Ian James claimed victory in the Pirelli GT4 America Sprint season opener on Saturday, following a thrilling last-lap pass on Spencer Pumpelly for top honors at the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg presented by CrowdStrike.
The 50-minute single-driver sprint race, which was halted by a red flag for an accident by the No. 71 MarcoPolo Motorsports KTM X-Bow GT4 of Nicolai Elghanayan, resulted in a dramatic nine-minute shootout to the finish.
Pole-sitter Pumpelly, in the No. 66 TRG Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 Clubsport took over the lead just moments prior to Elghanayan’s accident when the No. 41 PF Racing Ford Mustang GT4 of Jade Buford ran wide entering turn one.
While gapping Pumpelly on the final restart, the No. 50 Panoz Avezzano GT4 of James made a late charge to get alongside Pumpelly as the white flag flew. The Englishman managed to hold the inside line on the Porsche through turn one to take the lead in dramatic fashion.
James crossed the line 0.696 seconds over Pumpelly to give Team Panoz Racing its first victory since the passing of team owner and legendary motorsports figure Don Panoz.
Gar Robinson completed the podium in third, following a strong run for the second-generation driver in the No. 74 Chevrolet Camaro GT4.R, who finished ahead of Michael Cooper’s debuting McLaren 570S GT4 from Blackdog Speed Shop in fourth.
Buford, who led the opening 22 laps of the race, finished seventh in GT4 Pro behind the No. 12 Ian Lacy Racing Mustang of Ian Lacy and Shane Lewis’ Robinson Camaro, who had started from the rear of the 20-car field after a post-qualifying infraction.
Alan Brynjolfsson emerged to claim his first GT4 Am win as a solo driver in the No. 7 Park Place Motorsports Porsche.
Brynjolfsson, who teamed with Trent Hindman for victory in the second GT4 America SprintX race at Circuit of The Americas last weekend, passed the No. 51 Panoz of Preston Calvert for the class lead moments after the final restart.
While Calvert attempted to regain the lead, the Panoz driver ended up finishing third in class after a battle with the No. 11 Blackdog McLaren of Tony Gaples, who crossed the line second in his first race in the team’s new McLaren.
Class pole-sitter Jarett Andretti enjoyed a strong start until an incident on lap 15 with Lacy that resulted in the No. 18 Andretti Autosport McLaren backing into the wall and sustaining rear-end damage.
It brought out the first full course caution of the race.
Race 2 for Pirelli GT4 America Sprint is scheduled for Sunday at 11:25 a.m. ET. Tape-delayed coverage will air on CBS Sports Network.
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