COTA Thursday Notebook

Photo: TGRNA

***SRO America teams unloaded at Circuit of The Americas on Thursday for the beginning of track action, which included a pair of test sessions for Toyota GR Cup North America, a session for Pirelli GT4 America and two practices for TC America powered by Skip Barber.

***An incident in GT4 America testing this afternoon involving the No. 37 Dome Motorsport Mercedes-AMG GT4 of Eddie Kileen and Tom Kopczynski’s No. 52 Kellymoss Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport has resulted in the Kellymoss team going to a backup car for the remainder of the weekend.

***The sporting regulations in both GT World Challenge America powered by AWS and Pirelli GT4 America have been adjusted ahead of this weekend’s races. Most notably, the maximum stint length in GTWC America has been changed from 50 to 65 minutes, and extended from 55 to 70 minutes in the event a stint occurs during a full-course caution.

***This change, which now falls in line with SRO Motorsports Group’s global sporting regulations for GT World Challenge, is understood to have closed a loophole where some cars, the Porsche 911 GT3 R Evo in particular, were able to complete the series’ first-ever three hour race at Sonoma Raceway by making only one full-service pit stop, and two stint resets by traveling down the pit lane.

***While the extension of the max stint length could now make it a two-stop race, instead of three pit stops, the minimum drive time remains at 75 minutes, but now time spent traversing the pit lane without completing a pit stop will now be included in the driver’s stint time. As was the case in Sonoma, the time spent during actual pit stops will be excluded.

***Additionally, GTWC America teams will now need to qualify on two sets of new tires for Q1 and Q2, which is another mandate seen in other regional GTWC series.

***In GT4 America, teams must purchase four sets of new tires for each entered car, with only those registered tires permitted to be used in qualifying and races. Tires for practice sessions will not be monitored and may be new or used as carryovers from previous events or tests.

***Another change in GT4 America is that each team’s Driver 1, as declared on the entry list, must start Race 1, instead of previously nominating the starting driver prior to the close of administrative checks.

***There’s also been talk of reverting to two separate qualifying sessions for GT4 America, one for each driver, for the regular two 60-minute format races that will return for the remainder of the season beginning next month at Sebring International Raceway. The Sonoma round only had a single qualifying session, with the grid for Race 2 set by fastest lap in Race 1, a move understood that was aimed to help further streamline the weekend schedule.

***This weekend’s schedule sees only a single 15-minute qualifying session, owing to the fact of it being a lone three-hour race, the third annual Lone Star Enduro, that’s set to take place on Saturday evening.

***The GT4 America grid has increased to 28 cars, with the addition of a third RAFA Racing Toyota GR Supra GT4 EVO2 for Rafael Martinez and Anthony Geraci, who will compete in the Am class. The car was initially not on the pre-event entry list released last week but was planned for some time according to a team spokesperson.

***Several GT4 teams that were present at Sonoma are not here this weekend, however, including LAP Motorsports, Off Leash Motorsports, Rigid Speed and Advance Motorsports. It’s understood the LAP Ford Mustang GT4 is unlikely to be back in the series this year after making its GT4 America debut at Sonoma.

***The Advance McLaren, however, is confirmed to be returning next month at Sebring, with Toyota GR Cup driver Joseph Maley replacing Jonathan Neudorf as Austin Jurs’ co-driver. Neudorf initially put the car on pole for Race 1 at Sonoma before the car was found to be out of technical compliance due to a non-functioning SD card.

***Other changes to the GT4 America entry list include Ron Tomlinson subbing for Laura Hayes in the No. 37 Dome Mercedes-AMG GT4 this weekend. Hayes is expected to be back for the next round at Sebring International Raceway.

***Team owner/co-driver Killeen said: “We’re very pleased to have Ron step in for this weekend. He’s a versatile and experienced driver who understands what it takes to deliver in endurance racing. While we’ll miss having Laura with us, this is a great opportunity to bring Ron into the program, and I’m confident we’ll be competitive in the Am class.”

***Lone Star Racing has two cars present this weekend, but without Emerson Newton-John, who in an interview with another media outlet, claimed to be making his racing return this weekend in a Lone Star Mercedes-AMG GT4. A team spokesperson told Sportscar365 that this was not true.

***Lone Star, however, is fielding two Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evos for the first time, with a GTWC America Am class entry for Marc Austin and Jason Golan and team owner Dan Knox in the SRO3 class of GT America.

***Team manager and technical director AJ Petersen said: “Circuit of The Americas sometimes feels like a second and home and definitely our home track as a Texas team, so running two Mercedes-AMG GT3 entries at COTA for the first time is a bit of a milestone for us. Our goal is a clean, fast and competitive weekend with good results for of our Texas friends, family and supporters.”

***An updated Balance of Performance was released on Wednesday by SRO Motorsports Group, with the only change being a two-liter fuel capacity reduction for the Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2, which is not present this weekend due to Chicago Performance & Tuning Co. unable to find a funded driver to race alongside Mads Siljehaug.

***Compared to Sonoma, the BMW M4 GT3 EVO has a one-liter fuel capacity reduction, along with a three-liter reduction for the Porsche.

***Two GT America entries, Ruckus Racing and HP-TECH Motorsport, has received technical waivers for the weekend, with Ruckus getting permission to use tape as a brake blanking method as the homologated parts are not available from Porsche for this event.

***HP-TECH has two Ferrari 296 GT3s on-site, although its spare car’s complete Evo kit has not arrived in time but is already equipped with the 2026-spec gear stack. The Stewards have given the Tony Davis-driven entry permission to race the spare car, if needed, in the hybrid configuration. This is because the team claims the car needs “special equipment” to change back to a non-Evo gear stack, which is not on site. It’s primary car is in full Evo specification.

***SRO America/USAC chief steward Scot Elkins was named earlier this week as the managing director of officiating by the Independent Officiating Board of IndyCar Officiating. While due to start his new position on May 11, Elkins is understood to only miss one SRO America event this year, Road America, due to the clashing double-header Milwaukee NTT IndyCar Series event.

***Friday’s track action will include opening practice for GTWC America, as well as a pair of practice sessions each for GT4 America, GT America and GR Cup. The second GT4 America practice will run from 7:15-8 p.m. CST, mirroring the finishing time of the Lone Star Enduro on Saturday.

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