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Pirelli GT4 America

Auto Technic BMW Dominates Opening Race at COTA

John Capestro Dubets, Zac Anderson pick up dominant win at COTA…

Photo: Brian Cleary/SRO

Auto Technic Racing has claimed a controlling win in the opening Pirelli GT4 America race of the weekend at Circuit of The Americas, with John Capestro Dubets and Zac Anderson taking their second consecutive overall victory.

Capestro Dubets drove the No. 51 BMW M4 GT4 to a 10.050-second win over the No. 34 Conquest Racing/JMF Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT4 of Michai Stevens and Jesse Webb, thanks to a late charge by Stevens.

Stevens got around the No. 88 STR38 Racing BMW of Chandler Hull in the closing moments of the 60-minute contest, which saw a heated battle for the final two podium positions.

Having started on pole, the No. 74 Copeland Motorsports Toyota GR Supra GT4 EVO of Tyler Maxson lost the lead to Anderson prior to an opening lap caution for a multi-car incident in Turn 1.

Anderson bridged out to a four-second lead following the restart and mid-race pit stop and driver change to Capestro Dubets, who doubled the advantage over the competition in the second stanza.

STR38’s Hull and co-driver Jon Miller completed the Silver class and overall podium in third.

Maxson and Tyler Gonzalez came home in fifth overall, behind the No. 92 Random Vandals Racing BMW of Kenton Koch, who was interlocked in a back-and-forth battle with Gonzalez for fourth.

Contact between Jason Hart and Colin Garrett opened the door for John Geesbreght to take the Pro-Am class lead and eventual win in the No. 68 Smooge Racing Toyota.

Geesbreght shared driving duties with Kevin Conway.

Garrett and Johan Schwartz finished second in class in their Rooster Hall Racing BMW, with the No. 47 Nolasport Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport of Hart and Matt Travis completing the class podium.

Am class honors, meanwhile, went to the No. 438 STR38 BMW of Robert Mau and Chris Allen, who combined to finish 12th overall.

The second race of the weekend is set for Sunday at 10:50 a.m. CT with live coverage on SRO’s GT World YouTube page.

RESULTS: Race 1

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

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