JMF Motorsports’ Mike David Ortmann took the lead with seven minutes to go Sunday (Aug. 17) when the top-three drivers crashed in turn 6 shortly after a restart. When the caution came out, he was able to lock up the win in Pirelli GT4 America SprintX at Road America.
Not only is this Ortmann’s first career Pirelli GT4 America SprintX victory, but he did it solo. That actually carries a five-second penalty that is served during the mid-race pit stop.
Random Vandals Racing’s Kevin Boehm and Kenton Koch were second, followed by ACI Motorsports’ Riley Dickinson and Curt Swearingin. Marco Polo Motorsports’ Nicolai Elghanayan and Mads Siljehaug were fourth in their Supra, while The Heart of Racing’s Hannah Greenemeier and Hannah Grisham were fifth.
The top-two finishers were the top two in the Silver class. Elghanayan and Siljehaug were third, then Greenemeier and Grisham. RAFA Racing Team’s Tyler Gonzalez and Gresham Wagner were fifth.
Gonzalez started from the Silver and overall pole in his Supra. While Gonzalez was able to hold onto the lead, Random Vandals Racing’s Kenton Koch was able to take second from JMF Motorsports’ Jonathan Neudorf.
Gonzalez fought to keep the lead from Koch in the opening laps of the race. Eventually, the Supra was able to pull out to a comfortable lead.
The mid-race pit stops came as trouble broke out. Random Vandals Racing’s Josh Green and AutoTechnic Racing’s Zac Anderson had contact under braking for turn 6. The contact broke the left front suspension on Green’s BMW.
Green tried to drive the car back to the pits, but was unable to do so. With Green parking his BMW exiting turn 7, the full course yellow came out in the middle of the stops, closing the pit lane.
This was worst-case scenario for Gonzalez, who had not made his stop yet. He was able to stop during the yellow to swap over to Gresham Wagner, but they ended up way down the order, behind all of those who stopped before the yellow and at the back of the Silver class.
Kevin Boehm claimed the overall lead by virtue of Koch bringing the CrowdStrike BMW in early. He ended up with VPX Motorsport’s Alex Ellis right on his tail.
Ellis made the move for the overall lead entering turn 6 and a somewhat similar incident to what happened with Anderson and Green happened. Contact was made, resulting in Boehm going off into the grass while Ellis continued. The contact did not break Boehm’s suspension, but dropped him down the order.
Shortly afterwards, Dome Motorsport’s Marc Miller, who was on the tail end of the lead lap, went a little wide exiting turn 7 and spun into the wall. That drew the race’s second full course caution.
The contact put JMF Motorsports’ Jesse Webb right on Ellis’ bumper. On the restart, he immediately made a run for the point and took the lead on the outside of turn 1.
Ellis immediately came back to try to get back past. Exiting turn 5, the two were side-by-side and collided. The two spun out in front of the whole field and collected van der Steur Racing’s Max Hewitt.
Ortmann was able to sneak past and take the overall lead. Ellis’ Porsche ended up with left front suspension damage and stopped exiting turn 7 like Green did earlier. That drew the yellow that gave him the win.
In Pro-Am, NOLAsport’s Matheus Leist started on pole. On the initial start, Leist was able to move forward to third overall. That meant that he was driving the sole non-Silver car in the top-eight.
Leist was able to expand his advantage over BimmerWorld Racing’s Tyler McQuarrie to nearly 10 seconds. Meanwhile, McQuarrie had to battle to keep second in class from Blackdog Speed Shop’s Michael Cooper.
When the mid-race stops occurred, Leist chose to stay out while Cooper pitted to swap out of his McLaren in favor of Tony Gaples. That ended up being key as the caution coming out gave Gaples the class lead in seventh overall.
Gaples was able to pull away from James Walker Jr., but the real threat was Dickinson. Dickinson, the reigning Porsche Carrera Cup North America champion, was quickly moving up through the field.
The caution for Miller’s crash put Dickinson right on Gaples’ tail. On the restart, Dickinson made short work of Gaples for the lead and pulled away. The victory was assured when the yellow came out.
Gaples and Cooper held on for second, then McQuarrie and Walker. Loek Hartog and Dan Sibille recovered from being a lap down at one point to finish fourth, followed by the OnlyFans Racing/P1 Groupe McLaren of Matt Bell and Alex Vogel.
In Am, Random Vandals Racing’s Darius Trinka started on pole in ninth overall. Unfortunately, he did not get a great start and dropped down the order. Halfway through the first lap, he’d already lost the class lead to KRUGSPEED’s Kenny Schmeid.
Schmeid was able to lead until the mid-race stops. Similar to Gonzalez, he stayed out too long and got burned by the caution. When he stopped to hand over to Anthony Geraci, he dropped back to third in class.
Paul Sparta in the Random Vandals No. 98 ended up with the class lead after the mid-race stops, but ended up fading. That allowed the father-son duo of Joseph and Lucas Catania to come through to take the class victory in 11th overall.
Skip Barber Racing’s Alex and Michael Garcia were second, then Geraci and Schmied in third. Sparta and Trinka ended up fourth, while Fast Track Racing’s Judson Holt and Denny Stripling ended up fifth after an early spin.
Pirelli GT4 America SprintX: Road America Results
Normally, there are two races in each Pirelli GT4 America SprintX weekend. Race No. 1 was scheduled for Saturday afternoon. The field was led off the pit lane by the safety car, but the event was red-flagged after less than a lap due to heavy rains and never resumed.
Next up for Pirelli GT4 America SprintX will be Barber Motorsports Park in three weeks. However, due to Saturday’s cancellation, there will now be three races in Alabama. Race No. 1 will be Friday, Sept. 5 with coverage on the GT World YouTube channel.
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.