GT America powered by AWS finished off the Music City Grand Prix weekend in front of packed stands and under overcast skies. Ambient temperatures and humidity were quite a bit higher than Saturday’s twilight run, making for vastly different conditions to race through. This put cars’ cooling systems, and their drivers, to the test. Nevertheless, this was 40 minutes of non-stop, all-green sports car racing at its finest.

Race 0ne

The GT4 field was much closer than SRO3 making for some truly nail-biting moments. Pole sitter and 2021 Nashville podium finisher Robb Holland led the pack across the starting line in his #99 Rotek Racing Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport and maintained his P1 spot for the entire race.

“We got this car right before St. Pete without any real time to develop and test the car,” Holland said. “The guys have been working hard at Rotek Racing, we’ve had our partners Hella, Pagid, and Motul with us the whole way, and it’s really been a whole team effort. We got two cars on the podium—two different manufacturers, two cars on the podium from Rotek Racing—I’m over the moon!”

His teammate Edgar Lau (#124 ARG/Rotek Racing Ford Mustang GT4) had a tougher time for sure, as he had his hands full all-race-long battling with Ross Chouest (#50 Chouest Provoledo Racing Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT4). Unfortunately, Chris Cagnazzi wasn’t able to utilize his qualifying position and instead started from the pits in his #39 Cameron Racing Mercedes-AMG GT4.

When the checkered flag dropped, It was Holland across the line first, followed by Chouest and Lau. The second place finish by Chouest moved him ahead of Jason Bell (#2 GMG Racing Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT4) for the GT4 points lead.

Right behind Lau and Chouest was an excellent Aston Martin vs. Porsche scrap in the form of Jason Bell and Adam Adelson (#120 Premier Racing Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport). The two showed the many spectators in attendance what a textbook front-engine V8 vs. mid-engine flat-six street fight looks like. Bell’s no stranger to throwing down, leading the points chase into Nashville after his win at St. Pete and multiple podium finishes. Ultimately Adelson finished in fourth with Bell in fifth.

St. Pete Race 1 winner Marko Radisic (#22 SRQ Motorsports BMW M4 GT4) made his way to fourth place after starting in sixth. A late race mechanical issue unfortunately got in the way and prevented his potential podium finish.

Race two

The race started out with plenty of drama in GT4, as new GT4 points leader Ross Chouest (#50 Chouest Provoledo Racing Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT4) made contact with the wall on the opening lap. The course didn’t see a full-course yellow, but it did extinguish the Aston Martin driver’s chances at maintaining that points lead. Elsewhere throughout the field, a lot of entertaining and clean passes went down, which proves this is one of the most professional paddocks in GT racing.

After winning on Saturday night, Robb Holland (#99 Rotek Racing Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport) was able to drive away from the pack and develop a healthy lead, easily securing another first-place finish and a brilliant weekend sweep. The win moved Holland up to third in the championship.

While this was a 40-minute sprint race, the intense heat and humidity was visually apparent when the drivers climbed from their cars post-race. Fitness counts here.

“The guys at Rotek Racing just did an epic job,” Holland said. “We’re running two different cars this weekend, two different manufacturers—the guys have got them completely dialed. It was one of those things where everyone’s been doing 100 percent, and that’s where the team effort comes in.”

The battle for second raged between Edgar Lau (#124 ARG/Rotek Racing Ford Mustang GT4), Chris Cagnazzi (#39 Cameron Racing Mercedes-AMG GT4), and Jason Bell (#2 GMG Racing Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT4). This was an epic American vs. German vs English manufacturer race. Cagnazzi was particularly aggressive and his car showed a few scars in the post-race weigh-in. This battle for the podium allowed Holland to keep a comfortable lead over the field.

At the half-way point it was Bell, Lau, and Cagnazzi. With ten minutes left it changed to Bell, Cagnazzi, and Lau. In a fantastic heavy braking maneuver, with just five minutes remaining, Cagnazzi got past Bell and into a solid second position, which he held to the checkered. Lau ended up in fourth, just one spot shy of his Saturday night podium finish.

Bell remarked in the post-race press conference that his alignment was off, that he was thinking championship points, and knew the risks of fighting hard for second. Bell retook the points lead with his third place finish.

One of the most significant fights during the race’s short 40-minute duration was between two 718 Porsche Caymans: Adam Adelson (#120 Premier Racing Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport) and Andy Pilgrim (#3 Regal Motorsports LLC/Bartone Bros Porsche Cayman GT4 CLUBSPORT-MR). Talk about a solid lesson (but not a crash course, pun intended) in sports car racing: if you can hold off attacks from a legend like Pilgrim, you’ve certainly got a future in this business.

The action continues later this month at Road America, August 19-21.