Cooper Wins Again; MarcoPolo Dominant in SprintX

Photo: Keith Rizzo/SRO

Michael Cooper returned to victory lane in Sunday’s third and final Pirelli GT4 America Sprint race of the weekend at Road America.

The Blackdog Speed Shop driver, who saw his six-race win streak broken by Spencer Pumpelly on Saturday, came out on top in a late-race duel with Pumpelly.

Cooper got around Pumpelly for the lead with seven minutes to go, crossing the line 0.987 seconds ahead of the No. 66 TRG Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 Clubsport.

It came after starting third on the grid in his No. 10 McLaren 570S GT4.

Drew Staveley, who led the early stages of the 50-minute race, finished third overall and in the Pro class in his Ian Lacy Racing Ford Mustang GT4.

Flying Lizard Motorsports driver Michael Dinan picked up another class win in Am, finishing fourth overall in his Aston Martin Vantage GT4, ahead of Tony Gaples, who completed the top-five overall in the sister Blackdog McLaren GT4.

RESULTS: Race 3

Photo: Fabian Lagunas/SRO

MarcoPolo Dominant in Final GT4 SprintX Race of Weekend

Mads Siljehaug and Nicolai Elghanayan scored a controlling victory from pole in the third and final GT4 SprintX race of the weekend at Road America.

Elghanayan took the No. 71 MarcoPolo Motorsports KTM X-Bow GT4 to a 7.995-second win over the No. 21 Flying Lizard Motorsports Aston Martin Vantage GT4 of Robby Foley, who along with co-driver Michael Dinan, claimed top overall honors on Saturday.

Siljehaug enjoyed an early race fight with the No. 36 Andretti Autosport McLaren 570S GT4 of Jarett Andretti until he faded with a suspected electrical issue, resulting in the car briefly stopping on track.

It gave clear sailing to the KTM duo for overall and Silver class honors, with Foley and Dinan taking the Pro-Am class win for the second consecutive race.

Foley held off the No. 47 Nolasport Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 Clubsport of Jason Hart, who completed the overall podium along with co-driver Matt Travis.

The No. 28 ST Racing BMW M4 GT4 of Nick Wittmer and Harry Gottsacker finished second in Silver and fourth overall, with Kenton Koch and Bryan Putt completing the top-five in Bsport Racing’s Aston Martin GT4.

Zac Anderson and Sean Gibbons, meanwhile, returned to victory lane in the Am class after an early race accident for the No. 16 Rearden Mercedes-AMG GT4 of John Allen.

Allen’s brush with the wall exiting Canada Corner brought out the race’s only full-course caution.

Teams were allowed to select their starting driver after some confusion pre-race on how the grid for Race 3 would be set.

The race served as the make-up round for the second race at Lime Rock Park.

RESULTS: Race 3

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