The Heart of Racing’s Roman DeAngelis and Gray Newell came from 26th on the grid to take the lead just after halfway Sunday (Sept. 8) in a wild race. From there, DeAngelis was able to hold on to win Pirelli GT4 America SprintX Race No. 2 at Barber Motorsports Park. It is the duo’s second win of the year.
“The yellow coming out saved us,” DeAngelis told SRO America’s Amanda Busick after the race. “The [crew] making the right call to [pit] us early and jump everyone was key since we were so far back.”
DeAngelis and Newell’s margin of victory was .954 seconds over Random Vandals Racing’s Kevin Boehm and Kenton Koch. The Heart of Racing’s Hannah Greenemeier and Hannah Grisham were third in their previous generation Aston Martin, then OnlyFans Racing’s Matt Bell and Alex Vogel, who started dead last. Smooge Racing’s Tyler Gonzalez and Corey Lewis.
In Pro-Am, DeAngelis and Newell won by 15.242 seconds over Bell and Vogel. TechSport Racing’s Michael Neudorf and Johan Schwartz were third, then BimmerWorld Racing’s Tyler McQuarrie and James Walker Jr. AutoTechnic Racing’s Matt Million and Tyler Stone were fifth.
RENNtech Motorsports’ Matheus Leist started on the overall pole in his Pro-Am class Mercedes, but his time at the front of the field was short-lived. Silver class pole sitter Tyler Gonzalez was able to hang out on the outside of turn 1. That gave him the inside for turns 2 and 3 to take the lead.
Further back, a mess broke out. ACI Motorsports’ Kay van Berlo was hit by AutoTechnic Racing’s Zac Anderson exiting turn 12, which caused van Berlo to spin out. The resulting mess wrapped up Million, Josh Green, Michael Cooper, Rodrigo Baptista, James Clay, Dario Capitiano and Jaden Lander among others to bring out the safety car.
“Ian [James] calmly comes on the radio and says ‘cars spun ahead,'” Newell said after the race. “I came over the crest to World War III unfolding in front of me.”
Anderson was considered to be responsible for the crash. Given the magnitude of the crash, the penalty was stiff. A stop and 90-second hold cost Anderson and Colin Garrett more than a full lap.
Van Berlo and teammate Curt Swearingin could have clinched the Pro-Am title here. The crash meant that the championship will go to Indianapolis.
The crash put van Berlo, Green and Lander out on the spot. Baptista, Capitanio, Clay and Cooper managed to drive back to the pits before retiring. Others were able to continue.
During the safety car period, Gonzalez cut his right rear tire and was forced to make a pit stop. That gave the overall lead to Random Vandals Racing’s Kenton Koch.
The safety car period lasted long enough that it bled over into the mid-race pit stop sequence. Teams started to pit 25 minutes into the race over a couple of laps.
That left KRUGSPEED’s Lance Bergstein in the overall lead for the restart, but Lewis immediately over took him. DeAngelis gave chase.
However, the pit stop when Lewis got into the car was short of the minimum 79-second limit by over three seconds. That meant that Lewis was forced to serve a drive-through penalty.
The penalty gave DeAngelis the overall lead. Grisham in a second Aston Martin for The Heart of Racing moved up to second overall and the Silver lead.
The man on the move was Boehm in the CrowdStrike No. 97 BMW. Boehm ran roughshod through the pack and took the Silver lead from Grisham with 20 minutes to go.
However, he was a full 12 seconds behind DeAngelis by the time he got to second. He would likely need a safety car period to catch up.
Sure enough, Boehm got one. Boehm’s teammate Michael Kanisczak stalled on course, forcing a neutralization.
The caution put Boehm right on DeAngelis’ tail with 15 minutes to go. However, DeAngelis raised his game and was able to withhold the charge from Boehm.
Further back, TechSport Racing’s Johan Schwartz had to hold off OnlyFans Racing’s Matt Bell and NOLAsport’s Matt Travis for second in Pro-Am. Bell was all over Schwartz’s Nissan, but couldn’t get past.
Meanwhile, Travis spun out of fourth exiting turn 16 after contact from Rennsport One’s Eric Filgueiras. Filgueiras was judged responsible for the incident and had to serve a drive-through penalty. Filgueiras and John Capestro-Dubets ended up having to settle for 19th overall, sixth in Silver.
DeAngelis started to feel the pressure in the last couple of laps from Boehm. However, he was able to hold him off for the win.
Boehm and Koch held on to take the Silver win in second overall. Their margin of victory was 9.381 seconds over Greenemeier and Grisham. Lewis and Gonzalez came back from their flat tire and the penalty to finish third, followed by VPX Motorsports’ Danny Dyszelski and Alex Ellis. JMF Motorsports’ Demi Chalkias and Jake Cowden were fifth.
The Am class saw Lander start from pole in 16th overall. However, he launched himself over another car in the big crash. As a result, he was out on the spot.
As a result, Carrus Callus Raceteam’s Chris Walsh inherited the lead in his BMW. However, the staggered pit stops under yellow resulted in the Carrus Callus Raceteam losing the lead.
Kris Wilson, who was involved in the big wreck, pitted right at the restart. Lance Bergstein restarted in the lead with a substantial lead over the rest of the class.
With a number of the top competitors eliminated in the big wreck, Bergstein ended up with an advantage of over 30 seconds over his rivals. That time advantage was eliminated with the second safety car period.
Despite losing his big advantage, Bergstein was able to hold on over the final 15 minutes to win the Am class with teammate Anthony Geraci in 12th overall. The margin of victory was 13.457 seconds over Walsh and Nick Shanny. NOLAsport’s Lee Carpentier and David Peterman were third. They were the only Am class entrants to finish.
Pirelli GT4 America SprintX: Barber Park Race No. 2 Results
There is one more weekend of racing remaining for Pirelli GT4 America SprintX. That will be at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway as part of the Indianapolis 8 Hour weekend.
Race No. 1 from Indianapolis is scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 5 at 8:35 a.m. ET. The race will be streamed live on the GT World YouTube channel and on SpeedSport1.
Phil Allaway has three primary roles at Frontstretch. He's the manager of the site's FREE e-mail newsletter that publishes Monday-Friday and occasionally on weekends. He keeps TV broadcasters honest with weekly editions of Couch Potato Tuesday and serves as the site's Sports Car racing editor.
Outside of Frontstretch, Phil is the press officer for Lebanon Valley Speedway in West Lebanon, N.Y. He covers all the action on the high-banked dirt track from regular DIRTcar Modified racing to occasional visits from touring series such as the Super DIRTcar Series.