GT4 America, Sebring: Practice Reports
Eric Filgueiras and Stevan McAleer led the way in both GT4 America practice sessions on Friday, topping the charts in their green #18 RS1 Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport.
Practice 1 began right at the stroke of noon, with the angry Florida sun beaming down on Sebring International Raceway. Immediately, McAleer was on the pace, setting a best lap time of 2’11.813 early in the session. The Scotsman would improve to a 2’11.595, which stood as the top time on the day – as well as the fastest time in the Silver Cup class.
Aaron Telitz was second-fastest for most of the session aboard the #69 Smooge Racing Toyota GR Supra GT4, before he was displaced by the veteran endurance racer Alexandre Premat in the #71 GMG Racing Cayman RS, who went second-fastest on a 2’11.791, putting GMG Racing on top in Pro-Am.
It’s exactly the return expected from Premat, who makes his 2022 GT4 America debut this weekend.
Telitz’s 2’11.992 was good enough for third, ahead of the sister #68 Smooge Racing GR Supra of John Geesbreght in fourth, and the #47 NOLASPORT Cayman RS of Jason Hart in fifth.
Third-fastest in Silver and seventh overall was the #34 Conquest Racing/JMF Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT4 (Michai Stephens/Gavin Sanders), which enters the weekend 47 points behind Filgueiras and McAleer in the Silver Drivers’ Championship.
RS1 led both the Silver and Am Classes as the Am #83 RS1 Cayman RS (Nelson Calle/Juan Martinez) finished with the ninth fastest time overall in Practice 1 – a 2’12.872 from the Colombian Martinez.
By the late afternoon, clouds were covering most of Sebring, which resulted in a large drop in surface temperature. But in these conditions, the #18 RS1 Porsche was still fastest. Cocoa Beach native Filgueiras set a time of 2’11.771 in the opening minutes, McAleer improved on that to a 2’11.517, then called it a session after eight laps of practice.
Behind them, the fastest Pro-Am car was the #52 AutoTechnic Racing BMW M4 GT4 (Tom Capizzi/John Capestro-Dubets), with ‘JCD’ setting his best time of 2’11.998 past the halfway point in the 45 minute session. Sanders in the #34 Conquest/JMF Mercedes was third-fastest overall and second in Silver.
The #8 Flying Lizard Motorsports Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT4 (Elias Sabo/Andy Lee) and the #71 GMG Racing Porsche of Premat and Jay Logan completed the overall top five from this session.
Fastest in Am for Practice 2 was the #20 Carrus Callas Raceteam GR Supra (Nick Shanny/Terry Borcheller). Borcheller went sixth-fastest overall, continuing his strong pace over the course of the season.
Pro-Am championship leaders Adam Adelson and Elliott Skeer finished 13th overall and eighth in Pro-Am in both sessions at the wheel of their #120 Premier Racing Cayman RS. They lead Hart and Scott Noble by eight points heading into tomorrow’s races.
Sadly, the #930 CarBahn with Peregrine Racing Audi R8 LMS GT4 was knocked out of the weekend in the morning’s Paid Bronze Session. Driver Sameer Gandhi was unhurt after a crash that inflicted terminal damage to the right front section of the vehicle. The team were showing signs of promise after Tom Dyer was second-fastest in Thursday afternoon’s test session.
And the #35 Conquest Racing Mercedes-AMG GT4 of Custodio Toledo and Paulo Carcasci did not run at all today after an engine issue suffered in GT America Practice 1 this morning.
But there was one incredible recovery over the course of the day at Accelerating Performance: After their #55 Aston Martin Vantage GT4 was wrecked in GT America Practice 1, it looked like Moisey Uretsky and Justin Piscitell would be packing up and heading home early. Thanks to the tireless work of the team’s mechanics, they were able to get back out to run in Practice 2 – and what’s more, Piscitell went tenth fastest out of 29 cars that set a time in the session!
GT4 America’s Qualifying sessions begin at 10:40 AM EDT Saturday, with Race 1 happening that afternoon at 4:05 PM EDT.
Race 2 begins Sunday, at 11:10 AM EDT.
Images © Brian Cleary / SRO Motorsports Group America
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