Road America Saturday Notebook

Photo: John Dagys

***The No. 94 Random Vandals Racing BMW M4 GT4 EVO was stripped of its second place Pro-Am class finish and fourth place overall result in Friday’s GT4 America Race 1. The car that featured class points leader Sam Craven and Thomas Merrill, who was filling in for Kenton Koch, was moved to last place and with no points awarded due to part that was running in “non-homologated condition.”

***It put Craven with a 38-point lead over Blackdog Racing’s Michael Cooper and Tony Gaples in the championship battle prior to this afternoon’s second race, with the gap following the weekend provisionally reduced to just 17 points after Craven’s race-ending accident.

***A flurry of post-race penalties from Race 2 further shuffled the finishing order, with the revised results yet to be released at the time of publishing this report.

***The No. 7 ACI Motorsports Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport Yves Baltas and Jimmy Llibre, which initially finished second overall and in the Silver class, was given a drive-through penalty equivalent of 52 seconds for making a false restart, with the same infraction handed to Kris Wilson for his incident with the No. 72 RAFA Racing Team Toyota GR Supra GT4 EVO2 of Anthony Geraci while battling for the Am class win.

***The Silver class No. 98 Random Vandals BMW of Bruno Colombo was handed a five-second post-race time penalty for causing a collision with the No. 51 AutoTechnic Racing BMW of Francis Selldorff, while Billy Johnson was docked two behavioral penalty points for causing a collision at pit entry that also included a 52-second penalty added post-race.

***While RS1’s Spencer Pumpelly and Luca Mars, who scored their seventh consecutive Silver class win, extended their margin to a nearly insurmountable 61 points, BimmerWorld’s James Clay and James Walker Jr. now have only a 14-point advantage in the Am championship over the TechSport Ford duo of Frankie Muniz and Tyler Stone, who swept the weekend in class.

***The GT World Challenge America powered by AWS Pro class championship-leading No. 34 JMF Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo was back on track on Saturday after the team, along with a Mercedes-AMG engineer solved the car’s gear issue from Practice 1. The gremlin was related to the gear selector barrel according to a Mercedes-AMG spokesperson.

***JMF’s sister No. 27 Mercedes-AMG, meanwhile, sat out both practice sessions on Saturday as it awaited a new engine following Friday’s comprehensive failure on the front straight when Philip Ellis was at the wheel.

***The spare engine arrived in the early afternoon after being sent by a courier from Multimatic’s facility in Mooresville, N.C. last night, with the car having been taken to nearby Wolf Motorsports for further work that will include replacing the powerplants.

***Multimatic serves as the official North American parts and support partner for Mercedes-AMG.

***The No. 6 Dollahite Racing Ford Mustang GT3 EVO will be equipped with an “alternate part” on its car tomorrow, per a stewards’ decision to approve the request as the original component, which has not been publicly disclosed, is unavailable. Cameron Lawrence set the 11th quickest time overall in Practice 2, which was the only representative GTWC America practices session today.

***David Lecko went to Team LNT’s spare Ginetta GTP8 chassis following his GT America Practice 2 session-ending accident at The Kink on Friday that resulted in significant damage to his No. 89 RacingSupport entry. Lecko is again the only Cup class competitor this weekend.

***The No. 64 Chicago Performance and Tuning Co. Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 encountered suspension issues in the second GTWC America practice session, which forced Nicolai Elghanayan to pull off track. While the car was quickly repaired, the team opted not to take part in the rain-soaked final practice due to the conditions. Only half of the 24 entered cars in fact took to the track.

***Practice 2 also saw the No. 50 Chouest Povoledo Racing Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R of Aaron Povoledo pull off course. The team was fined $1,000, with $500 suspended subject to compliance with access requirements for the remainder of the season, after stewards determined that a crew member passed the spectator fencing and entered the track area while the car was being recovered.

***Adding insult to injury, Ross Chouest was fined $500 for having incorrect driver safety equipment, with a warning also given to “correct prior to further participation.”

***Reprimands, meanwhile, where given to both the No. 22 Copeland Motorsports Toyota GR 86 Cup and No. 812 RAFA Racing Team McLaren Artura Trophy EVO teams for their cars having been reported to have been driven on public roads during curfew hours, which was deemed to have been “potentially dangerous.”

***Numerous cars, including the No. 34 JMF Mercedes-AMG, were allowed a hardship lap on Saturday morning, which is performed in a controlled on-track setting.

***Jon Miller was a late substitute for Neil Langberg in the No. 53 Relapsing Polychondritis Motorsports/Forte Racing McLaren that Miller manages in Saturday’s McLaren Trophy America race, which moved the Pro-Am entry into a Pro “guest” class. Miller, who was forced to start 18th on the grid, and Kevin Madsen combined to finish third overall.

***Kellymoss driver Erika Hoffmann is hosting a group of guests from Big Brothers and Big Sisters of America this weekend to help showcase the career opportunities in motorsports. Members of the youth organization were introduced to numerous people and roles in a race weekend, including members of SRO America broadcast and PR team.

***Hoffmann said: “I first became connected with Big Brothers Big Sisters through Terrance Williams, President and CEO of TruStage, and a national board member at Big Brothers Big Sisters of America. Together, we saw an opportunity to use motorsport to create a memorable experience for the Littles and introduce them to new careers, possibilities, and people who can inspire them.”

***Muniz, who claimed his first professional race win in Friday’s GT4 America race, before backing it up on Saturday with a weekend sweep, revealed that his five-year-old son prefers SRO America racing than to NASCAR, where the Hollywood star spends the majority of his time in Craftsman Truck Series competition.

***He told Sportscar365: “My son came to the race at Road Atlanta and it’s all he talks about now. He’s like, ‘You have to race the GT4’ because he sees the different manufacturers and the cars, he just really likes it.”

***Muniz said that he’ll miss qualifying for the season-ending round at Indianapolis Motor Speedway due to the Truck Series race at Charlotte Motor Speedway that Friday evening, although he anticipates to be able to take part in both 60-minute races in what’s now turned into a championship pursuit in the Am class of GT4 America.

***The Ginetta G56 GT2 will not be present at the next round at Barber Motorsports Park due to previous commitments for Ginetta chairman Lawerence Tomlinson, who confirmed they’ll be back for the Indianapolis season finale.

***”For Cedric” stickers are on both AF Corse Ferraris this weekend, in tribute to Cedric Sbirrazzuoli, who passed away last week at the age of 39 after a battle with cancer. Sbirrazzuoli had been a regular competitor with the Amato Ferrari-owned organization, while also racing for multiple Lamborghini and Ferrari teams in North America.

***Sunday’s action will see GTWC America qualifying at 9:10 a.m. CST, with the three-hour race set to take the green flag at 2 p.m. CST. Races 2 for GT America, Toyota GR Cup North America and McLaren Trophy America are also on tap, with all of the action to be streamed live on SRO’s GT World YouTube channel.

***FS1 coverage of the Road America weekend will air on Sun. Sept. 6 at 11:30 a.m. EST, as a lead-in to the Indy NXT race at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca next weekend.

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