Smooge Racing’s Tyler Gonzalez was able to take the lead away from Random Vandals Racing’s Kenton Koch at the tail end of the mid-race pit window Saturday (April 6). From there, Gonzalez was able to hold off the pack to win Pirelli GT4 America SprintX Race No. 1 at Sonoma Raceway along with teammate John Geesbreght.
“The [lapped drivers] certainly played a role out there, but I just kept cool,” Gonzalez told SRO America’s Amanda Busick in victory lane. “This Toyota Supra was on rails all day, so I knew that I had the car [to win], I just had to do it. Glad we got it done.”
Geesbreght and Gonzalez’s margin of victory was .792 seconds over Koch and Kevin Boehm. AutoTechnic Racing’s Zac Anderson and Colin Garrett were third, followed by TechSport Racing’s Jonathan Neudorf and Michai Stephens. BimmerWorld Racing’s Tyler McQuarrie and James Walker Jr. were fifth.
The top-four finishers were the top-four teams in the Silver class. Fifth in Silver went to Rennsport One’s John Capestro-Dubets and Eric Filguerias in their Porsche.
The TechSport Racing Nissans of Eric Powell and Jonathan Neudorf led the 28-car field to green (Powell was the Pro-Am pole sitter, while Neudorf was on pole in the Silver class). Powell was able to clear Neudorf and open up a small gap.
As the race continued one, Powell was able to put four Silver-class cars between himself and Walker in the No. 82 BimmerWorld Racing BMW. 15 minutes into the race, he had a 15-second lead in class.
Meanwhile, the Supra of Smooge Racing’s John Geesbreght was able to dispatch of Neudorf on the first lap and take the Silver lead. That lead did not last long as Neudorf took it back four laps later.
Neudorf was able to hold onto the lead until the mid-race pit stops, where he handed over to Stephens. Stephens is a quick driver, but he cannot do much about contact.
Shortly after his pit stop, Stephens was tapped from behind by Anderson in turn 6, resulting in a spin. Stephens didn’t hit anything, but dropped back to fourth in class. The incident will be reviewed later Saturday night. If a decision is made, we will update this recap.
Random Vandals Racing’s Kenton Koch took the class lead as well. When P1 Groupe’s Matt Bell pitted the OnlyFans Racing Mercedes, Koch ended up with the overall lead…for about 15 seconds.
Shortly after Bell pitted, Tyler Gonzalez put the moves on Koch to take the overall lead in the GearWrench Toyota for Smooge…
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