Barber Friday Notebook

Photo: Fabian Lagunas/SRO

***The No. 52 Auto Technic Racing BMW M4 GT4 EVO of Zac Anderson and Colin Garrett is absent from the Pirelli GT4 America grid, despite the presence of its sister No. 53 BMW with Matt Million and Tyler Stone at the wheel. A team spokesperson told Sportscar365 that the program for the No. 52 has been on a “race-by-race” basis this season and that no firm plans for 2026 have been confirmed yet.

***Sportscar365 understands budgets may have played a role in the entry’s absence, although no official reason for the No. 52 BMW’s lack of participation was given and remains unclear whether Anderson and Garrett, who sat fourth in the Silver class drivers’ standings prior to this weekend’s triple-header in Alabama, will be present for the season finale at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

***The No. 07 Skip Barber Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT4 will compete in Barber Race 1 on Saturday with a single driver, as Alex Garcia is not able to attend the race due to force majeure. Michael Garcia, therefore, will drive the car solo in the race but will have a five-second time penalty added during the car’s pit stop as a result. Alex Garcia, meanwhile, is due to be back for Race 2 on Sunday but the car will start from the back of the grid due to not being able to set a qualifying time for Race 2.

***The car started Friday’s Road America Makeup race some five minutes late due to a fuel delivery problem.

***The No. 20 FAST MD with Remstar Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II of Farhan Siddiqi has been approved to race in this weekend’s pair of GT America powered by AWS rounds despite not having the car’s homologated wheel well louvers, which are currently unavailable due to a supply issue, which was verified by the stewards.

***Additionally, another GTA competitor, the No. 32 GMG Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R of Kyle Washington, has been given approval to run the GTWC America-spec data logger system in GTA since the team is using the same car in both series this weekend due to chassis damage sustained on Washington’s GTA car at Road America.

***After running a Mustang GT3 sticker on the Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT3 EVO it was lent for Road America Race 2, Dollahite Racing is recognizing Turner’s generosity by placing a Turner BMW sticker on its newly built Ford Mustang GT3 this weekend as it chases the Am class title.

***Scott Dollahite confirmed to Sportscar365 that Proton Competition FIA World Endurance Championship pilot Stefano Gattuso, who drove for the team at Sebring International Raceway, will return for next month’s Indianapolis 8 Hour as Dollahite Racing’s third driver alongside Dollahite and Eric Powell in the No. 6 Ford Mustang GT3 as it battles for the Am class championship.

***GMG Racing, meanwhile, is currently in talks with Porsche for its third driver for the season finale according to team principal James Sofronas, who indicated that they’ve narrowed down the selection to two Porsche-contracted drivers.

***Sofronas confirmed that GMG will return to a two-car McLaren Trophy America operation at Indianapolis, with the addition of a new entry for customer Randy Highland. It’s understood a third McLaren Artura Trophy Evo is also currently available for the Indy season finale, with three more of the single-make cars set to arrive at the team’s state-of-the-art base at The Thermal Club in the next month.

***Sofronas, meanwhile, told Sportscar365 that he’s targeting 3-4 full season McLaren Trophy entries for next season.

***Despite having dedicated operations for each series, Heart of Racing Team, as a whole, is arguably the busiest team over the next seven weeks. The Ian James-led squad is split up this weekend between Barber with its GTWC America and GT4 America programs and Circuit of The Americas in the WEC Hypercar and LMGT3 ranks this weekend before James, Zach Robichon and Alex Riberas head to Japan for next weekend’s Suzuka 1000km in a Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo run by SPS automotive performance.

***Heart of Racing will then contest the six-hour Battle on the Bricks at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Sept. 19-21 with Aston Martins in both the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship GTP and GTD classes, before returning to Japan for the penultimate WEC race of the season, also with a dual-class effort. The team will then have one weekend off before Motul Petit Le Mans and the Indianapolis 8 Hour, on back-to-back weekends.

***James, who typically attends all SRO America events, is not on-site this weekend as he is competing in Sunday’s Lone Star Le Mans race at COTA.

***Mercedes-AMG holds a narrow lead from Porsche and BMW with seven rounds remaining in the global GT World Challenge, with the pair of 90-minute races at Barber, as well as the GT World Challenge Australia powered by AWS event at The Bend Motorsports Park, also this weekend, counting towards the global manufacturer-based championship. Just three points separate the top two manufacturers, with BMW only 39 points off the lead.

***Sportscar365 understands that Thunder Bunny Racing is in the process of plotting a potential program expansion for 2026. The team stepped up to pro racing for the first time this year, running a single BMW M4 GT4 EVO for Allen Patten and Laura Hayes. Patten told Sportscar365 that regardless if an expansion comes to fruition, he and Hayes would continue in one car.

***Patten said the team is currently exploring options for adding customers in various SRO America-run series. “Our doors are open,” he said. “We’d love to bring on another car and another customer, whether it’s GT4 or GR Cup. That looks like a really fun series. We love the Toyota guys, so if we get to work with them again, it’d be a good thing.”

***Like fellow PT Autosport-backed driver Alex Sedgwick, Max Stallone, who took over the team’s GR Cup entry mid-season, is racing at Barber for the first time this weekend.

***Stallone said: “I do a lot of iRacing, that’s probably the number one thing you can do to get a feel for the flow of the track. The Toyota GR86 is on iRacing so you can get a pretty good idea of what to expect. From there, it’s talking to other drivers on the team, or Dean Copeland, or (PT Autosport driver) Henry Drury, since he’s been there and driven it. Add a great deal of simulator work – no, it can’t replicate the g-forces at Barber, but it gives you a good idea of how the corners flow together. That helps you get up to speed much more quickly.”

***Competitive action at Barber on Saturday kicks off with GT America Race 1 at 11:55 a.m. CST, followed by the first GTWC America round of the weekend at 3 p.m. and the first originally scheduled GT4 America race from Barber at 4:50 p.m. All three races will be streamed live on SRO’s GT World YouTube channel and on Twitch, with commentary from Ryan Myrehn and Calvin Fish in the booth and Amanda Busick on pit lane.

***The first round of Toyota GR Cup, meanwhile, is set for a 1:40 p.m. start time, with the commentary team of Kyle Heyer and DJ Clark in the booth and Busick on pit lane, which can also be streamed on SRO’s GT World YouTube channel as well as GRCup.com.

Jonathan Grace contributed to this report

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