RENNtech Motorsports’ Matheus Leist was able to get past AutoTechnic Racing’s Colin Garrett with under four minutes to go Sunday morning (Oct. 6) to take the lead.
From there, he was able to pull away to win the final Pirelli GT4 America SprintX race of 2024 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway with teammate Michael Auriemma. It is the duo’s second class victory and first overall victory of the year.
“I was going for it today,” Leist told SRO America’s Amanda Busick after the race. “We’ve had a few chances [this season], but today, we had a very great car. I’m very happy with the win and with Michael, who ran a great race. Very happy to come out with the overall win here in Indy.”
The margin of victory on the track was 3.053 seconds. However, the team’s pit stop was .098 seconds too quick. Any amount under the 108-second pit lane delta is decupled and applied as a post-race penalty.
As a result, Auriemma and Leist’s margin of victory was 2.073 seconds over The Heart of Racing’s Roman DeAngelis and Gray Newell. Garrett and Zac Anderson were third, then JMF Motorsport’s Michai Stephens and Jesse Webb. Rennsport One’s John Capestro-Dubets and Eric Filgueiras were fifth in their Porsche.
In Pro-Am, Auriemma and Leist beat DeAngelis and Newell. Precision Racing LA’s Terry Borcheller and Ryan Eversley finished third after their victory on Saturday, then Rotek Racing’s Myles Rowe and Isaac Sherman. Flying Lizard Motorsports’ Rodrigo Baptista and Damir Hot were fifth.
Smooge Racing’s Corey Lewis started from the overall pole in his Supra. A decent start allowed him to lead without trouble. A driver that did run into trouble on the start was Webb.
Webb qualified second overall in his Mercedes, but he dropped way back on the start to 10th overall, sixth in Silver. He ended up staying there for the rest of his time in the car.
The weekend had generally been clean to this point. However, 16 minutes into the race, ACI Motorsports’ Curt Swearingin flew into turn 1 way too fast and smashed into NOLAsport’s Lee Carpentier.
Swearingin’s Porsche suffered a broken radiator and came to a halt in the runoff for turn 1, which brought out the safety car. Carpentier had a big tire rub, but managed to drive his Porsche back to the pits.
In Swearingin’s case, he and teammate Kay van Berlo clinched the Pro-Am championship Saturday when DeAngelis and Newell had problems.
The race restarted just as the mid-race pit stop window opened. As a result, roughly half the field pitted while the other half stayed out.
In Pro-Am, TPC Racing’s Dario Capitanio started from the pole in his McLaren Artura GT4. He was able to hold onto second overall behind Lewis early on.
When the race restarted from the safety car, Capitanio chose to stay out and take the overall lead. In the couple of laps before making his stop, Capitanio came into pressure from Random Vandals Racing’s Josh Green.
Green was able to make the pass right before he and Capitanio made their pit stops. Alan Grossberg was nowhere near Capitanio’s pace and dropped back quickly.
With Goodridge’s trip to the grass, Sam Craven ended up second overall. He lost that spot to Stephens, then had Leist up his tail for the class lead.
With 14 minutes to go, Craven’s race came to an end as mechanical problems struck. He was able to pull off at the chicane to avoid bringing out the safety car.
Craven’s issues gave Leist the lead in class, but he wanted more. Leist then ran down Garrett and Stephens for the overall lead.
Once in front overall, he had to gap the Silver leaders in order to make sure that the post-race time penalty wouldn’t decide the race like it did during Saturday’s Indianapolis 8 Hour.
Ultimately, DeAngelis got held up just enough by Garrett and Stephens to allow Leist to pull out a decent advantage. That was enough for the win.
In Silver, Random Vandals Racing’s Kevin Boehm was able to beat Smooge Racing’s Tyler Gonzalez out of the pits to take the virtual Silver class lead following their stops on the restart. The former leaders came out of the pits and blended into the lead pack. That caused problems.
At the end of Hulman Boulevard, Boehm had contact with Rennsport One’s Austin Krainz, spinning out Krainz’s Porsche. At bare minimum, this could have caused a penalty for Boehm, but things ended up much worse.
A lap after the contact, the right front suspension broke on Boehm’s BMW. That put him out of the race and out of championship contention.
Gonzalez ended up in a similar plight, but it wasn’t the fault of anyone. As Boehm was trying to limp back to the pits, the left rear suspension failed on the former race leading Supra in turn 11. That sent Gonzalez for a high speed spin. With a smoking Supra, Gonzalez was forced to pit and retire from the race.
With the top Silver class drivers eliminated, VPX Motorsport’s Cayden Goodridge ended up with the overall lead after the stops. Then, he went too fast into turn 7 on his out lap. As a result, Goodridge ended up in the grass.
The off-course excursion allowed AutoTechnic Racing’s Colin Garrett to take the overall lead in his BMW. His primary competition ended up being Stephens, who recovered from Webb’s early issues to contend for the win.
Stephens got close enough to Garrett to take a couple of looks for the lead, but could not get past. That allowed Leist in his Pro-Am class Mercedes to enter the mix.
Leist was able to take the overall lead with three minutes left from Garrett with DeAngelis following shortly afterwards. Despite that, the battle was still on for the Silver win.
With two laps to go, Stephens was able to outbrake Garrett into turn 1 and take the class lead. Garrett didn’t take that sitting down as he came back on Stephens in turn 7 to retake the lead.
From there, Garrett was able to hold on to take the class victory for himself and Anderson in third overall. It was the duo’s third win of the year.
Anderson and Garrett’s margin of victory was .489 seconds over Stephens and Webb. Capestro-Dubets and Filgueiras were third, then Goodridge and Danny Dyszelski. The Heart of Racing’s Hannah Greenemeier and Hannah Grisham were fifth in their Aston Martin.
The third-place finish was good enough for Capestro-Dubets and Filgueiras to win the Silver championship. It is the second title for Filgueiras after his dominant 2022. For Capestro-Dubets, it is his first title. Had he not gotten injured last year, it would have been back-to-back championships since he was partnered with Anderson (last year’s champion) for all of the races that he ran.
In Am, Rotek Racing’s Jaden Lander started from pole in his Porsche in 14th overall. However, his time at the front was short.
BimmerWorld Racing’s Charlie Postins was able to move up in the opening laps to take the class lead in his BMW. Postins had been unable to get in the car Saturday due to mechanical issues, but managed to pull away prior to the caution.
Once James Clay got into the car, he had to deal with Michael Kanisczak in the No. 98 Random Vandals BMW. While Kanisczak was driving in place of the injured team owner Paul Sparta, he was trying to get the Am championship for teammate Kris Wilson.
Clay was running hard to keep the lead. Maybe a little too hard. With a little more than 10 minutes to go, Clay went wide in turn 1, allowing Kanisczak to take the class lead in 10th overall.
The battle was far from over. Clay attempted to come back on Kanisczak for the class lead. With six minutes to go, Clay went too hot into turn 1 and ran in the back of the green and white BMW, spinning Kanisczak out.
As Clay pulled over and let Kanisczak pass him back after the spin, no action was taken. From there, the fight was on again.
Things looked great for Kanisczak until the final lap. Exiting turn 10, Kanisczak’s BMW suddenly slowed. That allowed Clay to get back past and take the class victory in 12th overall.
Clay and Postins’ margin of victory was 1.796 seconds over Lander and Robb Holland. Kanisczak and Wilson had to limp home in third, while Carrus Callus Raceteam’s Nick Shanny and Chris Walsh were fourth in their BMW. Orlando Motorsports Services’ Nick Longhi and Kaia Teo were fifth in their McLaren.
The issue for Kanisczak that allowed Holland to take second was enough for Holland and Lander to win the Am class championship by 10 points.
0000Pirelli 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.