Porsche Customer Earns Sweep of SRO GT4 America SprintX.
It is not often a team sweeps every race in every class it enters on a weekend but that is exactly how NOLASPORT opened the 2020 SRO GT4 America SprintX season. The New Orleans-based team entered Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 Clubsport race cars in both the Pro-Am and Am classes at the Circuit of the Americas (COTA), March 6 – 8, and left with the winner’s hardware in each. It was a perfect weekend for the No. 47 Pro/Am class entry of Texan’s Matt Travis and Jason Hart as well as their Amateur (Am) class teammates, Zac Anderson and Sean Gibbons in the No. 7 mid-engine Porsche race car.
Saturday’s 60-minute race was a podium sweep for the German sports car manufacturer with the No. 37 RS1 Porsche – driven by Charlie Belluardo and Jan Heylen – finishing in second-place overall and in the Pro/Am class. Third-place overall and in Pro/Am went to Black Swan Racing’s Porsche Cayman GT4 Clubsport MR shared by Jeroen Bleekemolen and Tim Pappas. The pole-sitting GMG Porsche raced by Andrew Davis and Jason Bell finished in fourth-place of the Pro/Am class, fifth-place overall. The third-place position in the Am category went to the TRG Porsche of James Rappaport and Derek DeBoer. Sunday’s SprintX race two not only saw NOLASPORT repeat winners but the No. 37 RS1 car again podiumed taking third-place in Pro/Am, fifth-overall.
In the 50-minute GT4 America Sprint Championship, Spencer Pumpelly was the quickest Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 Clubsport in the single-driver format event. The Atlanta, Georgia-resident returned to the No. 66 entry of longtime Porsche customer program TRG to contest for the season-long drivers’ title. He earned a second-place finish in the Pro class for Saturday’s event and narrowly missed a podium on Sunday by a mere 0.017-seconds at the checkered flag.
The SRO GT4 America Sprint championship moves immediately to St. Petersburg for Rounds 3 and 4 on the streets of the Florida city. Practice begins on Friday, March 13 with Race 1 scheduled for Saturday, March 14 and Race 2 on Sunday, March 15. SprintX will not race on the 1.8-mile, 14-turn temporary street course. The two-driver format will return April 17 – 19 on the grandfather of American street courses, the Grand Prix of Long Beach in California.
No. 47 NOLASPORT Porsche 718 GT4 Clubsport to SRO GT4 America SprintX Race 2 victory
Zac Anderson, Driver, No. 7 NOLASPORT Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 Clubsport.
“I want to give a huge shout out to the guys at NOLASPORT. They prepped an incredible car this weekend. It's just been so comfortable to drive our No. 7 Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 Clubsport. So easy to drive. For my first weekend in a paddock like this, I'm over the moon excited and happy. I'll forever be grateful for these guys and my teammate Sean Gibbons. I think we're going to have a really good season. I can feel the support and everyone reaching out through social media. It's just been such a cool ride and something that I will never forget.
Sean Gibbons, Driver, No. 7 NOLASPORT Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 Clubsport.
“What an amazing weekend in our OGH Motorsports Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 Clubsport. The NOLASPORT crew did a great job, the car was great all weekend. Zac did a tremendous job; he did exactly what we needed him to do. You know, race one. I started and needed to get past the Audi driven by Alex Welds to put us in first and then turn the car over to Zac and he drove it home. Race 2 was a bit of a bigger battle for us. Zac did an awesome job, built a nice gap to the Audi. In our pit stop, we had a bit of an issue with the driver change that held us up about 10 or 15 extra seconds and that put the Audi right on my bumper by the end of the race. The Audi got by with one lap to go. I got back by him on the final lap to bring home the checkered flag. Two first-place finishes… we can't really ask for much more than that!”