Blackdog Speed Shop’s Michael Cooper charged from seventh with 10 minutes to go Friday (June 12) to get past Rennsport One’s Luca Mars on the final lap to win Pirelli GT4 America Race No. 1 at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta with teammate Tony Gaples. It is the team’s first Pro-Am victory of the year and first overall victory in Pirelli GT4 America.
It’s also potentially a record-breaking weekend for both drivers. By starting the race, Gaples set the all-time starts record in SRO America competition, which dates back to 1990. Cooper’s victory was his 42nd win in all SRO America-sanctioned series. One more would tie him with Peter Cunningham for most all-time.
“I’ve been very motivated all weekend,” Cooper said after the race. “It’s partially to do with the milestone for Tony, but also showing what I can do, over and over again.”
Cooper and Gaples won by .527 seconds over Mars and Spencer Pumpelly. AutoTechnic Racing’s Kevin Boehm and Francis Selldorff were third, followed by Random Vandals Racing’s Bruno Colombo and Josh Green. Advance Motorsports’ Austin Jurs and Jonathan Neudorf were fifth.
In Pro-Am, Cooper and Gaples won by 7.061 seconds over Random Vandals Racing’s Sam Craven and Kenton Koch. NOLAsport’s Matheus Leist and Matt Travis inherited third in their Porsche. AutoTechnic Racing’s Roland Krainz and Stevan McAleer were fourth, while Dome Motorsport’s Marc Miller and Allen Patten were fifth.
Pumpelly started from the overall pole. RAFA Racing Team’s Westin Workman, fresh off of a GSX weekend sweep at Mid-Ohio, gave chase in his Supra.
Workman was the only driver that was able to keep Pumpelly in sight. Both drivers were more than two-tenths of a second faster than anyone else.
Pumpelly gradually opened up a three-second lead on Workman prior to the mid-race pit stops. A good stop there resulted in Mars having a five-second lead at the end of the stops.
That five-second lead evaporated when OGH Motorsports’ Sean Gibbons spun his McLaren in turn 2. He attempted to restart, but just couldn’t get back underway, forcing SRO America officials to put out the full course caution with 18 minutes to go.
Tyler Gonzalez was able to close up to Mars’ rear wing for the restart with a little over 10 minutes to go. He immediately tried to make a move to the inside at turn 1, but Mars was able to hold him off.
From there, Mars was able to pull away and take the class victory. Meanwhile, Gonzalez faded as his tires went off and fell down the order.
Mars and Pumpelly won the Silver class by .544 seconds over Boehm and Selldorff. Colombo and Green were third, then Jurs and Neudorf. Gonzalez and Workman had to settle for fifth.
In Pro-Am, Travis was on pole in seventh overall. However, the point leaders from Random Vandals Racing had trouble on the grid.
In a last-minute check, the crew discovered a puncture. Changing the tire on the grid triggered a drive-through penalty. Despite Craven being able to drive past Travis to take the lead on the first lap, he was assessed a 30-second hold to be served in the mid-race pit window.
Such a penalty is punitive, but could be mitigated by the race staying green. Sure enough, that is what happened. Regardless, Craven drove as hard as he could to open up the gap.
Despite the race going green, the penalty did hurt quite a bit. When Koch got into the car, he had dropped from the class lead in fifth overall to sixth in class, 14th overall. The margin to the new leader was 18 seconds.
That new leader was Miller. However, Cooper, fresh off his victory in Sunday’s O’Reilly Auto Parts 4 Hours of Mid-Ohio, was baring down on him. He ran down Miller and took the lead with 19 minutes to go.
After the restart, Cooper immediately distanced himself from the rest of the Pro-Am competitors and moved up into the top-five overall. Behind him, Koch was on the move. He was able to get all the way up to second in class, but Cooper was gone.
Instead of trying to win the class, he wanted the whole shebang. The veteran racer methodically made his way past the top Silver runners to move into second just before the white flag.
A half a lap later, he was right on Mars’ tail at the southern end of the circuit. Cooper then proceeded to get a huge run on Mars coming out of turn 7 for the long run to the chicane.
Mars attempted to fight back, but had nothing for the straight-line speed of the McLaren Artura GT4. Cooper was able to clear Mars at the chicane and held on for the win.
Off Leash Motorsports’ Kevin Clifford and Harry Gottsacker finished third in Pro-Am on the road, but were penalized 9.65 seconds after the race for being too short on their pit lane delta. That penalty dropped them to ninth.
In Am, ACI Motorsports’ Michael Garcia started from pole in his BMW. While Garcia qualified sixth overall, he dropped back early on. However, that stabilized inside of the top 10 overall. The next driver in class, Dome Motorsport’s Laura Hayes, was 15th.
Unfortunately, the ACI No. 21 had a terrible pit stop. The minimum pit road delta during the stops was 83 seconds. The Garcia’s time was 98 seconds.
That was enough to drop the team from a big lead to second in class behind BimmerWorld Racing’s James Clay. Despite this, Alex Garcia was able to stick right with Clay.
On the restart, Koch was right behind the lead duo. He immediately made moves to get past both of them. When he got past Clay in turn 7, the hole was left open just long enough for Alex Garcia to take the Am lead back.
From there, Alex Garcia was able to hold off Clay and the other drivers from the Pro-Am class around them to take the Am victory in 10th overall.
The margin of victory was 1.412 seconds over Clay and James Walker Jr. Random Vandals Racing’s Judson Holt and Denny Stripling were third, followed by Colorado Motorsports by Flying Lizard’s Zach Lumsden and Kris Wilson. Rigid Speed’s Joseph and Lucas Catania were fifth in their BMW.
Pirelli GT4 America: Road Atlanta Race No. 1 Results
Race No. 2 for Pirelli GT4 America is scheduled to go green at 12:25 p.m. ET Saturday afternoon. Cooper will start from the overall pole after qualifying eight-tenths of a second faster than anyone else.
Phil Allaway has three primary roles at Frontstretch. He's the manager of the Frontstretch email 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 Frontstretch 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.
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