BOWMANVILLE, Ontario – TRG/The Racers Group driver Spencer Pumpelly, behind the wheel of his Porsche 718 Cayman CS MR, won Sunday afternoon’s Pirelli GT4 America Sprint series race at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park.
The 50-minute, 35-lap contest featured fierce action right from the start. Saturday’s race winner and second-starter Nicolai Elghanayan got the jump on pole sitter Pumpelly to take the lead through turn one. Pumpelly then passed Elghanayan through turns nine and 10 only to relinquish the lead once again on lap two through turn three.
Before lap two could be completed, Pumpelly then re-passed for the lead while Gar Robinson and Ian James moved past Elghanayan who started to fall back into the pack. Am division driver Jarett Andretti led in class and was fifth overall.
The leaders held their positions until lap nine when Andretti gained two position up into third. Also, on a charge up from 8th, three-time series champion Michael Cooper moved up to fourth. By lap 13, Andretti continued his charge moving up to second overall.
By lap 14 the top-five were Pumpelly, Andretti, Robinson, Cooper and James. While Andretti led the Am division, Drew Staveley ran ninth overall, second in the Am class.
Cooper continued his charge on lap 20 moving past Robinson to slot into 3rd. James then moved past Robinson on lap 22 through turns three to move into fourth. By lap 25 Andretti started to close on Pumpelly reducing the gap to .325 seconds. On lap 27 Andretti moved side-by-side with Pumpelly through turn eight but the driver of the No. 66 machine defended well holding on to maintain the lead.
With under 10 minutes remaining in the contest, battles behind Pumpelly ensued as Andretti and Cooper dueled on lap 31. James then passed Cooper for third on lap 31, only to have Cooper re-pass him. The battles allowed Pumpelly to gap the group behind him.
At the checkered, Pumpelly crossed the line in first by 1.4 seconds. Cooper finished second, James third, Stacy fourth and Andretti fifth, first in the Am class.