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Pirelli GT4 America

Coleman Pulls GT4 Entries Over Gold Driver Ballast Rule

Todd Coleman withdraws GT4 America, GT America entries at Circuit of The Americas…

Photo: Brian Cleary/SRO

Todd Coleman has pulled his Aston Martin Vantage GT4s from this weekend’s Pirelli GT4 America and GT America powered by AWS rounds at Circuit of The Americas and has vowed not to return to SRO America due to what he calls a “lack of consistency” in the enforcement of the rulebook.

The Archangel Motorsports-run team was seen packing up its equipment Friday afternoon after series officials confirmed that Coleman’s No. 069 Aston Martin must run with additional ballast due to his co-driver Billy Johnson holding a Gold driver rating from the FIA.

Johnson, Black Swan Racing’s Jeroen Bleekemolen and Will Owen of OGH/Valkyrie Velocity are the only three Gold-rated drivers in the two-driver GT4 America field this weekend.

Per GT4 America sporting regulations, “additional ballast up to 1.5 percent of car’s homologated weight” would be added to any Pro-Am lineups with a Gold-rated driver.

According to the COTA GT4 Balance of Performance table, it would be a 21.67 kg (47 pounds) increase in minimum weight for the Aston Martin.

Sportscar365 understands this was not enforced in last month’s season-opener at Sonoma Raceway but according to Coleman, was implemented mid-event at NOLA Motorsports Park.

“At NOLA, they walked up on Saturday morning after we did testing and setup and said, ‘Hey, you guys were given an extra 60 pounds,” Coleman told Sportscar365.

“We never tested, didn’t set up the car, everything, on the count of [us] running with a Gold driver in GT4 America.

“We dealt with it afterward and the series director came up with a creative way to work around this Gold issue.

“The answer was, for those three drivers, because [the decision] comes out of Europe, they were going to give the [Golds] a [ratings] derogation.

“The answer was, ‘Apply for a derogation and we’ll see what happens.’ So we applied and were told it was good, approved, no problem.

“Then today they come down right before the GT4 America [practice] and say, ‘Your application wasn’t approved for this race. You should apply again next race.’

“There’s a lot of detail, drama and bureaucracy in there. I’ve had multiple conversations with [SRO America President and CEO] Greg Gill. I’ve now talked to him and we were led to believe this was resolved.

“I said, ‘Look, we’re out.’ I’m not going to drive this car. I spend a ton of money to be here.”

Sportscar365 understands that once SRO America publishes a final entry list, no driver rating changes are allowed, with Johnson having been listed as Gold for this event.

Bleekemolen and Owen were also confirmed as Golds.

“In consideration to the derogations request, the series finalized the entry list for the event Thursday, May 18 at 11:31 p.m. CT,” a statement from SRO America read.

“Once the event has started the lowering of the derogations cannot be issued per the following regulations, Article 10.7 and Article 10.12.

“This ultimately brought a conclusion and decision to the research for the request.”

When asked what this means for the rest of his year, Coleman said: “Out of SRO, pivot to IMSA and see what else we’re going to run.

“After the BoP issues last year going into Indy… we were almost going IMSA anyways and it’s not an ego thing, because I’m going to get my ass kicked there, but we can run.

“[IMSA’s] going to upset us too. Not everything’s going to be great. But it’s consistency. This is a lack of consistency.”

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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