SONOMA, Calif. – Michael Cooper swept to his second-straight victory in Pirelli GT4 America Sprint competition Saturday at Sonoma Raceway.
Cooper and the No. 10 Blackdog Speed Shop McLaren 570S GT4 led the Pirelli GT4 America Sprint field to the green flag for Saturday’s race and almost immediately, Drew Staveley got the jump on Spencer Pumpelly for second.
Paul Terry paced the Am contenders with Michael Dinan in hot pursuit during an intense opening lap.
The race calmed down for the next 20 minutes as the three overall leaders separated themselves from the rest of the field.
Paul Terry would stretch his class lead to 1.5 seconds over Dinan as Jeff Burton and Mark Klenin battled for third in the Am class.
As the clock clicked past 15 minutes, Cooper would maintain a lead of just less than one second over Staveley, as Pumpelly would stay about a half second behind the Mustang driver.
Terry would stretch his lead in the Am class to three seconds over Dinan, with Burton a further three seconds back in third.
Cooper would go on to take his fourth win of the season, second of the weekend and the third-straight overall, with Staveley and Pumpelly rounding out the podium. Cooper would also set a fastest lap of 1:46.706, giving him pole for Sunday’s third race of the weekend.
“It was really tough today. I think we had the third fastest car honestly, but luckily we started on pole so the two behind me had the dirty air. The car really didn’t have anything left in it I was pusing 100% the entire race, but the guys got the setup right, so thanks to everyone at Blackdog Speed Shop and McLaren,” said Cooper.
Terry would comfortably win the Am division with Dinan coming home second and Burton third. Mark Klenin would run the fastest Am lap, giving him the class pole for Sunday’s weekend finale.
“Michael is a hell of a driver, so it was a lot of fun to race clean and race hard, it was excellent from both of us. It was a great race from start to finish and Rearden Racing gave me a great car,” said Terry.