Conquest West Breaks Through; Hart, Travis Clinch Pro-Am Title

Photo: Regis Lefebure/SRO

Colin Mullan and Michai Stephens have broken through to claim victory in the first Pirelli GT4 America race of the weekend at Sebring International Raceway, which saw Nolasport’s Matt Travis and Jason Hart clinch the Pro-Am class title.

Mullan drove his Silver class No. 35 Conquest Racing West Mercedes-AMG GT4 to a 6.720-second victory over Hart in the category-winning No. 47 Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 Clubsport.

He took the overall lead with 16 minutes to go with a pass on the pole-sitting No. 11 Classic BMW M4 GT4 of Toby Grahovec, which led from the drop of the green flag in the hands of Stevan McAleer.

Mullan and Stephens won in only their fifth start in series’ competition.

Grahovec and McAleer settled for a fifth place finish overall after fading during the second half of the race, with the No. 54 Black Swan Racing Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 Clubsport of Jeroen Bleekemolen and Christian Szymczak’s Murillo Racing Mercedes both getting by in the closing minutes.

With the No. 52 Auto Technic Racing BMW of John Capestro-Dubets getting a drive-through penalty for not meeting the minimum pit lane delta during the mid-race stops and the No. 15 BSport Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT4 of Kenton Koch finishing fifth in class, it gave Travis and Hart enough of a points lead to not be surpassed with three races still to go.

It marked Travis and Hart’s first title in GT4 America competition after losing out on the championship in the last two seasons.

Al Carter, meanwhile, made a late-race pass on Jon Berry to take Am class honors for Random Vandals Racing and co-driver Paul Sparta in their BMW.

Carter finished two seconds clear of Berry, who was a last-minute fill-in for John Allen in the No. 16 Capstone Motorsports Mercedes. 

A third place class finish for Kevin Conway and John Geesbreght was enough for the Smooge Racing Toyota GR Supra GT4 duo to clinch the Am class title, also three races early.

Race 2 gets underway Sunday at 10:30 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