RS1 Looking to Continue Form, Could Clinch Title at Barber

Photo: Fred Hardy/SRO

RS1’s Spencer Pumpelly and Luca Mars will be looking to continue their win streak in Pirelli GT4 America competition this weekend at Barber Motorsports Park and could even clinch the Silver class title ahead of next month’s season finale.

The duo in the No. 028 Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport enter Rounds 10 and 11 riding on a seven-race class win streak, even having swept the weekend last time out at Road America while in a spare car borrowed from Nolasport following an accident by Pumpelly in testing.

Pumpelly and Mars hold a 59-point lead over the RAFA Racing Team pairing of Westin Workman and Tyler Gonzalez, and would need to leave Alabama with at least a 50-point advantage over the Toyota GR Supra GT4 EVO2 co-drivers to lock up the championship two races early.

Titles in Pro-Am and Am, however, are not likely to be clinched at Barber.

Random Vandals Racing’s Sam Craven has a 17-point advantage over the Blackdog Racing pairing of Michael Cooper and Tony Gaples, who are on a four-race class win streak in their McLaren Artura GT4.

Craven will be reunited with Kenton Koch this weekend in the No. 94 BMW M4 GT4 EVO, after Koch missed both Road America races due to the birth of his first child.

A sweep of the weekend at Road America has put TechSport Racing’s Frankie Muniz and Tyler Stone in championship conversation in Am, with the pairing in the No. 30 Ford Mustang GT4 having closed the gap to perennial leaders James Clay and James Walker Jr. to just 14 points.

The Random Vandals duo of Denny Stripling and Judson Holt are also not out of the title fight, as they only sit a further six points behind in third.

A total of 31 cars are on the entry list for the penultimate weekend of the season, featuring several returns and a change of entry.

VPX Motorsports and 89x Motorsports will make their first series starts of the season in the Pro-Am and Am classes, respectively, both in Aston Martin Vantage GT4 Evo machinery.

Jaden Harry and Joseph Maley will team up in the VPX entry while Mike Fitzpatrick and Christian Pipas are set in the 89x Aston.

McCumbee McAleer Racing has underwent a driver and number change for one of its Mustang GT4s, with Jenson Altzman now teaming with Carlton MacFarlane in the No. 11 entry.

The Ford Racing Junior Development Team member previously ran with Zachry Lee, who has switched to GT America powered by AWS competition this weekend.

Bryan Herta Autosport’s McLaren will not present due to McLaren Trophy America not being in action, while the Racers Edge Motorsports Aston also not continuing after its debut last time out at Road America.

GT4 America competitors will have a pair of test sessions and opening practice on Thursday, with Practice 2, qualifying and Race 1 (3:30 p.m. CST) all scheduled for Friday. Race 2 is set to get underway Saturday at 1:35 p.m.

Both 60-minute contests will be streamed live on SRO’s GT World YouTube channel.

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