A Solo Drive and a Late Pass Hand Dome Motorsport Its First GT4 America Wins
Laura Hayes won the Am class driving alone after her co-driver fell ill, while Allen Patten’s late pass took Pro-Am. Off-Leash Motorsports scored its first podium a day earlier.
Dome Motorsport needed until the final race of the season to win in Pirelli GT4 America, and then it won twice in one afternoon. At the Indianapolis Motor Speedway finale on October 11, the team's two Mercedes-AMG GT4s took both the Pro-Am and Am classes, the second-year outfit's first victories in the series.
It capped a busy month for Mercedes-AMG's customer racing teams, which had just delivered Winward Racing a record third straight IMSA GTD title. Indy brought wins, but no GT4 championship.
The Pro-Am victory came from the No. 39 car of Marc Miller and Allen Patten. Miller ran a clean opening stint before handing over at mid-race, and Patten worked his way up to second in class. He took the lead from Matt Travis with roughly four minutes left, according to RACER, and held it to the flag.
The Am win was the harder-earned of the two. Laura Hayes drove the No. 37 car solo after co-driver and team owner Eddie Killeen fell ill over the weekend, and race officials approved the change. The rules required her to make a longer pit stop to offset the advantage over two-driver crews. She still came out of the stops in the lead pack and moved to the front with 11 laps to go.
Hayes says it was her first professional race at Indianapolis. Her previous outing at the Speedway, a Formula Vee race at the SCCA Runoffs about a decade ago, ended after roughly half a lap.
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Saturday's race belonged to a newcomer. Kevin Clifford and Harry Gottsacker finished third in Pro-Am in the No. 40 Off-Leash Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT4. It was the first-year, partial-season team's first podium in what it calls the biggest series it has entered. Dome's No. 39 finished right behind in fourth. On Sunday the Off-Leash pair added fifth in class and eighth overall.
Wins, but not titles
Mercedes-AMG says it was the first time three or more of its GT4 America entries all reached the podium in a single weekend. The championships went to rival brands. The Silver title went to the Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport of Luca Mars and Spencer Pumpelly, even though the car retired after an opening-lap incident. Frankie Muniz and Tyler Stone won the Am crown in TechSport Racing's Ford Mustang GT4, and Sam Craven and Kenton Koch took Pro-Am. RAFA Racing's Toyota GR Supra GT4 won the Silver class in both races.
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The same weekend also saw Maserati's new GT2 car win twice on its U.S. debut in the GT America series.
Miller said Dome typically ends up with one good result and one bad one on a weekend. "To be able to put it all together with both cars at the same time is incredible," he said.
Indianapolis was the last round of the GT4 America calendar. Off-Leash arrives in the off-season on an upward curve: it was fourth at Barber, the same round where Mercedes-AMG extended its GT World Challenge lead, and third at Indy. Neither team has announced its plans for 2027.
