Powell also lost control on his own, spun and backed into Walsh before hitting the tires. The crash brought out the safety car right before the pit window would have opened.

Walsh had rear damage on his BMW, but was able to drive away slowly. Powell was unable to continue and was done for the day.

Normally, teams don’t pit under caution in Pirelli GT4 America SprintX and the window is adjusted. Here, everyone pitted under the yellow for their driver changes.

Rennsport One was able to get Capestro-Dubets into their Porsche and got out of the pits first to take the overall. On the restart, Capestro-Dubets and Garrett ran away from the field to settle the race.

Further back, AutoTechnic Racing’s Mark Brummond stacked up the field behind him. It led to a series of runs for position. Cowden attempted to get past Brummond, but went too fast into turn 14 and ended up taking himself and Smooge Racing’s John Geesbreght out.

Geesbreght was able to resume and had to get a checkup in the pits. Cowden ended up in the tire barrier, bringing out the second yellow. During the caution, Geesbreght’s Toyota GR Supra GT4 had a steering failure and slid off-course, ending his day.

The green came back out with just over six minutes remaining. Capestro-Dubets was able to open up a small gap over the rest of the field.

The race was effectively over for the overall win when Garrett went wide exiting turn 10 and spun his BMW out. He didn’t hit anything, but ended up way off the track in wet grass. Anderson and Garrett ended up 13th overall.

In Pro-Am, RENNtech Motorsports’ Matheus Leist qualified second. Unfortunately, a misfire under the hood struct very early in the race, putting him way down the order.

That allowed Blackdog Speed Shop’s Michael Cooper to take the class lead in his Nissan. He was fast enough to put himself with the overall leaders early on. So was Mike Skeen, making a special appearance with AutoTechnic Racing.

Skeen ran down Cooper and put the moves on him to take the lead 10 minutes into the race in the Oak Tree turn. Once out front, Skeen continued to move forward, eventually getting into third overall.

Once Brummond got into the car in place of Skeen, he was still in third overall, but not on pace of the Silver teams. He dropped back a little before the yellow came out.

On the final restart, Swearingin got a run on him for the class lead. The two drivers ran side-by-side for a couple of turns, but Swearingin was able to take the lead.

Further back, OnlyFans Racing’s Matt Bell was right there as well. He was able to get past Brummond for second and caught Swearingin in a hurry.

The two drivers dueled over the last couple of laps. On the final lap, Bell looked to the inside of Swearingin in turn 4.

That move didn’t work, but Swearingin ended up going a little wide. That was all the veteran Bell needed for the devastating crossover move in turn 5 to take the lead. From there, Bell held on to take the Pro-Am win in third overall with teammate Vogel.

Bell and Vogel’s margin of victory was 1.433 seconds over Swearingin and van Berlo. Brummond and Skeen ended up third, then BimmerWorld Racing’s Tyler McQuarrie and James Walker Jr. Cooper and Tony Gaples were fifth.

In the Am class, Rotek Racing’s Jaden Lander qualified 12th overall and was able to maintain that position early on. He quickly came under pressure from BimmerWorld Racing’s Charlie Postins.

During the mid-race pit stops under yellows, BimmerWorld Racing’s James Clay was able to get out of the pits ahead of Rotek Racing’s Robb Holland. That gave Clay the class lead.

In the scramble after the restart, Holland was not only able to get the lead back, but moved up well into the top 10 overall. The caution for the Cowden-Geesbreght crash confirmed this.

Unfortunately for Clay, a left rear tire got cut after contact with KRUGSPEED’s Lance Bergstein. He pitted in a closed pit during the second caution to change that tire, but dropped down the order.

In the final laps, Holland battled with the top Pro-Am teams. As a result, he was easily able to take the Am victory in fifth overall.

Holland and Lander’s margin of victory was 5.401 seconds over Random Vandals Racing’s Paul Sparta and Kris Wilson. NOLAsport’s Lee Carpentier and David Peterman were third, then Clay and Postins. Bergstein and Anthony Geraci were fifth.

Pirelli GT4 America SprintX: VIR Race No. 2 Results

Pirelli GT4 America SprintX teams will take a couple of weeks off. The next race will be at Road America on Aug. 17.