Flying Lizards fly high in GT4 America finale
Saturday, October 03, 2020
Competing at the spiritual home of American motor racing at the final round of the SRO sanctioned GT4 America Series, the Aston Martin Racing teams competing within the Series Sprint and Sprint X classes signed off the season on a high.
Having already secured the Sprint Am Driver’s Championship at the previous round at the Circuit of The Americas two weeks ago, the Flying Lizard Motorsport team still had some Championships to both defend and attack at the Series reached the Indianapolis Motor Speedway earlier this week.
Having already secured the Sprint Am Driver’s Championship at the previous round at the Circuit of The Americas two weeks ago, the Flying Lizard Motorsport team still had some Championships to both defend and attack at the Series reached the Indianapolis Motor Speedway earlier this week.
In the Sprint Am Team’s Championship, their nearest rival was from the AMR stablemate team of Rearden Racing, a team that would have normally entered two of their Vantage GT4 cars for Paul Terry in Sprint and Jeff Burton in both Sprint and Sprint X. Sadly, an incurable engine issue for the #91 car very early into the weekends proceedings put pay to any racing for Jeff Burton. That left just two additional Astons from both the Rennsport 1 Notlad Racing team for Matt Dalton and Pat Gallagher and the #15 BSport Aston for Bryan Putt and AMR Academy Driver Kenton Koch for each of the remaining Sprint X races.
With no more at stake that personal/team pride and achievement left for the #33 and #15 cars, all eyes were on to see if Michael Dinan (with his Pro co-driver in Sprint X) could stand the pressures going into the final rounds at add to his Sprint Am Championship win.
Thursday’s first Sprint and Sprint X races left that looking difficult, although still very much achievable, as contact and a spin into the gravel in Sprint and an error of judgement in the pit lane during the first Sprint X race left the Flying Lizards #210 and #21 cars at the back of the field come the chequered flag after having been dug out by the corner workers and having served their drive through penalty respectively. The only positive from these was that their finishing gained them valuable Championship points.
The second and final Sprint X race of the season came early on Saturday morning with the teams literally warming up their cars and drivers in the still dark and chilly Indiana morning.
This time it was the turn of the #33 RS1 Notlad Aston to lead off the cars from the front after pat Gallagher gave them pole position having secured the fastest lap of the first race with Foley right behind likewise in P2. Despite having scored another Sprint X podium in Race 1, the #15 BSport Racing Aston down in P7
With caution periods again taking time out of the race clock, the resulting restarts eventually cost the #33 car the race lead but for the #21 Flying Lizard car, their eventual overall race win was enough for them to snatch the Sprint X Pro-Am title from the NolasSport team despite them finishing a close second.
Later in the day, the second and final Sprint race would be held with again Dinan and Terry pushing themselves all the way like they have this year but once Dinan pulled away from the chasing Rearden car and 70% race distance had been completed for the team to also secure the Sprint Am Team’s title the fun began. Chasing down the McLaren factory driver of Michael Cooper all the way to the flag, a great exit off the final corner allowed the Aston to out-draft the 570s to snatch a P2 overall finish at the death.
The results of this weekend have left the Flying Lizard, Rearden Racing, BSport Racing and Rennsport 1 Notlad teams in the following Championship positions: -
P1 Sprint Am Drivers Championship winner – Michael Dinan (Flying Lizards)
P2 Sprint Am Drivers Championship – Paul Terry (Rearden Racing)
P3 Sprint Am Drivers Championship – Jeff Burton (Rearden Racing)
P1 Sprint Am Teams Championship winners – Flying Lizards
P2 Sprint Am Team Championship – Rearden Racing
P1 Sprint X Pro-Am Drivers Championship winners – Michael Dinan/Robbie Foley (Flying Lizards)
P5 Sprint X Pro-Am Drivers Championship – Bryan Putt/Kenton Koch (BSPort Racing)
P8 Sprint X Pro-Am Drivers Championship – Matt Dalton/Pat Gallagher (RS1/Notlad Racing)
P10 Sprint X Pro-Am Divers Championship – Jeff Burton/Vesko Kozarov (Rearden Racing)
P1 Sprint X Pro-Am Teams Championship winners – Flying Lizards
P4 Sprint X Pro-Am Teams Championship – Rennsport 1
P6 Sprint X Pro-Am Teams Championship – BSport Racing
P8 Sprint X Pro-Am Teams Championship – Rearden Racing
Congratulations and well done to you all for such a cracking season and exciting racing despite everything that has been thrown at you, the teams and society in general over the year. Hope to see you all back again next year too!!
Photo credits - GT4 America