Murillo Breaks Nolasport’s Overall Win Streak at VIR

Photo: Brian Cleary/SRO

Murillo Racing has broken Nolasport’s four-race overall win streak in Pirelli GT4 America competition, with the Silver class pairing of Kenny Murillo and Christian Szymczak coming out on top in the first race of the weekend at Virginia International Raceway.

Szymczak took his No. 72 Mercedes-AMG GT4 to a 2.532-second victory over the No. 47 Nolasport Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 Clubsport of Jason Hart, who along with Matt Travis still picked up Pro-Am class honors with their result.

Hart held off a hard-charging Gregory Liefooghe and Brandon Davis for their fifth consecutive class win.

While having started on pole, Travis lost the top spot to the No. 11 Classic BMW M4 GT4 of Stevan McAleer early on and ultimately faded to third prior to the mid-race pit stop and driver changes.

Toby Grahovec maintained Classic BMW’s lead through the stops although quickly came under attack by Szymczak, who got around Grahovec with 13 minutes left on the clock.

Grahovec faded to fifth overall at the line, behind the late charges by both the Liefooghe-driven No. 119 Stephen Cameron Racing BMW and Davis’ No. 59 WR Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT4.

The No. 66 TRG Porsche of Spencer Pumpelly and Derek DeBoer finished sixth overall and fourth in Pro-Am, meanwhile.

Am class honors went to the No. 68 Smooge Racing Toyota GR Supra GT4 of Kevin Conway and John Geesbreght in a near photo finish at the line between Conway and second placed Andrew Wikstrom.

Race 2 for GT4 America competitors is scheduled for Sunday at 11:10 a.m. ET.

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