GT4 America Gears Up for First-Ever Enduro at COTA

Photo: Fred Hardy/SRO

Pirelli GT4 America competitors are gearing up for the series’ first-ever endurance race this weekend at Circuit of The Americas, with a three-hour round set for Saturday evening at the home of the U.S. Formula 1 Grand Prix.

A total of 31 cars are entered for the the fifth round of the season, which takes the place of two 60-minute races over the course of a typical GT4 America weekend.

While retaining a two-driver format, the entry list features a number of additions and changes since the recent event at Sebring International Raceway, which saw a sweep of the weekend from RS1’s John Capestro-Dubets and Eric Filgueiras.

It includes the return of Precision LA Racing’s Toyota GR Supra GT4 EVO for Ryan Eversley and Harry Cheung, the addition of a Skip Barber Racing-entered Aston Martin Vantage GT4 for Marc and Tyler Sharinn, a second Smooge Racing Toyota for Kevin Conway and Isabella Robusto and the No. 188 Fast Track Racing BMW M4 GT4 for Judson Holt and Denny Stripling.

Former series competitor Rodrigo Baptista is set for his GT4 America return in Flying Lizard Motorsports’ Nissan Z NISMO GT4 alongside Damir Hot, while Michael Cooper returns to the No. 9 Blackdog Racing Nissan, which claimed Pro-Am class honors in Race 2 at Sebring with Max Root and team owner/driver Tony Gaples.

Capestro-Dubets and Filgueiras hold a nine-point lead in the Silver class over the Random Vandals Racing duo of Kenton Koch and Kevin Boehm, who are tied on 63 points with AutoTechnic Racing’s Colin Garrett and Zac Anderson.

Pro-Am sees the ACI Motorsports pairing of Kay van Berlo and Curt Swearingin out front ahead of Gray Newell and Roman De Angelis of Heart of Racing Team, with Gaples sitting third as a solo driver after Cooper missed the Sebring rounds.

Random Vandals’ Kris Wilson and Paul Sparta, meanwhile, lead the Am class entering the weekend.

Cars will hit the track for the first time on Friday with two practice sessions, followed by qualifying on Saturday morning and the enduro taking the green flag at 5 p.m. CDT and running into the sunset.

Live coverage of the race will be available on SRO’s GT World YouTube page and on Twitch.

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