The first race of the opening weekend of the 2022 SRO GT America powered by AWS season saw a packed GT4 field with plenty of action, with Marko Radisic claiming the top of the podium, followed by The Racers Group Porsche GT4 of Derek DeBoer and Moisey Uretsky.

The packed-and-stacked GT4 field saw some major changes in position, with Marco Radisic claiming the win in his #22 SRQ Motorsports BMW M4 GT4. “Very excited to win a home race, especially after qualifying went unplanned with a brake issue” the Tampa area native spoke of how St. Petersburg has gone for him so far. “I wasn’t expecting to drive from 8th to 1st, especially in a shortened race with a full-course caution.”

Not far off of his bumper was Derek Deboer in the #66 TRG Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 CS MR, and then Moisey Uretsky in the #55 Accelerating Performance Toyota GR Supra GT4.

“I was so thankful to make it to that start” Deboer shared about his on-track experience after having mechanical issues earlier in the day. “There was a lot of yellow flag time, but I got a good re-start, and man that BMW was fast!” Defending 2021 GT America GT4 Champion Jason Bell (#2 GMG Racing Aston Martin) encountered issues early on in the race, but was able to fight his way back to a fifth place finish.

Adam Adelson in the Premier Racing Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport finished 22nd place followed by Robb Holland of Rotek Racing in 23rd place in the last of the 718 Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport Porsches

The second race once again saw plenty of action in the GT4 field, with many changes in position and some true hard charging once everyone settled in mid-race. The class was joined by Adam Adelson (#120 Premier Racing Porsche), whose GT4 Invitational Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport was put out of contention in yesterday’s race. The team worked tirelessly through the night to prepare their spare car, a Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 MR, in time for today’s race.

Tampa hometown hero Jason Bell (#2 GMG Racing Aston Martin) won GT4 after finishing fifth in Race 1. “It was great! I probably have 100 friends here and I knew the race was going to be hectic” Bell spoke of how his day went. “I crossed my fingers, got through (drama in Turn 1), and lost some parts off the car. But I learned how to drive the car again, chased down the leader and passed, and it was the best feeling in the world on my home track.”

Chris Gumprecht (#79 RENNtech Motorsports Mercedes) followed closely finishing in second, and Moisey Uretsky (#55 Accelerating Performance Toyota) rounding out the podium in third, following a solid pass at Turn 14 with less than seven minutes until the white flag in his Toyota GR Supra GT4. “Unfortunately, we got a bit too much of a gap to the guys in front” Uretsky said of how his race went. “We had to make up a lot of time throughout the race, but luckily we stayed green until the very end.”

Robb Holland (#99 Rotek Racing Porsche) was the lone entry in GT4 Invitational, finishing eighth overall. “Great race today here in St. Petersburg!” Holland reported. “We had a bit of a hard time yesterday, but kept it clean today, and managed to work our way from the back of the field to the front of the GT4 field.” GT2 class winner CJ Moses (#58 GMG Racing Audi GT2) finished seventh overall.

Turn 1, Lap 1 saw some contact between several cars, including Mirco Shultis (#70 Callaway Corvette) and Race 1 winner Jason Daskalos (#27 Daskalos Motorsports Audi), which took them out of the race. Far less contact than what happened at the beginning of Race 1, though, leading to a sustained green flag. Later on, with less than five minutes to go, contact between Derek DeBoer (#66 TRG Porsche) and Gray Newell (#25 Heart of Racing Aston Martin) led to a standing yellow that sustained until the end of the race.

GT America heads to Sonoma April 15th-17th, along with the rest of SRO’s series. Check out the live stream for free on YouTube at GT World. All races are archived for on demand viewing.