Road America Thursday Notebook

Photo: Fabian Lagunas/SRO

***SRO America teams began on-track activity at Road America on Thursday, which included both practice sessions for Pirelli GT4 America, as well as single sessions for Toyota GR Cup North America and McLaren Trophy America.

***The 24 cars officially entered for Sunday’s GT World Challenge America powered by AWS round marks the largest series grid, outside of the joint Intercontinental GT Challenge rounds at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca and Indianapolis Motor Speedway, since 2017, back when the flagship series was known as Pirelli World Challenge and featured single-driver sprint races.

***Spencer Pumpelly had a rare driver error that led to an accident in Turn 3 in Thursday morning’s GT4 America test session. The Silver class points-leading RS1 squad, which is on a five-race class win streak dating back to the Lone Star Enduro at Circuit of The Americas, has borrowed Nolasport’s spare Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport for the remainder of the weekend due to the extent of the damage to its primary car.

***While missing Practice 1, the Justin Bellinzoni-led team impressively got the loaned Porsche, still in Nolasport’s colors, on track for second practice, which saw Luca Mars set the 16th quickest time overall.

***The GT4 America field is down by one, from 33 cars on the initial entry list, with the No. 52 Kellymoss Porsche of Tom Kopczynski and Eric Filgueiras withdrawn due to personal reasons for Kopczynski. Riley Dickinson, meanwhile, has been a last-minute substitute for Paul Bocuse in the No. 73 Kellymoss Porsche due to college commitments for Bocuse, who is enrolled at Florida Atlantic University.

***Additionally, the No. 10 ACI Motorsports entry is now a BMW M4 GT4 EVO, with Ross Poole back in action alongside Muzaffar Gafurov. It now means the Curt Swearingin-owned squad will be fielding two Porsches and BMWs apiece. The team’s No. 10 BMW has received a waiver to run without the mandated tire pressure monitoring system for this weekend due to the manufacturer-specific item not currently being available.

***Christian Bach, who has teamed up with Billy Johnson in the No. 54 Racers Edge Motorsports Aston Martin Vantage GT4 Evo, has been derogated from FIA Silver rating to Bronze* this weekend, which thus allows the car to compete in the Pro-Am class.

***Two GT America entries have dropped off from the pre-event entry list, with Rodin Younessi not present with his No. 16 AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo and CJ Moses unable to make the trip to Road America to compete in his No. 58 Random Vandals Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo.

***Longtime motorsports executive and official Tim Mayer will be deputizing for Scot Elkins beginning tomorrow as Chairman of the Stewards for the remainder of the weekend, with Elkins off to The Milwaukee Mile in his role as the managing director of officiating for the Independent Officiating Board of IndyCar Officiating.

***Mayer, a former longtime FIA and Formula 1 steward, was most recently in the spotlight last year for his FIA presidential bid against incumbent Mohammed Ben Sulayem, who introduced and passed statute changes that critics argue were designed to block or severely restrict rival candidates from challenging him in elections.

***Philip Ellis, who has been confirmed for the remainder of the season in the No. 27 CRP Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo following his and Jason Daskalos’ overall win last time out at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta, admitted he’s “personally not a fan” of the new-for-2026 single three-hour race format.

***Ellis and then-co-driver Jeff Burton captured several overall wins with Regulator Racing in the previous double 90-minute race format that saw the team famously opt for a reverse driver strategy. “I think I preferred the two sprint races because you could go offset with strategy, which we loved doing,” Ellis told Sportscar365. “That was always a lot of fun.”

***HP-TECH Motorsports’ foray into GTWC America competition has been confirmed for both this weekend and at Barber Motorsports Park, with the team set to continue fielding Tony Davis in GT America powered by AWS with a separate Ferrari chassis.

***Team owner Jorge Herrera said: “This is a very important step for our team HP-TECH as we keep growing our operation. I am so proud to see our long-time driver Tony Davis not just being successful in GT America, but now taking an even bigger step in his racing career. On our pro driver Scott Andrews, the team is very confident that Scott will bring the extra speed we need to be competitive.”

***Blackdog Racing, which swept the GT4 America Pro-Am weekend last time out at Road Atlanta, including an overall victory in Race 1, came as team owner/driver Tony Gaples recorded his 273rd and 274th career SRO America starts, surpassing James Sofronas in all-time starts. Co-driver Michael Cooper, meanwhile, tied Peter Cunningham on 43 career wins, with Cooper having the chance to become the all-time leader in SRO America wins this weekend.

***The Chicagoland-based team meanwhile, scored its 47th and 48th GT4/GTS class wins, the most of any entrant in the category, which has moved Gaples and Cooper into third place in the Pro-Am drivers’ championship, ahead of the team’s home race.

***Gaples said: “Coming to Road America is always special. Coming off a big weekend at Road Atlanta, we have a lot of momentum. I don’t think we can get back in the championship but we can keep on winning races. Getting one of those this weekend will be important for Michael to move into first by himself in career wins. He’s the best teammate I could have and deserves all of the success that he’s earned.”

***SRO America will again host its annual GT Parade and Welcome Party in downtown Elkhart Lake at the Siebkens Resort from 5-8 p.m. local time. The free-of-charge welcome party, which is mandatory for all entrants, will feature a full field race car parade, live music, supercar display, autograph session, as well as food and drinks.

***Friday’s action will include the first race of the weekend, with GT4 America Race 1 taking taking the green at 3 p.m. CST (Live, SRO’s GT World YouTube channel), followed by opening practice for GTWC America, with two rounds of GT America practice sessions earlier in the day, as well as additional practice for GR Cup and McLaren Trophy.

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