Let’s get you up to speed with the major headlines from a packed Saturday and Sunday at GT World Road Atlanta.

 

Brayden Arthur making a statement at Road Atlanta Photo Courtesy: Andrew Miterko/Andrew Miterko Photography LLC/SRO Motorsports Group

TC America: One Man Show

Brayden Arthur sweeps the TC America weekend winning both races from pole position. Behind Arthur, Dean Lambros would make a power move from 5th to 3rd in Turn 2. Unfortunately, teammate Logan Anderson had no such luck as he crawled to a halt in the esses. The stationary Integra TC would bring out the race’s only full-course yellow.

The best battle to note was Arthur’s teammate Jesse Dorkin and Fawn Group’s Shelby Mills. The two put on a clean battle through the race…for the most part. The cleanliness would end with Dorkin making a mistake going into the esses with nine and a half minutes remaining. While recovering, an opportunistic Mills runs into Dorkin, spinning him into the Turn 5 gravel trap. Dorkin was able to get out and keep moving. Concurrently, Mills would receive a drive-thru penalty for his move.

Back at the front, Arthur was unbothered in his own zip code taking victory by 4.6 seconds over Dean Lambros. Justin Gravett would round out the podium. Andre Castro finishes fourth and maintains his point lead, but his advantage was drastically cut to just ten points.

 

A very historic weekend for the drivers of the No. 33 Blackdog Racing McLaren Photo Courtesy: Fred Hardy/SRO Motorsports Group

Pirelli GT4 America: Cooper Equals Cunningham

Saturday afternoon’s Race 2 in Pirelli GT4 America turned out to be a historic occasion. Michael Cooper picked up right where left off Friday in the No. 33 Blackdog Racing McLaren Artura – at the front of the field. Cooper led the field into Turn 1 from the green. As the rest of the field had intriguing battles, Cooper eased away out front. In his 23-lap stint, he amassed a sixteen second lead before handing over to Tony Gaples.

Shortly after the pit window, the sole full course yellow of the race came out when Judson Holt smacked the wall at the top of Turn 2 while trying to avoid the Bryan Herta Autosport McLaren of Alessandro Chiocchetti. Holt would get down the hill before the damage grounded his Random Vandals BMW to a halt.

On the restart, Spencer Pumpelly pulled off a three-wide move on the two Pro-Am vehicles ahead of him to pull the No. 028 RS1 Porsche into the overall lead of the race. As Pumpelly streaked away, Matt Travis had misfortune in the esses. The Nolasport Porsche spun in the esses and made contact with the wall with fourteen minutes remaining. Despite the damage, Travis was able to get back going and continue on.

Pumpelly was uncontested for the remainder of the race to grab overall victory for he and Luca Mars, sweeping the weekend in the Silver class. Behind them in second, Gaples held off a late charge from Sam Craven to claim Pro-Am victory for Blackdog Racing. With the win, Michael Cooper scored his 43rd win in SRO America competition, tying the record for most victories with Peter Cunningham.

Finally, it’s another weekend sweep as the Garcia brothers – Michael and Alex – scored the Am win for the ACI Motorsports BMW finishing eighth overall.

 

Start of Race 2 for McLaren Trophy America Photo Courtesy: Fabian Lagunas/Lagunas Photography/SRO Motorsports Group

McLaren Trophy America

Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta brought us Rounds four and five of the McLaren Trophy America Season.

Race 1

Jeff Cook led the field away from Pole Position, but got a drive-thru penalty for jumping the start. At the end of Lap 1, Scott Sobaro spun in the chicane and Edmond Barseghian collided having nowhere to go. But that wasn’t end for Barseghian as the bonnet for his No. 11 RWE Motorsport McLaren flew off on the backstretch leading to the race’s only full course yellow.

The No. 24 Forte Racing duo of Patrick Liddy and Tanner Harvey controlled the race early. Liddy led up to the pit stop, gave the wheel to Harvey and returned to action with a sizeable lead.

Lap 30

Buckle up for Lap 30. Here we go. First, for context, Forte held a massive twelve second lead with fifteen minutes to go. By lap 30, that lead was gone.

Kevin Madsen would take the lead away from Harvey on the backstretch. Only for his RPM by Forte No. 53 entry suffer a mechanical problem at Turn 11 under the bridge. Harvey would reassume the lead again…for only seconds. Meanwhile, Bryson Morris in the Bryan Herta Autosport (BHA) entry was fourth at the start of the lap. He passed Cooper Broll on the backstretch to move up to third. Then, Madsen’s issued promoted Morris to second. Finally, at Turn 3 on Lap 31, Morris sent it in on Harvey to take the lead. Fourth to first in less than a lap.

On Lap 32, a heartbreaking end for both Harvey and Broll. First, Broll – who had the Am lead in the bag – brought the car to a halt on the backstretch. Then Harvey on the run to Turn 6 lost pace and crawled back to the pits.

At the checkered flag, Morris and co-driver Daniel Hanley scored victory in the No. 98 in the debut race in McLaren Trophy America for BHA. Oliver Webb and Ryan Webb topped Pro-Am in their Greystone GT prepared No. 22 while Fabio Grecco inherited the Am class win in the OMS No. 15.

Race 2

Michael O’Brien scored the Pole in his No. 7 GMG-prepared Artura, leading Saturday winner Bryson Morris to green. O’Brien led the field into Turn 1 at the start of Sunday’s fifty-minute contest. It was not a good turn one for Johnny O’Connell as his No. 29 Flying Lizard spun off track, but was able to rebound and keep going.

All was quiet until Lap 11 when Keegan Massey had a heavy shunt at Turn 12 in the No. 812 RAFA Racing machine. Keegan walked away uninjured but brought out the full course yellow. During the lengthy yellow, the field made their compulsory pit stop. After a sixteen-minute yellow period to repair the tire barriers, the field was unleashed again. At the restart, it was another GMG entry leading in the form of the No. 5 with Jeff Cook.

Cook, in the Am class, held his nerve to hold off a hard-charging Patrick Liddy to score the overall win for he and co-driver Deniz Teoman by less than half a second. Talk about a full circle moment. Liddy, and teammate Tanner Harvey, who started seventeenth couldn’t quite get all the way to the front. But they did earn a Pro class victory for their troubles. Rounding out our winners are Spencer Schmidt and Cody Kishel. An eleventh overall finish for the No. 47 RWE Motorsport team was tops in the Pro-Am category.

 

Start of Race 2 for GT America Photo Courtesy: Andrew Miterko/Andrew Miterko Photography LLC/SRO Motorsports Group

GT America

Race 1

Round 7 of GT America was all Memo Gidley. Stop me if you have heard this headline before. The SKI Motorsports Audi driver started from pole and ran away at the start of the forty-minute sprint. Behind Gidley, a highlight battle was Kyle Washington vs Joel Cortes. Washington and his GMG-prepped Porsche worked his way up to fifth. Trying to pass Scott Blind for fourth, he ran it wide at the exit of Turn 7 on Lap 13 with some extended off-road action. While off road, the Mexican in the RS1 Porsche worked his way around. This order would stay until Lap 18 when Washington made the pass back into fifth.

Gidley, whose lead to the rest of the field peaked at eight seconds, scored the win by four seconds. Tony Davis and Marc Muzzo in their Ferraris round out the podium. David Lecko and Lawrence Tomlinson scored de facto victories in the Cup and GT2 classes respectively. Over in GT4, Jason Bell in his Racers Edge Aston Martin scored the win after an early retirement from Craig Lumsden.

Race 2

Sunday’s Race 2 started under overcast skies. No sooner than the race went under the green, the first drops of rain began to fall. Fortunately, the rain was not substantial and the forty-minute race was run unaffected by weather. Unfortunately, for everyone else on track, they (still) had no answers for Memo Gidley. Gidley and his No. 56 SKI Motorsports Audi washed, rinsed and repeated his Saturday performance – going wire-to-wire and winning by 4.8 seconds at the flag. For Gidley, Sunday was his seventh win in eight races so far this season. Tony Davis repeated his runner-up from Saturday while Joel Cortes rounded out the podium. David Lecko (Cup), Lawrence Tomlinson (GT2) and Jason Bell (GT4) also swept their respective class victories this weekend.

 

Start of Race 2 for Toyota GR Cup North America Photo Courtesy: Fred Hardy/SRO Motorsports Group

Toyota GR Cup North America

Rounding out our on-track notebook this weekend is the doubleheader for Toyota GR Cup North America.

Race 1

Jeremy Fletcher led the field into Turn 1 from Pole Position, but did not make it back to lead Lap 1. From third, championship leader Spike Kohlbecker cleared Fletcher to the lead at the exit of Turn 10B. The loss of momentum from Kohlbecker’s pass would send Fletcher back to fifth position.

Lap 6 would see the first full course yellow when Robert Mosteller got sideways going through Turn 7 and sailed through the grass into the tire barrier. The contact resulted in loose body panels from the No. 24 Toyota. Not the imprint the rookie was hoping to make in his GR Cup debut. The restart would not see the field green for long as Liam Harrison lost control and found the wall at the exit of Turn 5.

After a quick yellow, the field was back to green again. Just like the opening stint, Kohlbecker was getting into his bearing and starting to gap the field. As soon as he hit the one second gap on Lap 13, full course yellow number three came out when Massimo Sunseri crashed out at Turn 1.

The restart would see Parker DeLong try to seize the moment and attack Kohlbecker. Kohlbecker held off the charge and again pulled away and sailed away to a 3.3 second lead when the race was slowed one final time for good. Ethan Ayers ended up in the wall at the brow exiting Turn 5.

Spike Kohlbecker collects his fifth win of the season over Jeremy Fletcher in second with Parker DeLong rounding out the podium.

Race 2

Spike Kohlbecker started Sunday where he finished Saturday, in P1. Kohlbecker led away from green, but Will Robusto had an eye-opening moment. The No. 2 machine got loose through the esses, but exceptional car control kept him pointed straight on the road. Additionally, he would pass Jeremy Fletcher for second before Lap 1 is over.

Robusto would not be done yet as he caught and pass Kohlbecker at the end of Lap 2 to assume the lead. The attacks were not done on Kohlbecker yet as on Lap 4, he would lose out to Parker DeLong and Fletcher falling back to fourth. The bleeding would stop as the yellow would be deployed due to Ethan Goulart stopping on the backstretch. The Brazilian suffered mechanical issues which would take him out for the remainder of the day.

On the restart, Ethan Ayers got inside Kohlbecker in Turn 10B and made the pass on the leader with a little bit of contact. Smelling blood in the water, his competitors pounced sending him back to seventh. Attempting to regain momentum and take back sixth from Malbec Ramos, the two collided in the esses. Both men ended up in the tire barriers, their races over instantly and the yellow deployed for the second time.

During the repairs to the tires at the esses, the inclement weather roared in. The winds picked up and the rain began pouring down. For safety reasons, race control called the race with twelve minutes remaining. Will Robusto scores his first win of the season. Parker DeLong and Jeremy Fletcher round out the podium, switching their positions from Saturday.

Despite the crash, Kohlbecker leaves Road Atlanta with a 45-point lead in the championship.

Summer Break

The series of the SRO America programme now can relax for a “summer vacation” of sorts as they will be off for the next ten weeks. All five series will reconvene at Road America August 28-30.

Headline Photo: SRO America Paddock on Saturday Photo Courtesy: Fabian Lagunas/Lagunas Photography/SRO Motorsports Group