Staveley Holds Off Cooper for Sprint Race 1 Win

Photo: Regis Lefebure/SRO

Drew Staveley claimed victory in the penultimate round of the Pirelli GT4 America Sprint season Thursday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

The Ian Lacy Racing driver took his No. 12 Ford Mustang GT4 to a 0.644-second win over newly crowned champion Michael Cooper in the No. 10 Blackdog Speed Shop McLaren 570S GT4, who finished second.

While having started second on the grid, Staveley got around pole-sitter Matt Travis at he drop of the green and controlled the remainder of the 50-minute race, despite a late-race challenge from the McLaren Automotive factory driver.

It marked Staveley’s second win of the season.

The No. 48 Nolasport Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 Clubsport of Travis, making a cameo appearance in GT4 Sprint this weekend, completed the overall podium and claimed Am class honors.

Travis passed the No. 18 Andretti Autosport McLaren of Jarett Andretti for third overall in the closing minutes of the race, surviving an incident-filled race for third position overall on-back.

It included contact on Lap 2 between Am class champion-elect Michael Dinnan and the No. 99 RecStuff Racing Mercedes-AMG GT4 of Jeff Courtney that resulted in the race’s only safety car period.

Travis, meanwhile, received a warning from race control after he made contact with the No. 59 Rearden Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT4 of Paul Terry while battling for the class lead on Lap 9.

Terry was involved in another incident just a few laps later after contact with the No. 79 Mercedes GT4 of Christopher Gumprecht. 

The Rearden driver, however, finished second in class and fifth overall, followed by the No. 119 Stephen Cameron Racing BMW M4 GT4 of Sean Quinlan, who completed the Am class podium.

Erin Vogel, who was subbing for Tony Gaples in the No. 11 Blackdog McLaren, finished seventh overall and fourth in class.

The season-ending round gets underway Friday at 12:35 p.m. EDT.

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