Liefooghe Makes Last-Lap Pass for GT4 SprintX Win

Photo: Brian Cleary/SRO

Gregory Liefooghe made a last-lap pass on Jeff Burton to give Stephen Cameron Racing victory in the first Pirelli GT4 America SprintX race of the weekend at Watkins Glen International.

Liefooghe carved his way through the field in the final 15 minutes of Saturday’s 60-minute contest, benefitting from contact by the No. 36 Andretti Autosport McLaren 570S GT4 of Jarett Andretti and Tom Dyer’s Cameron BMW in Turn 1 to take over second.

He then hunted down Burton, who inherited a ten-second lead from pole-sitter and co-driver Vesko Kozarov in the No. 91 Rearden Racing Audi R8 LMS GT4 and powered by the GT4 SprintX Am competitor on the back straight for the overall lead and win.

Liefooghe, who co-drove with Sean Quinlan in the No. 19 BMW M4 GT4, picked up overall and GT4 SprintX Pro-Am class honors in the process.

The No. 34 Murillo Racing Mercedes-AMG GT4 of Matt Fassnacht Christian Szymczak finished third overall and the highest of the GT4 East competitors outright, with Trent Hindman and Alan Brynjolfsson taking fourth and claiming GT4 East Pro-Am class honors.

Dyer rebounded to finish fifth in his GT4 SprintX Pro-Am BMW.

The race, which featured an early full-course caution for an accident by the KRUGSPEED McLaren, saw a number of other incidents, including a power-related issue for the RS1 Porsche Cayman GT4 Clubsport MR of Jan Heylen, who stopped on track with 10 minutes to go.

Heylen was among the group of cars battling for second at the time, prior to Andretti and Dyer’s accident.

Race 2 is set for a 1 p.m. ET start on Sunday, with live coverage available on the series’ official website.

RESULTS: Race 1

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