JMF Motorsports’ Mike David Ortmann took the lead with six minutes to go when his teammate Jesse Webb was penalized for avoidable contact. From there, he was able to hold on to win Pirelli GT4 Amerca SprintX Race No. 2 Sunday morning (Oct. 19) at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway with teammate Braden Arthur.
“It was amazing,” Ortmann told SRO America’s Amanda Busick after the race. “Crazy conditions out there. The track changed every lap, but we had some really nice fights.”
The margin of victory was 1.031 seconds over Random Vandals Racing’s Kevin Boehm and Kenton Koch. Blackdog Speed Shop’s Michael Cooper and Tony Gaples were third, then Riley Technologies’ Eric Filgueiras and Spencer Pumpelly. NOLASport’s Matheus Leist and Matt Travis were fifth.
Arthur and Ortmann also won the Silver class over Boehm and Koch. Filgueiras and Pumpelly were third in class, then The Heart of Racing’s Hannah Greenemeier and Hannah Grisham. Van der Steur Racing’s Max Hewitt and Luca Mars were fifth.
The wet conditions from Saturday night during the Indianapolis 8 Hour held strong Sunday morning. Precipitation resulted in the race starting under caution to make sure that the track was good to go.
Leist, driving a repaired Porsche after a crash Saturday, started from the Pro-Am and overall pole. After a couple of laps behind the safety car, he led the field single-file to green.
Saturday’s overall winner Tyler Gonzalez started from the Silver pole in second overall. He was strong, but cut his left rear tire a couple of laps into the race. After being forced to limp nearly a full lap back to the pits, he remained on the lead lap, but only 10 seconds away from being lapped.
Gonzalez and Gresham Wagner would ultimately finish 15th overall, seventh in class. In that time, they gained 28 seconds on the overall leaders, but lacked the full course caution that would have gotten them back in the hunt.
Gonzalez’s issues gave the Silver lead to VPX Motorsports’ Danny Dyszelski. Koch was right on his tail.
Dyszelski ran into trouble of his own 15 minutes in when he went straight at turn 10 and slid onto the backstretch of the oval. He was able to rejoin without trouble, but dropped back to fifth overall, fourth in class.
Dyszelski’s slide put Koch in the Silver lead, two seconds behind Leist. Once there, Koch pulled away from the rest of the Silver class and tried to catch up with Leist.
Koch and Leist pitted at the same time just past halfway to make their mandatory pit stops. NOLAsport got out first, but they were just a little too fast. copping a 1.57-second post-race penalty.
Despite that, Boehm was right there on Travis’ tail. It did not take long for the CrowdStrike BMW to take the overall lead.
As the race continued on, a dry line began to form. Drivers had to periodically dive off-line in order to find water to cool their tires.
In the closing laps, Boehm’s tires began to wear on the drying track. This allowed Webb to run him down for the overall and Silver lead. With nine minutes to go, Webb made the move in turn 12. Contact was made and Boehm spun out.
A couple of laps later, the stewards assessed Webb a drive-through penalty. When he took the penalty, the No. 3 Aston Martin fell way down the order.
When Webb served the penalty, the race came down to a battle between Ortmann, Filgueiras and Boehm. Ortmann was vigorously defending his position against Filgueiras, getting a warning for blocking from the stewards.
Despite this, Ortmann was able to gap his adversaries just enough to hold on for the win.
In Pro-Am, Travis fell down the overall order during the second half of the race, but still had a decent advantage over the rest of the class. However, once Cooper got into the Blackdog Speed Shop McLaren, he started putting up a series of excellent lap times.
He was able to run down Travis and take over the Pro-Am lead with a couple of minutes to go. From there, Cooper was able to pull away and take the Pro-Am weekend sweep with Gaples in third overall. For Cooper, it’s his third win in nine days as he won the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge finale last Friday at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta with Moisey Uretsky in a different McLaren Artura GT4.
Cooper and Gaples’ margin of victory was 6.639 seconds over Leist and Travis. ACI Motorsports’ Jan Heylen and Curt Swearingin were third, then Random Vandals Racing’s Sam Craven and Josh Green. AutoTechnic Racing’s Matt Million and Tyler Stone.
Craven and Green’s fourth-place finish was enough to earn them the Pro-Am championship by seven points over Swearingin. Cooper and Gaples ended up third with their weekend sweep.
Skip Barber Racing’s Alex Garcia started on the Am pole in 15th overall. Unfortunately, the No. 07 BMW struggled for pace early on, dropping down the order to third in the first couple of laps under green. He then pitted at the same time that Gonzalez did due to splitter damage.
RAFA Racing Team’s Kenny Schmied was able to drive up to the class lead in the opening laps with BimmerWorld Racing’s Charlie Postins giving chase.
Following the mid-race stops, Anthony Geraci was able to maintain the advantage in his Toyota GR Supra GT4 EVO2. James Clay was close behind. In the closing laps, Clay pressured Geraci, even though he had the championship on his mind.
On the final lap, Clay got a run on Geraci exiting the final turn and tried to drag around the outside of the Supra, but Geraci was able to hold on for the win. It is Geraci and Schmied’s second win of the year.
Geraci and Schmied’s margin of victory was just .159 seconds over Clay and Postins. Flying Lizard Motorsports’ Zach Lumsden and Kris Wilson were third, followed by Rigid Speed’s Joseph and Lucas Catania. Fast Track Racing’s Judson Holt and Denny Stripling, who won on Saturday, had to settle for fifth.
The second-place finish for Clay and Postins was just enough to give them their third Am championship in the last four years. The margin was only one point over Geraci and Schmied.
Pirelli GT4 America SprintX: Indianapolis Race No. 2 Results
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.