RENNtech Motorsports’ Matheus Leist was able to get past AutoTechnic Racing’s Colin Garrett with under four minutes to go Sunday morning (Oct. 6) to take the lead.
From there, he was able to pull away to win the final Pirelli GT4 America SprintX race of 2024 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway with teammate Michael Auriemma. It is the duo’s second class victory and first overall victory of the year.
“I was going for it today,” Leist told SRO America’s Amanda Busick after the race. “We’ve had a few chances [this season], but today, we had a very great car. I’m very happy with the win and with Michael, who ran a great race. Very happy to come out with the overall win here in Indy.”
The margin of victory on the track was 3.053 seconds. However, the team’s pit stop was .098 seconds too quick. Any amount under the 108-second pit lane delta is decupled and applied as a post-race penalty.
As a result, Auriemma and Leist’s margin of victory was 2.073 seconds over The Heart of Racing’s Roman DeAngelis and Gray Newell. Garrett and Zac Anderson were third, then JMF Motorsport’s Michai Stephens and Jesse Webb. Rennsport One’s John Capestro-Dubets and Eric Filgueiras were fifth in their Porsche.
In Pro-Am, Auriemma and Leist beat DeAngelis and Newell. Precision Racing LA’s Terry Borcheller and Ryan Eversley finished third after their victory on Saturday, then Rotek Racing’s Myles Rowe and Isaac Sherman. Flying Lizard Motorsports’ Rodrigo Baptista and Damir Hot were fifth.
Smooge Racing’s Corey Lewis started from the overall pole in his Supra. A decent start allowed him to lead without trouble. A driver that did run into trouble on the start was Webb.
Webb qualified second overall in his Mercedes, but he dropped way back on the start to 10th overall, sixth in Silver. He ended up staying there for the rest of his time in the car.
The weekend had generally been clean to this point. However, 16 minutes into the race, ACI Motorsports’ Curt Swearingin flew into turn 1 way too fast and smashed into NOLAsport’s Lee Carpentier.
Swearingin’s Porsche suffered a broken radiator and came to a halt in the runoff for turn 1, which brought out the safety car. Carpentier had a big tire rub, but managed to drive his Porsche back to the pits.
In Swearingin’s case, he and teammate Kay van Berlo clinched the Pro-Am championship Saturday when DeAngelis and Newell had problems.
The race…
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