The Pirelli GT4 America concluded Saturday’s on-track activities with Race 1 at Watkins Glen International. The air was extremely hot, but the action on track was even hotter, with intense, nail-biting racing taking place throughout the field.

The #18 RS1 Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport built up a slim lead over its main rivals at the start of the race. During the mandatory 76-second driver change pit stop, Stevan McAleer took over from Eric Filgueiras and looked to extend their lead. However, a full course yellow caused RS1 to lose that 8-second lead. In the end, the RS1 drivers were able to control their competitors, winning by 2.682 seconds over the #34 Conquest Racing/MF Motorsports Mercedes AMG GT4 driven by Canadian Gavin Sanders and American Michai Stephens.

“We were very careful with the tires being 95 degrees here,” claimed Stevan McAleer in a post-race interview. “Eric did a massive job again, he got away from the pack, and we had a really good pit stop that helped us add more time on the other cars. RS1 gave us a great Porsche. I knew on the restart that I probably would've had to fight a couple of cars going into the bus stop but once we were through there, I was pretty confident we could get away and we did.”

Eric Filgueiras echoed his teammate's thoughts, “It was not an easy win, and in fact, the weekend started off pretty problematic. We had a red flag in practice one, wet weather conditions in practice two, and we had a transmission failure. The team worked all night to replace the transmission and get us up and running. Starting the race, my objective was to get away and to give Steven a car that he could fight with and race with so that's what was important to me. We are really happy.”

Pro-Am

The Pro-Am class stole the show for a good portion of this hour-long race. The #52 Auto Technic Racing BMW M4 GT4 (Tom Capizzi/John Capestro-Dubets) led in the early stages of the race, building up a gap of almost seven seconds after the first 15 minutes.

However, the end of the race saw many twists and turns. In an intense battle for the lead, Capizzi and Billy Johnson (#124 ARG/Rotex Racing Ford Mustang GT4) made contact, forcing both drivers to pit.

The #24 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage GT4 (Ian James/Gray Newell) managed to hold off the threat of the #120 Premier Racing Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport (Elliott Skeer/Adam Adelson), which gained no less than ten positions from the start of the race.

Am

BimmerWorld came out victorious in the Am class, again! The #36 BMW M4 GT4 driven by James Clay and Charlie Postins won by an impressive 7 second gap. Postins dominated the early part of the race, even competing with some Silver class drivers at the front of the field. James Clay completed the team's work by crossing the finish line as the winner ahead of the #72 KRUGSPEED Toyota GR Supra GT4 (Anthony Geraci/Jaden Lander). They narrowly edged out the #53 Auto Technic Racing BMW M4 GT4 (Rob Walker/Alex Filsinger) who secured the final podium position.