MarcoPolo Breaks Through; Cooper Wins Again in Somoma

Photo: Regis Lefebure/SRO

Nicolai Elghanayan and Mads Siljehaug broke through to claim their first Pirelli GT4 America SprintX victories following a flag-to-flag run for the MarcoPolo Motorsports KTM X-Bow GT4 in Saturday’s Race 2 at Sonoma Raceway.

The Silver class pairing, who were denied the win on Friday due to turbo-related issues to their car, cruised to a 16.989-second win over the No. 21 Flying Lizard Motorsports Aston Martin Vantage GT4 of Michael Dinan and Robby Foley, which picked up GT4 Pro-Am class honors.

It was Elghanayan’s first GT4 America win since the Canadian Tire Motorsport Park Sprint round last year and Reiter Engineering factory driver Siljehaug’s maiden win on U.S. soil.

Bryan Putt held off a hard-charging Sean Quinlan for third overall and second in Pro-Am in the No. 15 Bsport Aston Martin GT4 that was started by Kenton Koch.

The two cars crossed the line in a near photo-finish in the end.

The No. 47 Nolasport Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 Clubsport of Matt Travis was forced to relinquish third overall in the closing stages of the 60-minute contest because of a drive-through penalty due to missing the pit window.

It was one of a number of cars to be assessed penalties in the incident-filled race.

Travis and co-driver Jason Hart, who claimed top honors on Friday, were relegated to a 9th place finish overall.

GT4 Am class honors went to the No. 16 Rearden Racing Mercedes-AMG GT4 of Kris Wilson and John Allen, which finished 11th overall following an impressive opening stint by Wilson.

The third and final race of the weekend gets underway at 9:30 a.m. PT/12:30 p.m. ET.

RESULTS: Race 2

Photo: Brian Cleary/SRO

Cooper Wins Again in GT4 Sprint Action

Michael Cooper kept to his winning ways, with the Blackdog Speed Shop driver claiming top honors in Saturday’s GT4 Sprint race.

The McLaren Automotive factory driver took his No. 10 McLaren 570S GT4 to a 1.070-second win over the No. 12 Ian Lacy Racing Ford Mustang GT4 of Drew Staveley in the 50-minute contest.

Cooper, who started from pole, led all 28 laps in what marked his fourth consecutive win and five out of seven races so far this season.

He has extended his points lead in the Pro class as a result.

Staveley finished second after getting around the No. 66 TRG Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 Clubsport of Spencer Pumpelly at the start.

Pumpelly completed the overall and Pro class podium, with Jarett Andretti finishing fourth in the No. 18 Andretti Autosport McLaren GT4.

Paul Terry, meanwhile, broke Michael Dinan’s win streak in GT4 Am with a fifth place result overall in his No. 59 Rearden Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT4.

It was Terry’s second class win of the season.

Race 3 closes out the weekend at 3:15 p.m. PT/6:15 p.m. ET on Sunday.

RESULTS: Race 2

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