June 8, 2021.- ST Racing secured another podium in TC America at the Virginia International Raceway on a weekend when its BMW M4 GT4 also shined in the headlining GT4 America Series.
The weekend got off to a superb start when Nick Wittmer, once again on substitute duties in place of Bryson Lew, set a storming 1m 54.364s in first qualifying, netting the #38 BMW M4 GT4 3rd on the grid for race one. This marks ST Racing’s strongest qualifying performance of the year in the GT4 America Series.
With momentum on his side, Nick made an equally impressive start to race one, moving the ST Racing BMW M4 GT4 into 2nd overall with a resolute pass into turn one. The sheer might of the BMW’s 3-litre M TwinPower Turbo six-cylinder allowed Nick to keep the leader in his sights down VIR’s awesome back straight. Contact shortly afterwards however ultimately meant this pace would not last, though both Nick and teammate Tomas Mejia gamely managed to bring the #38 BMW home 6th in the Silver class.
A truncated second qualifying session meant Tomas Mejia started 23rd overall for race two, but the young Californian, still in his maiden GT4 season with ST Racing, put on a fighting display during his opening stint on Sunday morning, passing 10 cars on-track before bringing the #38 BMW in for the regulatory pit stop. Unfortunately, whilst running 2nd in-class, Nick Wittmer was forced to serve a drive-through penalty. Proving his pace on Saturday was no flash in the pan, Nick dutifully brought the M4 home 11th overall – 12 positions up from its starting position – and 4th in the Silver class.
Samantha Tan meanwhile, back for her second TC America race weekend of the season in the sister BMW M2 CS, continued to showcase her ever-developing pace and maturity across both 40-minute races at VIR. Having qualified 5th in the TCX class for race one, Samantha made a bold move down the back-straight on the opening lap to move into 4th. Despite an off-track moment late in the race, ‘assisted’ as she was by three cars going side-by-side into turn one, Samantha nevertheless managed to secure a solid 5thin-class at the flag. On Sunday, another feisty start meant the #438 M2 was in the thick of the fight for 3rd place from the get-go, Samantha dutifully taking the position when her principal opponents ran wide on lap two. A heavy clash in the race’s TCA category meant race two was eventually red-flagged, thus securing Samantha Tan her third podium finish from four TC America starts so far in 2021.