Cooper Breaks SRO America Win Record at Road America
Photo: Fred Hardy/SRO
Michael Cooper overcame a pre-race 35 kg Balance of Performance adjustment to his Blackdog Racing McLaren Artura GT4 to claim overall victory in Friday’s opening Pirelli GT4 America race of the weekend at Road America to become the winningest driver in SRO America history.
Cooper passed the then Silver class-leading No. 68 RAFA Racing Team Toyota GR Supra GT4 EVO2 of Tyler Gonzalez with 24 minutes to go following the pit sequence and drove to a 5.983-second win.
It marked Cooper and co-driver Tony Gaples’ third consecutive Pro-Am class victory and second overall win in the last three races.
The four-time series champion entered the weekend tied for the lead with Peter Cunningham with 43 all-time wins.
FIA Bronze-rated owner/driver Gaples scored only his second career pole, having started on the front row, although the McLarens, along with the Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport and Toyota GR Supra GT4 EVO2s were all handed post-qualifying weight additions.
Overall pole-sitter Riley Dickinson led through the race’s only full-course caution, for a heavy crash by Alessandro Chiocchetti in the No. 49 Bryan Herta Autosport McLaren, exiting The Kink.
Chiocchetti was seen climbing from the wrecked McLaren under his own power.
The race restarted with 35 minutes to go, just as the pit window opened up, which saw the majority of the runners immediately pit for the mandatory driver changes.
Dickinson, as well as several Am class runner ran long but dropped down the order once the sequence cycled.
Luca Mars passed Gonzalez for the Silver class lead and eventual victory with two minutes to go, marking RS1’s sixth consecutive Silver win.
It came in a borrowed Porsche chassis from Nolasport following an accident by co-driver Spencer Pumpelly on Thursday.
Sam Craven took over the Pro-Am championship lead solo with a second place class finish, with Thomas Merrill, who was drafted in to sub for the baby-bound Kenton Koch, taking the No. 94 Random Vandals Racing BMW M4 GT4 EVO to fourth overall.
Josh Green made a late-race pass on Jimmy Llibre to finish fifth overall, third in Silver.
Brothers Alex and Michael Garcia’s quest for a fourth consecutive Am class win was erased with 12 minutes to go when Alex Garcia suffered a suspected mechanical issue in his No. 21 ACI BMW while leading.
It initially handed the class lead to the No. 413 Colorado Motorsport with Flying Lizard BMW of Zach Lumsden, who was then passed by Tyler Stone with five minutes to go to give TechSport Racing a breakthrough win.
Hollywood star-turned pro racer Frankie Muniz claimed his first GT4 America class victory in the process along with Stone.
Race 2 of the weekend is set for Saturday at 1:10 p.m. CST with live coverage on SRO’s GT World YouTube channel.
RESULTS: Race 1
Source: Sports Car 365