2020 was the thirty-first consecutive year for the World Challenge series. One of the more popular categories is Pirelli GT4 America.

Cars competing in the Pirelli GT4 America category are similar to those of the Blancpain GT World Challenge America class but have more preparation restrictions and are governed by FIA GT4 rules. The vehicles can be powered by forced induction or normally aspirated motors. Examples of cars competing in this category include the Chevrolet Camaro GT4, McLaren 570S GT4, Porsche Cayman CS-MR, Porsche 718 Cayman GT4, Audi R8 LMS GT4, Ginetta G55 GT4, BMW M4 GT4 Mercedes-AMG GT4 and SIN R1 GT4.

Pirelli GT4 America teams have a choice of participating in a Sprint or SprintX format. Sprint contests are fifty-minutes in length for a single driver. In the SprintX division, two competitors’ race in a sixty-minute event. SprintX drivers are also classified as professional (Pro), Silver or amateur (Am) based on their racing experience and success.

As a result, there are two different event schedules:

  • Sprint Schedule – The calendar starts with both groups sharing a weekend at Circuit of the Americas. Next for the Sprint division are contests at St. Petersburg, Florida. This group then travels north of the border to compete at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park. For the remainder of the championship, both groups will participate at the same venues. First up is Virginia International Raceway in early June. After this event, teams will head to California for races at Sonoma Raceway. The championship returns to the East Coast and makes stops at Road America, Watkins Glen for the penultimate rounds and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the finale.
  • SprintX Schedule – The SprintX season starts at Circuit of the Americas and shares the weekend with the Sprint group. Following the opening round, teams travel to California for a race at Long Beach. Then the championship returns to the East Coast to compete at Lime Rock Park. Starting at Virginia International Raceway, the SprintX group is joined by the Sprint division for the remainder of the year. Virginia is followed by stops at Sonoma Raceway and Road America. The final two weekends for the championship take place at Watkins Glen International and Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

The opening rounds for the 2020 Pirelli GT4 America SprintX championship took place at the Circuit of the Americas’ twenty-turn 3.4-mile road course. Twenty-seven teams were entered in the two sixty-minute races.

The first lap into corner two for twenty-eight GT4 SprintX competitors in round one at Circuit of the Americas. Leading the field is the pole-sitter, Nicolai Elghanayan, in the Marco Polo Motorsports KTM X-Bow. Behind Elghanayan is the NOLASPORT Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 of the second-fastest qualifier, Matt Travis. Trailing Travis is the Andretti Autosport McLaren of Colin Mullan and Alex Welch driving the GMG Audi R8 LMS GT4.
NOLASPORT drivers, Matt Travis and Jason Hart swept the weekend with overall and Pro/Am classes wins on Saturday and Sunday. Travis qualified second overall and first in Pro/Am for round one. By lap-7, they were in first and won by a margin of 31.604-seconds. In race two, Hart started third, but it wasn’t long before the No. 47 NOLASPORT Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 was first overall and the pair earned their second victory.
Competing in the Silver division and sharing the No. 36 Andretti Autosport McLaren 570S GT4 was Colin Mullan and Jarett Andretti. Mullan qualified the McLaren for round one and was third fastest. He and Andretti lost a position during the race but won the Silver category. On Sunday, Andretti started second in class but sixteenth overall. The pair charged through the field and were fourth overall and second in Silver at the checker.
The second of three NOLASPORT entries was the No. 7 Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 shared by Sean Gibbons and Zac Anderson. Unlike the team leaders, Matt Travis and Jason Hart, Gibbons and Anderson were competing in the Amateur category. However, similar to Travis and Hart, they captured class victories on Saturday and Sunday – finishing ninth overall in round one and in race two, fourteenth.
Last season, Nick Wittmer left ST Racing to compete in the Touring Car A category with TechSport Racing. In 2020, he returned to the ST team and shared the No. 28 BMW M4 GT4 with Harry Gottsacker. The pair competed in the Silver division and proved to be a good match. In the weekend’s first event, they finished seventh overall but earned the final spot on the class podium. On Sunday, the duo won their category.
The Flying Lizard team has a history of preparing and racing Porsches, but in the opening round at Circuit of the Americas, they entered a pair of Aston Martin Vantage GT4 in the Sprint and SprintX categories. Sharing the No. 21 Aston Martin in the SprintX division was Robby Foley and Michael Dinan. They opened the season with an eighth overall and fifth in Pro/Am. On Sunday, the paired finished second overall and in class.
GMG Racing brought a large fleet of race cars to compete in the GT3 and GT4 categories. The team’s No. 14 Audi R8 LMS GT4 was driven by Alex Welch and Michael McGrath. The pair were classified as Amateurs. Welch started race one, fourth overall and first in class. At the end of the contest, they were a distant nineteenth but second in the Am category. On Sunday, the paired scored another runner-up finish.
Sharing the only KTM X-Bow in the field were Nicolai Elghanayan and Norwegian driver, Mads Siljehaug. The two drivers competed in the Silver group. Elghanayan qualified on the pole for the season’s first event but was not able to maintain the pace. He and Siljehaug finished sixth overall and second in class. In round two, Siljenhaug qualified first in Silver, but at the end of sixty-minutes, the pair earned another runner-up finish.
RS1 entered two cars – an Aston Martin Vantage driven by Joe Dalton and Patrick Gallagher and a Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 for Charlie Belluardo and Jan Heylen. The No. 37 Porsche proved to be more successful. Competing in the Pro/Am category, Belluardo and Heylen started fourth both days. In race one, they finished second overall and in class. The duo collected the final spot on the podium in the weekend’s second event.
Black Swan Racing entered the No. 54 Porsche Cayman CS MR for Jeroen Bleekemolen and team principal, Tim Pappas. The pair were competing in the Pro/Am category. Pappas started the weekend’s first event thirteenth overall and seventh in class. At the checkered flag, Bleekemolen was in third place. On Sunday, after the driver change, the Porsche developed a mechanical issue. They finished eighteenth overall.
The No. 17 The Racer’s Group Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 was driven by Amateur competitors, James Rappaport and Derek DeBoer. Rappaport qualified twenty-fifth fastest for Saturday’s contest and at the checkered flag, the pair was twenty-second overall but third in their category. In round two, DeBoer started twentieth. After sixty-minutes of racing, they were twenty-first overall and fourth in class.
The No. 3 Motorsport USA prepared McLaren 570S GT4 was driven by amateur racers, Michael McAleenan and Dan Rogers. McAleenan entered the SprintX class with a couple of National Auto Sport Association championships. While Rogers has experience obtained in IMSA’s Continental Tire series. At Circuit of the Americas, they earned third and fourth-place finishes in the Am category.

FINISHCLASSDRIVERENTRANT / CARLAPS
1SprintX - GT4 Pro/AmTravis / HartNOLASPORT / Porsche 718 Cayman GT426
2SprintX - GT4 Pro/AmBellurado / HeylenRS1 / Porsche 718 Cayman GT426
3SprintX - GT4 Pro/AmPappas / BleekemolenBlack Swan Racing / Porsche 718 Cayman CS MR26
4SprintX - GT4 SilverAndretti / MullanAndretti Autosport / McLaren 570S GT426
5SprintX - GT4 Pro/AmBell / DavisGMG Racing / Porsche 718 Cayman GT426
6SprintX - GT4 SilverSiljehaug / ElghanayanMarco Polo Motorsports / KTM X-Bow26
7SprintX - GT4 SilverGottsacker / WittmerST Racing / BMW M4 GT426
8SprintX - GT4 Pro/AmDinan / FoleyFlying Lizard Motorsports / Aston Martin Vantage GT426
9SprintX - GT4 Am/AmGibbons / AndersonNOLASPORT / Porsche 718 Cayman GT426
10SprintX - GT4 Pro/AmVogel / CooperFlying Lizard Motorsports / McLaren 570S GT426
11SprintX - GT4 Pro/AmLyons / PumpellyTRG - The Racers Group / Porsche 718 Cayman GT426
12SprintX - GT4 SilverTan / MillerST Racing / BMW M4 GT426
13SprintX - GT4 Pro/AmSabo / LeeGMG Racing / Audi R8 LMS GT426
14SprintX - GT4 Pro/AmPutt / KochBsport Racing / Aston Martin Vantage GT426
15SprintX - GT4 SilverCiraulo / BarberCCR Team TFB / BMW M4 GT426
16SprintX - GT4 Pro/AmBurton / KozarovRearden Racing / Aston Martin Vantage GT426
17SprintX - GT4 Pro/AmDalton / GallagherRS1 / Aston Martin Vantage GT426
18SprintX - GT4 Pro/AmLiefooghe / QuinlanStephen Cameron Racing / BMW M4 GT426
19SprintX - GT4 Am/AmWelch / McGrathGMG Racing / Audi R8 LMS GT426
20SprintX - GT4 SilverSmith / DubetsNOLASPORT / Porsche 718 Cayman CS MR26
21SprintX - GT4 Pro/AmDexter / DexterDexter Racing / Ginetta G5526
22SprintX - GT4 Am/AmRappaport / DeBoerTRG - The Racers Group / Porsche 718 Cayman GT426
23SprintX - GT4 Am/AmMcAleenan / RogersMotorsport USA / McLaren 570S GT425
24SprintX - GT4 Pro/AmRader / GrahovecClassic BMW / BMW M4 GT422
25SprintX - GT4 Pro/AmRadisic / WittmerPrecision Driving Tech / BMW M4 GT419
NCSprintX - GT4 Am/AmGeraci / GolinelloCompass Racing / McLaren 570S GT410
NCSprintX - GT4 Pro/AmWalker Jr / AuberlenBimmerWorld / BMW M4 GT47
NCSprintX - GT4 Pro/AmFassnacht / SzymczakMurillo Racing / Mercedes-AMG GT43

FINISHCLASSDRIVERENTRANT / CARLAPS
1SprintX - GT4 Pro/AmTravis / HartNOLASPORT / Porsche 718 Cayman GT425
2SprintX - GT4 Pro/AmDinan / FoleyFlying Lizard Motorsports / Aston Martin Vantage GT425
3SprintX - GT4 SilverGottsacker / WittmerST Racing / BMW M4 GT425
4SprintX - GT4 SilverAndretti / MullanAndretti Autosport / McLaren 570S GT425
5SprintX - GT4 Pro/AmBellurado / HeylenRS1 / Porsche 718 Cayman GT425
6SprintX - GT4 Pro/AmDexter / DexterDexter Racing / Ginetta G5525
7SprintX - GT4 SilverSiljehaug / ElghanayanMarco Polo Motorsports / KTM X-Bow25
8SprintX - GT4 Pro/AmPutt / KochBsport Racing / Aston Martin Vantage GT425
9SprintX - GT4 Pro/AmBell / DavisGMG Racing / Porsche 718 Cayman GT425
10SprintX - GT4 Pro/AmLiefooghe / QuinlanStephen Cameron Racing / BMW M4 GT425
11SprintX - GT4 SilverTan / MillerST Racing / BMW M4 GT425
12SprintX - GT4 SilverCiraulo / BarberCCR Team TFB / BMW M4 GT425
13SprintX - GT4 Pro/AmWalker Jr / AuberlenBimmerWorld / BMW M4 GT4xx
14SprintX - GT4 Am/AmGibbons / AndersonNOLASPORT / Porsche 718 Cayman GT425
15SprintX - GT4 Am/AmWelch / McGrathGMG Racing / Audi R8 LMS GT425
16SprintX - GT4 Pro/AmSabo / LeeGMG Racing / Audi R8 LMS GT425
17SprintX - GT4 Pro/AmVogel / CooperFlying Lizard Motorsports / McLaren 570S GT425
18SprintX - GT4 Pro/AmPappas / BleekemolenBlack Swan Racing / Porsche 718 Cayman CS MR25
19SprintX - GT4 Pro/AmRader / GrahovecPrecision Driving Tech / BMW M4 GT425
20SprintX - GT4 Am/AmMcAleenan / RogersMotorsport USA / McLaren 570S GT425
21SprintX - GT4 Am/AmRappaport / DeBoerTRG - The Racers Group / Porsche 718 Cayman GT425
22SprintX - GT4 Pro/AmRader / GrahovecClassic BMW / BMW M4 GT425
23SprintX - GT4 Am/AmGeraci / GolinelloCompass Racing / McLaren 570S GT425
24SprintX - GT4 SilverSmith / DubetsNOLASPORT / Porsche 718 Cayman CS MR21
25SprintX - GT4 Pro/AmFassnacht / SzymczakMurillo Racing / Mercedes-AMG GT420
26SprintX - GT4 Pro/AmLyons / PumpellyTRG - The Racers Group / Porsche 718 Cayman GT417
NCSprintX - GT4 Pro/AmBurton / KozarovRearden Racing / Aston Martin Vantage GT412
NCSprintX - GT4 Pro/AmDalton / GallagherRS1 / Aston Martin Vantage GT46

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