NOLAsport’s Jason Hart and Matt Travis were able to jump over Conquest Racing/JMF Motorsport’s Jesse Webb and Michai Stephens during a delayed mid-race pit sequence. Once out front, Hart was able to hold on to win Pirelli GT4 America SprintX Race No. 1 at Sonoma Raceway Saturday (April 1).
Hart and Travis won by .723 seconds over ACI Motorsports’ Curt Swearingin and Kay van Berlo. Webb and Stephens ended up third, then Random Vandals Racing’s Kevin Boehm and Kenton Koch. ACI Motorsports’ No. 19 Porsche for Francis Selldorff and Andrew Davis were fifth.
In Pro-Am, behind NOLAsport and ACI Motorsports’ No. 7 was the Aston Martin of Chouest-Povoledo Racing’s Ross Chouest and Aaron Povoledo. Flying Lizard Motorsports’ Andy Lee and Elias Sabo were fourth, while OGH/Valkyrie Velocity’s Rob Ferriol and Mac Clark were fifth.
Conquest Racing/JMF Motorsport’s Jesse Webb started on the overall pole in his Mercedes-AMG GT4. A 43-car field on a relatively narrow 2.5-mile road course can be a sign of trouble and Saturday was no exception.
The first lap saw a stackup in turn 2 triggered when The Heart of Racing’s Hannah Grisham was spun out. TechSport Racing’s Eric Powell, Todd Coleman and Matt Halcome all got involved. Grisham and Coleman were effectively out on the spot.
In turn 11, NOLAsport’s Nelson Calle and TGR Hanley Motorsports’ Daniel Hanley collided on the first lap. The contact damaged Hanley’s Supra and forced him to stop on course, bringing out the first safety car period.
Less than a lap after the restart, Black Swan Racing’s Tim Pappas spun his McLaren Artura GT4 in turn 6. He was hit by Van der Steur Racing’s Brady Behrman, ripping the right front wheel off of Behrman’s Aston Martin. That brought out another safety car period for significant cleanup. Both Behrman and Pappas were out on the spot.
A bunch of fluid was dropped on the track, resulting in 20 minutes at reduced pace. That meant adjusted pit windows since the mandatory pit stop window has to open under green.
The stops began at the end of the first lap back under green with 24 minutes to go. Webb chose to stay out, but Travis and a little more than half the field came in for their driver changes. Webb came in a lap later and Hart was able to beat Stephens out of the pits.
Once out front, Hart was able to pull away from Stephens. However, ACI Motorsports’ Van Berlo was the fastest driver on the track and slowly began to…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at …