Filgueiras Banking on RS1’s Endurance Experience

Photo: Fabian Lagunas/SRO

Eric Filgueiras said he’s banking on RS1’s endurance racing pedigree in the hopes of continuing the team’s win streak this weekend at Circuit of The Americas in Pirelli GT4 America’s first-ever long-distance race.

The 2023 Fanatec GT World Challenge America powered by AWS Pro class champion and fellow GT4 front-runner John Capestro-Dubets currently lead the Silver class of GT4 America in the team’s Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport.

It comes after a sweep of the weekend at Sebring International Raceway in the series’ pair of traditional 60-minute races.

However, this event will see the a double points-paying three-hour round into the dusk at COTA on Saturday evening, complete with live pit stops and refueling that Filgueiras thinks could play to their benefit.

In addition to the team’s Fanatec GT America experience, RS1 also runs Porsche machinery in IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge, a series that Filgueiras contested last year as part of a parallel program.

“It’s going to be interesting when it comes to the experience standpoint of not only with the drivers but the teams that compete in series like IMSA that have to do live pit stops, when it comes to fuel and tires,” Filgueiras told Sportscar365.

“We’re a bit more polished [with that]. So we think that’s an advantage to us, and we’re crossing our fingers and hoping that it will be.

“I think there’s more consequence to it being a double points single race vs. what the normal format is. But SRO is trying to spice things up and try something new, which I totally applaud them.

“I think they’re always trying to figure out what the next angle is and how to bring in more competitors and customers and how to expose their series to a wider audience,

“It’s unique. I applaud them for that and I’m excited to be a part of it.”

Filgueiras and Capestro-Dubets enter the weekend with a nine-point class lead, in a program that was only finalized the week of last month’s season-opener at Sonoma Raceway.

“It was originally supposed to be the owner of CBW Racing and myself,” Filgueiras explained.”Because of his own conflicts he couldn’t do it, and we put this deal together the Monday of Sonoma.

“JCD has driven with the team before so he’s not foreign or unfamiliar.

“We’ve known each other for a number of years too so we get along really well and know he’s super fast and he brought all the right stuff to the team.

“Sonoma wasn’t the most advantageous for the Porsche but I think that was also because of the change in pavement and how the car reacted to it.

“I honestly believed we maximized everything we could at Sonoma.

“The series made their changes to BoP, we got to Sebring and I still don’t think the Porsche was the fastest car but I think we had the best driver pairing, our team executed. We have that to our strengths.

“Obviously this team knows GT4 cars. It knows this particular series, and JCD and I are not strangers to it. So I think we have all the right [keys] to everything.”

Filgueiras feels that last year’s campaign, alongside Stevan McAleer that saw the Justin Bellinzoni-owned team expand into GT3 competition, helped lay the groundwork for its Fanatec GT America program this year with Trent Hindman and Jake Pedersen.

“I think CBW Racing paved the road for RS1 to have the experience and understanding of what to do with these GT3 cars,” he said.

“You saw what they did at Sebring. We had three wins with the GT3 and both GT4 cars in the same day at Sebring on Saturday.

“That was the first time in RS1’s history as a team that they’ve even had three cars on the podium at once, let alone win.

“It was a monumental day. It doesn’t come as a surprise but it was a dream weekend.”

John Dagys

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John